I think your series is terrific! Parents get it that financial skills are essential for kids to achieve self-sufficient adulthood; although even financially competent parents struggle to competently teach money skills, and plenty of parents need help themselves with this topic.

I'm a financial literacy advocate and educator, and I've been helping parents teach their kids financial skills for some 16 years. A seldom-mentioned reason to start early teaching financial skills, is so that parents get more comfortable and accustomed with the subject.

The critical Teachable Moment, though, in our children's financial education is young adulthood (17-24), because that's when they have access to loans and credit cards, and can make serious and costly financial decisions and mistakes. Before they leave the nest, young adults need to have plenty of experience managing hundreds of dollars a week, among dozens of expenses, and it's imperative to have such skills in place well before they choose credit cards or student loans.

Parents in my workshops invariably ask about whether they should tie Allowance to Chores. My answer: allowance is a tool to teach financial skills. Withholding allowance for unfinished chores is withholding important financial training. Allowance should start early, say first or second grade, and cover the child's routine expenses. For example, a 6th-grader's allowance could cover up to 5 days a week of school lunches, a birthday gift for a friend once a month or so, school supplies, some discretionary spending money, and $2 to $5 a week for savings. That's $20 to $25 a week. Before you gasp, consider the number of times a week you presently open your wallet for miscellaneous requests, and then consider the satisfaction of saying "My darling child, your allowance enables you to save up for that."

When they were in elementary school, my kids' allowances budgeted for 4 lunches a week. They quickly learned that they could save faster if they made their own lunches every day. As you transfer responsibility to your child for these necessary expenses, at least three wonderful things will happen: you will be relieved of your former role of Parent-as-ATM, you will actually be shelling-out less money total, and they will be getting precious skills experience. Oops is part of the plan, remember, so financial rescuing is discouraged.

By the time they get to highschool, their allowance can include items such as clothing, fuel, contacts lenses, cellphone, and college applications, adjusted with job earnings. And the frequency can be shifted from weekly to biweekly to monthly, as they demonstrate they can handle the greater amounts and complexity for at least 6 months.

Kathy Griffin
www.moneyu.com