10 “Non-Religious” Things To Teach Your Youth

5- Teach Them The Truth About Money

I am amazed at how many people, even adults, have no idea how to handle money. Although I am sure we teach youth basic finance in school, many of them are actually clueless regarding money. The result is many people lead very difficult and sad lives because they do not know the truth about money. Consequently, parents must teach their kids about money and not just assume they have money under control.
The first thing parents need to teach their kids is that borrowing money is not usually the best plan. I don’t think borrowing is necessarily a sin, but it is a very dangerous thing, because it can result in the borrower being a slave to the lender. Borrowing is often addictive and in a sense it is gambling on the future. Moreover, the future is not something we can predict.
The second thing youth need to know is that saving is a virtue that needs to be practiced by all people. Currently, about 60% of the families in our country live pay check to pay check. One of the primary problems is that most people never save any of their pay check to prepare for unforeseen times. Furthermore, rather than saving to buy something, and practicing delayed gratification, many people borrow to buy something they should save towards and wait to buy.
A third thing we need to teach youth is that everyone needs to give a portion of their money to either church or a charity. Christians, who give to their church, call this a tithe. It is 10% of one’s income. Non-Christians should also give. That gift can be to a charity of their choice. Giving money is important for the organization receiving the gift, but even more important for the person giving the gift. Giving makes us less selfish.
Finally, youth need to learn that money, and the things money can buy, are not to be worshiped. It is good to have money, it is good to save money, it is good to give money away, but loving money will lead to all sorts of problems. Worshiping money, or loving money, will split up friendships and families. It will cause us to have extremely wrong priorities, and in the end we will be miserable.
How can parents teach their youth the truth about money? Well, first parents need to examine their own use or misuse of money. How can you expect a child not to love money if he or she sees their parents loving money, or borrowing money, or not giving, etc.
Secondly, parents need to talk with their kids about money. Don’t assume they know anything of value regarding money.
Another important thing is to monitor your youth’s use of money. Help your youth establish a savings account and help him or her to save some of the money they may receive or earn. Show youth how to give money to the church, or a charity.
Finally, correct youth when they begin to worship and love money. One way you can know if a youth loves money is if you notice them morning when they lose money. Morning when you lose a loved one is a positive thing. Morning when you lose money is a sign you care about the money way too much.
Money is neither good nor bad. It is just a medium of exchange. It is a whole lot easier than living just with a barter system. Nevertheless, the way we act towards money, the way we use or misuse money, in many ways, reveals who we are and what is most important to us. Hopefully people and God are more important to us than money.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Tim. 6:10
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.