By Jennifer Derrick
School is out and the kids are home. If it hasn’t happened already, chances are it won’t be long before you hear those famous words: “I’m bored.” Now would be a good time to use that boredom to teach kids a little something about finance in ways that are fun. The more kids […]

By Ann Hartter
What is it about children that invite us to spend money on them? Is it that we see they are cute at everything, so everything is fair game? Is it that we want them to have the best so we better make sure that they have the newest and most recent and most […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
The most common question my husband and I have been asked since we got married a couple of years ago is “When are you guys going to have kids?” Each time, we give the same answer — that were not ready for a baby yet. We’ve often received the following response: […]

Shannon Christman
During the last Christmas season, Disney’s Club Penguin website allowed children who played its online games to donate their virtual earnings to help the environment, improve children’s health, or assist children in developing countries. Though players could use the coins to purchase virtual items to enhance the games, more than 2.5 million of […]

By Ann Hartter
Children live in a very self-centered world as they focus on learning about themselves and how the world works according to them. As they go along, learning how to mimic parents and other adults, observing behaviors through cause and effect, they learn very early about this thing called money. It seems fitting that […]

By David John Marotta
As Americans try to spend less and go on a budget, this provides an opportunity to teach the next generation financial principles they may never have seen in the prosperous years they have been alive. Here are ten principles for teaching children about money:
Talk about money. Every time money is involved, […]

By Shana Murray
Is it predetermined that you will be a good saver or is this learned behavior? It dawned on me the other day that so many people have different ideas about how to spend and save money and I’m not really sure when this begins. How early is too early to […]

By Ann Hartter
When it comes to teaching your kids about money and finances, there is no need to go looking for specific books on these subjects. Your child’s bookself is probably already full of books that can bring financial lessons to life. Here are just a few of the possibilities:
Mother Goose Rhymes, traditional: Money themes […]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky
Income-shifting is one of several tax planning tools families have used to lower their tax bill. Historically, parents could save a bundle by transferring highly appreciated investments to their children who are in lower tax brackets. However, this year, Congress has made income-shifting a dream of the past, […]

By Wixx, special contributing writer
I have a gas guzzler (a Chrysler Pacifica) and so most people would recommend that I trade it in for a car that gets better gas mileage to help save money. Since this is the only car I own, I use to to commute back and forth to work which at […]

By Ann Hartter
The older the artist, the smaller the crayons become. Many kids don’t have a problem with broken crayons. Many kids ignore them. Many kids get gifted several boxes of crayons in a year, or build up a collection over time. Throwing crayon pieces away is one of the most dissatisfying clean-up jobs to […]

By Ann Hartter
Babies draw. Toddlers draw. Kids draw. They color from the first time they get a crayon in their hand to the time they learn to write, as sketches and drawings are their best way of written communication and expression. As parents, we become extraordinarily fond of the smacked-on dots and lines when babies […]

By Meredith H. Kaiser
How much does it cost to raise happy children who go on to be productive citizens? My husband and I decided not to be parents since our few surviving houseplants have to spell out H2O — like the Village People dancing to YMCA — just to get water. However, since I […]

By J. Alan Maguire
For the first day of kindergarten, I walked in to my daughter’s classroom and at each child’s place at the table lay 3 pennies. These were fake pennies, but as our kindergarten information packet stated, they were worth something.
Every day, the children get three pennies, which they put in designated […]

By Ann Hartter
I remember my mother being hit with that little piece of paper once a year: the school supply list specifying discretely the ways your child will be ridiculed if you skip something, or worse, choose to empty your wallet on alternative items. I know, I was sometimes that child. I think a kid […]

By Ann Hartter
Newspapers are handy inventions. They are delivered to our door once a day, whether we want it today or not. They are at every grocery store, en masse. Wrinkle and shake one open, and you can find all sorts of gift ideas for your sweetie, or mom, or kid (or self). You […]

By Shannon Christman
One thing that causes parental frustration is paying a high admission price to a park or event only to have the child complain the whole time or discover a sudden interest in something he could see for free, like ducks (just like those in a neighbor’s pond) when you’re on a trip to […]