From ATM Etiquette to Allowances, How to Raise Your Children Into Financially Fit Adults

By Suze Orman

The single most important step in raising a money-wise child is simply for parents to be money-wise adults themselves. And that’s where so many well-intentioned moms and dads seriously drop the ball.

Look, we all know that kids are sponges. They don’t do as you say, they do as you do. Kids study your every move, and unfortunately I see plenty of parents imparting some pretty awful financial moves.

I will never forget the time I sat down with a class of eight- and nine-year-olds and asked them what their greatest fear was. I didn’t even say money fear—just plain old fear. One of the children stepped right up and flatly told me her biggest fear was that she would end up having to support her parents. I was of course stunned by this and asked why she felt that way. She said she constantly heard her parents arguing at night and her mother telling her father things like, “If you don’t stop buying all those expensive electronic gadgets we are going to end up in the poor house. And then who will support us?” But what truly scared me was when I asked the other kids if anybody else felt like this, nearly every one of them seemed to have a similar story.

Parents, I know you want the best for your children. So you should realize how much that means making sure you’ve got your own financial act together. Children who watch parents do stuff like ring up huge credit card bills buying goodies and vacations they can’t afford tend to dig the same financial holes themselves as adults. Whatever you may say to the contrary, a child who sees bills pile up unpaid is getting a damaging lesson in managing money—one they may struggle all their lives to overcome, just as the children of folks who don’t eat right or exercise enough so often grow up to suffer through variations on those same bad habits, even when they’ve been “taught” to know better.

Even those of you with a good grip on your personal finances can still screw up your kids if you spoil them. Many people seem to have convinced themselves that showering their kids with everything they want is good parenting. I see this a lot with divorced families; both parents are so guilt-ridden they lose the ability to say no to anything their kid asks for. Then when that kid is out in the real world on a low starting salary, she has no sense at all of financial restraint and thinks she still has to have everything right now. So what does the kid do? Simple: charge, charge, charge. Suddenly, that kid you love to death is buried in $5,000 or $10,000 of credit card debt. more...

Let’s talk about how you can raise confident and happy children who possess a healthy approach to money.

If it were up to me, I would disallow allowances. Or at least the version of allowances that are popular these days. When I ask young children why they get an allowance, they just shrug and tell me because their brother or sister does. Or because their parents give it to them. Folks, this is ridiculous. That’s simply not what an allowance should be about. An allowance is your first opportunity to teach your children to respect money—to teach them that money is something that must be earned. more...

	Children & Money Checklist To keep yourself on track to healthier personal finances, start here by printing out this checklist of important to-dos. Start Now!

Suze Orman has been called “a force in the world of personal finance” and a “one-woman financial advice powerhouse” by USA Today. She is the author of four consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including The Road to Wealth. Suze Orman, a Certified Financial Planner Professional®, directed the Suze Orman Financial Group from 1987-1997, served as Vice President of Investments for Prudential Bache Securities from 1983-87, and from 1980-83, was an Account Executive at Merrill Lynch.

Watch Suze every Saturday night on CNBC. Check www.suzeorman.com for TV listings. More great advice on Suze's blog.