RP Father's - How far will you go to teach financial independence?

tap0988534 · 2020-01-06T19:31:46+00:00

I think there are limits to what you can teach while someone is being cared for. No one gets a fire lit under them until they realize what their limited skillset allows them to afford.

SBIII · 2020-01-06T21:28:39+00:00

I'd wager that a large majority of guys who end up here had shitty fathers for role models. Fathers who didn't teach them, talk to them, show them what the world would expect of them and what they should expect from the world.

Leaving a boy to figure it out for himself? Don't be one of those fathers.

creating_my_life · 2020-01-06T19:38:16+00:00

"figure it out" isn't the right thing. You need to SHOW him and TEACH him what to figure out. Talk to him. Involve him. Simple inflows/outflows.

YOU also need to decide what financial lessons to learn. I talk to my kids about the tradeoff between labor and income; equity and earnings, and more. I've told them I expect more from them than a minimum wage job where they trade an hour of their lives for $10. But maybe that's not the path you're setting out for them.

And MOST importantly: lead by example. How is YOUR financial situation?

Use the mother as an example. "Look at her house vs. mine. Factor that in as you think about finance."

And, he's 16. Part kid, part adult. Talk to him like a person.

dilberryhoundog · 2020-01-07T07:28:26+00:00

I realised not long ago that the biggest mistake I have ever made as a parent was to try sculpt an adult (of my liking) from my child. I also made the same mistake trying to sculpt a wife from a woman (teenager).

In both cases I sacrificed an “In the now” relationship for this endeavour of future gains. It’s essentially trying to control something you have no control over (somebody else’s future behaviour/actions).

Now I am trying to have the best “right now” relationship I can. Fun, challenge, connection, love, comfort, protection, interaction. These are the things I offer. I think it will be enough for my children to willingly learn all they need to know, before setting off on their own path.

Cam_Winston21 · 2020-01-06T19:59:26+00:00

I take care of his essentials. He's responsible for anything extra.

I don't know the situation, but what is a 16 year old spending money on if the essentials are covered? I see "girlfriend" so that may answer the question by itself, but doing stuff like getting paid by dad to clean out the garage or do the lawn care (a) teaches capitalism and (b) pays for a date. Other stuff like video games or the like can be accomplished in like fashion, by earning the funds necessary to pay.

He asked his mother for $200.

I didn't see "asked his mother for a $200 loan" so I think I see the problem. Being a teenager and being given money (outside of birthdays/graduations/holidays) is a recipe for having a budding Bernie supporter who thinks stuff should be free.

"No" is one of my favorite words.

HeckleandChide · 2020-01-06T20:14:42+00:00

More is caught than taught.

Start small and work in little nuggets of advice when you are doing something else, like driving or fishing or something like that. Plant seeds. Recognize that as seeds, you won’t see the results for months or years.

Once he shows even a bit of interest, up the involving. Have him set next to you when you do your weekly budget planning. Ask his opinion and what he thinks you should do. Engage him.

How would you get your 16yo kid interested in weightlifting? Telling him to do it? Or inviting him to do it with you? This is no different.

More is caught than taught.

ChokingDownRP · 2020-01-06T20:59:22+00:00

How ironic that "figure it out" is your mantra for your son, yet you've posted multiple times here asking for help on this issue.

FIGURE IT OUT

2ndal · 2020-01-06T19:36:30+00:00

The fact that you're coming here to us with this information for advice suggests you likely don't have the rapport with your son that you would like to have or is necessary to solve challenges productively. Work on that. You should have the same level of frankness and open communication with him as you do us. Take what you're telling us and tell him instead. He's a big boy now and can/will ignore you, especially if he ultimately doesn't respect you.

WolfofAllStreetz · 2020-01-06T21:45:55+00:00

I never understood why kids who turn 16 weren’t running out to get their license. I couldn’t get mine fast enough.

That, and the amount of girls driving their guys around. wtf

ImNotSlash · 2020-01-07T00:47:59+00:00

I'm not going to do anything. It's not my place. In regards to teaching him, I've tried. He doesn't care. When he cares ~~he can come find me~~ I'll be there. Not going to force the issue.

Appreciate all the responses.

wkndatbernardus · 2020-01-07T03:57:41+00:00

Might want to show him how compound interest works by gameifying investments. There are a number of free sites that let you model and track different investment strategies. You two could compete against each other to see who wins. Or, just open up an IRA for him and match a percentage of what he invests from his various odd jobs. Once he sees the growth (especially in this market), he'll be hooked and want to start making more $ to invest it.

saltyfiredude · 2020-01-07T05:40:29+00:00

I am a younger guy (21) so maybe I can relate more to your son's position. My father is smart with his money, in contrast my mother is terrible and upon reflection, he consistently raised me to become like him with finances.

I remember several years ago when my father told me a story about his first financial lesson when he still lived at home at 18. My grandfather sat him down and instructed him to show him his end of year pay summary. My father was then told to compare his total year earnings to his bank balance, and then was quizzed as to why there was a significant amount of money unaccounted for. When my father told me this story he then encouraged me to do the same. This is when I realised over my first summer of part time work, I had worked hard to earn $1000, but spent $500 on junk food and useless crap by the end.

He showed me that people are so easy to spend, and the spending is a ruthless cycle that keeps you reliant on trading your time for money at a job. Over the years this lesson has instilled in me that people who understand money are free, and those that don't will always be a slave to it. Despite currently being almost finished a finance degree, that was one of the best money lessons I've ever had.

Your son needs to experience and learn himself, but with guidance and help along the way. My father could probably have tried to lecture me, but before I had my own experience I would never have understood. I now see how destructive my mothers spending habits are, but if he had tried to tell me I would have defended her like your son.

Good luck.

becoming_alpha · 2020-01-07T16:50:57+00:00

Your 16 year old has a negative bank balance (around $200 I'm guessing). How did that happen? After he gets back in the black, you should show some leadership and make sure overdraft protection is turned off on his account. His debit card should get declined if he doesn't have money in the bank. Yes, it's embarrassing, but it's also a great teacher. As part of teaching kids to be responsible with money, I don't think they should have access to credit without a job (an ability to repay that debt).

"Figure it out" isn't a bad mantra per se, but that's leaving him on his own without direction (leadership) from you. A better mantra would be "let's figure it out." When he tells you he's overdrafted by $200, you sit down with him with a pencil and paper and coach him through putting together a plan for making the money he needs to get out of debt.

"Ok, you've got $60 from house work and you'll get another $40 next week, that's good. That leaves $100. If you get on the honor roll when grades come out next month, I'll give you $50, so that leaves $50. You're going to sell a couple old xbox games to Billy for $20, now you're down to $30, what are you going to do to earn that? Sure, you can ask your mom for a handout, but you could also ask old man Higgins if you can shovel snow for him. That should be an easy $40 this month."

The next step is helping him plan a budget for himself. He's going to want to spend $100 a month on fun and dates, how is he going to earn at least that much? Help him identify his goals and help him figure out how to reach them.

red-sfpplus · 2020-01-06T19:51:58+00:00

I plan to always spoil my kids and spend every last dollar I have on them if they need me to.

I fucking hate parents that do not provide for their kids at High School level 100% and fully.

That kids job is to get good grades, and not drink/do drugs in excess, unless of course they are with me.

They have the whole fucking lives to be adults.

Being an adult FUCKING SUCKS.

My RP advice is to stop being a dick to your kid.

ImNotSlash · 2020-01-06T21:24:46+00:00

[deleted]

mrpalt1 · 2020-01-07T13:42:44+00:00

"Figure it out" sounds like a good motto for someone who is 18 and in most circumstances a legal adult/majority.

A 16 year old needs guidance and will most always take the handout. When you spend time with your kid offer to pay him for some help you need around the house, or your job. Make it a fairly attractive offer so he is excited about the offer. Hell negotiate with him and teach him that tactic as well.

Financial independence is actually really fun, the hard part is shifting your mindset to not be like every other blind consumer out there. Show him abundance of money making opportunities, ebay, sports tickets, concert tickets all things I flipped early on as a teenager/early 20's to make some extra cash.

fannyfire · 2020-01-07T19:17:00+00:00

NMMNG talks about rituals, initiations and ride alongs for young men. Take the opportunities to teach your son how to be a man. I’m not a father yet but that is the one thing I am looking forward to. Your son might wind up being a lazy faggot but at least you will know that you did your job.

Big_Daddy_PDX · 2020-01-09T21:15:31+00:00

You’re struggling with basics here. In life there will be times he is not around you and he will make his own decisions. Your only responsibility is to educate him with the financial principles you want and then show him how they regularly play out in life.

I started doing this with my kids (to varying degrees) before my divorce and have continued now that they are 16/13. Their Mom is a mess and terrible with money. So I talk with them regularly about money; how it works, how you earn/spend, and even talking about opportunity cost and decisions you’d make to compromise and spend less. If your kid is hearing you talk about money and your thoughts on how it’s used, those lessons will be extremely powerful.

SorcererKing · 2020-01-12T22:58:21+00:00

Have you actually taught him anything about how money works? How interest is calculated? How credit cards work? How checking accounts work? Have you showed him the size of your bills? Rent, car, phone, whatever? If you want him to be good with money help him understand its value and how personal finance works.

VigilantSmartbomb · 2020-02-08T21:02:22+00:00

Can I be the first to say dude wtf? He's 16. My generation (the one right above his) currently has the most amount of stress from any previous generation of human kind that we know of. It's worse than the depression in the Victorian ages by metrics of metrics. We're the first generation that's going to have to take care of our parents AND our kids while at the same time being the first generation to have made less than the previous one as well.

I can tell you straight up if you're in your sons life. He's learning from example, period.

I didn't have my drivers license till I was 18. It wasn't economical for me, and I paid for my school through scholarships and grants. I'm saying he'll find his way but damn dude let him finish out his years being a kid. All he wants to do is talk to you and get to know you despite whatever the fuck else he says. He just wants to learn how you do things.

He's honestly probably doing the best he can and may already realize eventually the money trains going to stop. He's also probably acting a lot dumber than he is (and may even have a plan for your retirement already). My entire generation acts dumb or schemes to an extent (because of the information gap), and it's really unlikely his generation wouldn't with even more information. I was learning things at 15 that 30 year olds were at my time of the internet. Now 9 year olds are learning what 15 year olds were in my time, on their own. If he can play his mom out of $200, or if their relationship is just like that.. that's.. SMART. You don't think he doesn't know what he's doing? He just got $200. & of course your wife's not going to stop. He has his entire life to learn these lessons and your his parents.

You can't learn the lessons for them, all you can do is set them on the path.

Title	RP Father's - How far will you go to teach financial independence?
Author	ImNotSlash
Upvotes	18
Comments	54
Date	06 January 2020 07:25 PM UTC (6 months ago)
Subreddit	askMRP
Link	https://theredarchive.com/post/304395
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/askMRP/comments/ekyv05/rp_fathers_how_far_will_you_go_to_teach_financial/