A Suze Orman exclusive

Even your eight-year-old might say yes! About a year ago, I was in a suburb of Chicago visiting a lab school there and speaking about money to a classroom of eight-year-olds. This school was expensive to attend, about $5,000 or more a year. So you would think that parents paying that kind of tuition for an eight-year-old would not have money worries. Which is why I was so shocked by what happened. 

There were about 20 kids in front of me, and I asked them a simple question: What is your greatest fear when it comes to money? The parents in the room rolled their eyes when I asked this question; I could tell they were most likely thinking, "Suze, have you lost it? Second-graders don't worry about money." But one sweet little girl raised her hand and said the following: "My greatest fear is that one day I will have to support my parents." The room came to a total stop. What did she just say? I asked her why she felt that way and she said that almost every night she hears Mommy saying to Daddy that if he doesn't stop spending all their money on electronic gadgets they were going to end up in the poorhouse with no one to support them.

And that wasn't the end of it. I looked around at the rest of the children, assuming the little girl who spoke up was a rare case, and I asked the other kids if they could relate. One by one, they started raising their little hands to say something similar. Sad as it is, this is a very true story.

The Janet Jackson Financial Affair
The uproar over the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident is a clear example of how worked-up we all get when we think our kids are being exposed to something improper on television or at the movies. And I also know how much concern you have that your kids hang out with good company. So let me ask you something. If it's not okay for Janet Jackson to expose her breast on national TV, is it okay for you to expose your children to lousy money management habits? Think about it for minute. Which one is going to affect them the most? Watching you running up huge bills you can't afford, absorbing your anxiety about the future, is sure to damage their development in ways that, pardon the pun, expose Nipplegate as a relative non-issue.

Kids are sponges. Just look at my lab school experience. They are watching, and feeling, every move you make. Sure, plenty of it is subconscious, but you'd better believe you are the biggest influence in their life. You are creating their financial DNA with every money move you make.