From kindergarten graduation to college graduation, financial readiness is a must have know-how in today’s society.

Kindergarten Graduation

The best way to help your children be financially ready for adulthood is to start teaching financial basics to your children at a young age. The biggest obstacles for many are living within their means and saving. Good habits can be instilled early on through lifestyle. Fun ways to teach include dressing up as pirates, burying some treasure, making a map, and continuing to add to it.

High School Graduation

On the brink of attending college struggling for the expensive education, many young adults face their hardest financial struggles while they are young and still learning. Many graduates may decide to earn money while training and join the military or jump into an apprenticeship.

Your 18 year old should know:

• How to create and stick to a budget.
• How to use their checking account including debit cards, bank policies, and overdraft consequences.
• The importance of the credit rating, how credit rating is determined, how to avoid falling victim to debt, consumer rights, etc.
• How to be organized—keeping cash ledgers, knowing which documents to keep, etc.
• How to negotiate: how to haggle for the better deal, knowing when to get it in writing, and reading the fine print.
• The ins and outs of liability from education loans to instant payday loans

College Graduation

When a person starts to experience a small taste of getting old, financial readiness should now include:

• Retirement savings: the difference between IRAs and 401K.
• Life insurance.
• Will and living will.
• Savings for their children.
• Investing.

Money management is often the hardest skill to teach, but being a master of your money is better than letting your money master you.