The “Dollars & Sense” column in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel has an interesting list of ideas for how to instill some financial competence in your child. It starts with the basic skill of learning how to delay gratification, then moves on to increasing levels of personal responsibility, so that by the time you’re dealing with a teenager who craves independence, you’re handing out a full year’s allowance in January and tasking him with managing it properly.

One thing the paper suggests is playing with pretend stocks. If you’re curious about trying this out but don’t know how much work might be involved, check out WeSeed.com, a 100% fake stock market simulation that uses data from the real world market, including real companies, so that you can safely learn how the market works in real time.

“How to teach children to be smart with their money” [JSOnline]
WeSeed.com
(Photo: Jeff Kubina)

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