Novel ways to teach kids about saving money

By Justin Boyle

I had just turned 8 years old when my mother took me to our neighborhood bank branch to open my first savings account. I had $20 in birthday money from my aunts and uncles and was about to learn valuable lessons about putting money away for the future.

But to hear my mother tell it, the only thing at the bank I wanted lessons about was the coffee machine. I walked out of there remembering my first taste of French roast much more vividly than my first taste of financial propriety.

Now, don't get me wrong. The old-fashioned "open a normal savings account with a friendly banker" approach might work for some kids. If you want to take a more creative direction though -- or if your kids are also at risk of becoming writers, who care more about coffee than practically anything -- here are a few tricks you can try.

Piggy banks 2.0

Maybe it's time we admitted to ourselves that the piggy bank has its drawbacks as a learning tool. The process of making even medium-sized deposits can be a chore, and there's no real way to check your balance without breaking and entering -- not to mention that it's possibly the worst option on the market as far as savings account interest rates are concerned.

By Peter Andrew

A couple of years ago, some friends of ours had a problem. The vehicle they relied upon to earn a big chunk of their income had broken down in a terminal sort of way, and they didn't have quite enough savings for a replacement. So I called and offered to lend them the $1,000 or so they were short. The relief and happiness in their voices was easily worth a thousand bucks. I followed up with an email:

Glad we could help out. Just two conditions over the loan.

First, let's keep it between the four of us (the two of them and my partner and me); nobody else needs to know, though there's no problem if you've already told someone. And, secondly, we mustn't let it get in the way of our friendship. With luck, you'll be able to pay us back fairly easily, but we really don't care if it takes 10 years or longer. So don't ever avoid seeing us just because you're worried we'll be nagging you over it. We never will.

Make loan, think gift

In my head, the loan was a gift, though I couldn't tell them that because they'd never have taken it. If I eventually got the money back, that would be a fine surprise, but it wasn't an expectation. Had it been so, and I'd later been disappointed, it would have cost me two friendships that were worth way more than a grand. Shakespeare made a sound point in "Hamlet" when he wrote, "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend."

By Georgie Miller

The holidays are fun and all, but considering how early we get bombarded with festive opportunities to spend (or save), for me they feel like they're over before they've even begun. What I really look forward to is the new year. Opportunity! Resolutions! Plans that haven't been screwed up yet! Sign me up!

Before you can reliably make plans for the future, however, it's important to know where you've been. So every year about this time, I like to conduct a little mini-review of my previous year's spending. Conducting an annual financial check-up can help you determine whether your goals are a reliable reflection of your life.

You should have two main goals in mind when you conduct your mini-review. Your first goal is to be as prepared as possible for those curveballs life inevitably throws your way. The second is to make sure the methods you use to pay for everyday spending are getting you the best bang for your buck.

Goal 1: Be prepared for irregular expenses

Irregular expenses fall into two main categories. The first type are those that are are predictable, but don't happen monthly.

By Justin Boyle

When I was younger, I tried to think about money as little as possible. I just put my paychecks straight into my checking account, lived modestly and managed to stay above water for the most part. My personal finance strategy was to look the other way while my money came and went, hoping through arcane guesswork that I wouldn't overdraft my account with the next rent check.

I slipped up more than once, naturally. It wasn't until after college that I decided to sit down and transform my unsteady cash flow into concrete figures, and even then it took me almost a week to get over my fear of fiscal reality. Once I did it, though, things started to make more sense, and the practice of earning, saving and spending money began to create less stress in my life than it had when I was treating it like some force of nature that could never be understood.

Statistics show that a disturbingly large percentage of Americans suffer from that same financial fear that kept me from examining my situation for so many years. In fact, a 2012 survey commissioned by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling indicated that more than half of U.S. adults have no budget, and a full third of them neglect to pay their bills on time.

By Peter Andrew

The last time my mother came home from hospital, age 82 years, we had one of those high-tech beds delivered. You know the ones: They have air mattresses that automatically inflate and deflate a bit to prevent bedsores, and electric motors that allow you to tilt the patient's head and feet. One day, I'd raised mom's head to give her a drink, and, as I reached for the bed's remote control button to return it to the horizontal, I said, "I'm just going to put your head back down again." Throughout my life, she and I had enjoyed sparring over our English usage, and her eyes flashed with delight as she crowed, "That's tautological! You don't need the 'back' and the 'again'."

She died five days later. I tell the story to illustrate that many, many seniors retain their mental acuity throughout their lives. However, the Alzheimer's Association says that 5 million people in this country age 65 or older currently have Alzheimer's, and that a new American is diagnosed with the condition every 68 seconds.

And that's just one condition. My dad didn't have Alzheimer's, but for most of his last few years he was incapable of making informed decisions. And even my mother, sharp as she was, slowly lost interest in her financial affairs as her physical illness took hold.

By Holly Johnson

When I was 18, I married my high school sweetheart and moved 800 miles away from home. Shortly after that, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. Fortunately, since we didn't have much, it was fairly easy to divide our assets and move on with our lives.

Still, I did learn a lot from the experience, and I managed to escape the situation without any financial impact or damage to my flawless credit report. How did I do it? For one thing, I hired an attorney who knew exactly what I needed to do and when. But I also picked up some other helpful tips along the way.

If you're in a marriage that isn't working out, you're probably wondering what steps you need to take to protect yourself financially. After all, if your marriage is like mine was, your finances have been intermingling for quite some time. You may have joint checking and savings accounts, joint credit cards, and, unfortunately, joint debts.

So, how should you separate your finances when you're getting a divorce? Consider starting with these five simple steps.

1. Educate yourself

Often, one spouse takes the lead in the family's financial matters. If that spouse isn't you, you'll need to educate yourself on your family's financial situation.