Money

Even though my son is homeschooled, I now must “outsource” all his education as he has surpassed my abilities to teach him anything.  Because I’m not the one dishing out his grades, I decided to pay him for his performance in that area.  The semester just ended, and it cost me a pretty penny.

We’ve never paid Kaleb for doing chores, as no one pays me when I do them.  Life is never going to be free from chores so I figured it would send the wrong message.  Grades, on the other hand, are worth paying for.  It seems to me they are the closest thing to having a job, since they reflect hard work.  Besides, even if I pay hundreds of dollars every year for good grades, I may not have to pay as much for college if he then qualifies for scholarships. Sometimes I think his motivation isn’t so much to get straight A’s, as it is to break the bank.

Since Kaleb was young, we established a money management system where he only gets to spend twenty-five percent of what he gets – whether it’s from gifts, work, or grades.  All his money has to be divided into fourths. He gives away one quarter of his cash, saves a quarter for a car, college, or something in the near future and invests a quarter in something he can’t touch until he’s at least 50.  I figure his generation will never see Social Security so he has to start early, saving for retirement.  He’s now reached the thousand dollar mark in his savings account, and his investment portfolio is quite diverse – everything from savings bonds, stocks and foreign currency to precious metals and gems.  He lost a bundle in the stock market when Washington Mutual went belly up, but it was a good lesson to learn at such a young age.  There are no guarantees.

Money is one of those things people tend to not want to talk about, but I think it’s such a disservice to our kids if we don’t.  We keep a pretty tight household budget and the question often comes up as to how we will pay for something.  When we go on vacations, we sometimes have to make tough decisions in order to stay on budget. 

Kaleb has learned how to budget.  Before he even gets money in hand, he’s figured out how he will spend nearly every dollar he’ll receive.  He moans about the fact he can only spend twenty five percent, yet I point out that no adults I know have that much of their paycheck available for free spending.  Get used to it. 

The only downside to this whole money management system is when our car was dirty one day I offered to pay him five bucks if he’d wash it.  He figured out he’d only get to spend $1.25 of it, so he declined.  

It appears my system isn’t accomplishing all that I’d hoped in teaching him about hard work.