Lazy Man and Money

Starting Your Kids on a Financial Independence Path

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Everyone is a product of where they focus their time and energy, right? As you can tell from this blog, much of my focus is on personal finance, especially financial independence. In my personal life, much of my focus is parenting two boys, ages 5 and 6.

Kids-Financial-Independence

Getting them started on a path of financial independence is inevitable. Given their age, we are working with simple things like chore charts and saving money for special toys.

One of my biggest concerns is the changes in the world. When I growing up in the 80s, I knew programing a computer was the future. Nowadays, retail stores and newspapers are closing. The automotive industry may nearly disappear as robot, on-demand cars may mean car ownership and driver jobs are a thing of the past. Artificial intelligence promises to disrupt more markets.

I know that most people think new jobs will be created. That’s probably true, but who knows if enough good jobs will be created. It seems that the current trend is replacing journalist jobs with influencer jobs. That should concern us all.

We can’t change where the world is going, but we can help prepare my kids. Here are a few things that we’re doing:

Teach Core Life Skills

This is a no-brainer. Some skills never grow old and can directly influence your bottom line. Here are the first two skills that came to mind. If you can think of more, I’d appreciate it if you could please drop me a line in the comments.

1. Cooking

Food is often one of people’s largest expenses. It doesn’t have to be. Eating out at restaurants is expensive. If you know the basics of cooking, going out to eat is less appealing.

We’ve got the kids enrolled in an after-school cooking class. They might not be learning much. (I’m still waiting to be served breakfast in bed.) However, they are learning and enjoying it. Those are the important things at this age.

In conjunction with learning cooking, I hope to teach the boys how to shop to save money. This will include updated versions of the following articles:

Being able to manage and limit one of their largest expenses can only help their financial bottom line in the future.

2. Handyman

I’m not handy at all. I can’t fix anything. I can barely work a screwdriver. If something breaks, I have to write a check.

That’s not good, especially for landlords like us. If you are good at fixing things and home improvement in general, you can create a lot of real estate opportunities with just sweat equity. You can fix up the house and move repeating the process over and over. You may even be able to keep the money tax-free when you sell. It may be a long time before artificial intelligence replaces carpenters and plumbers.

Perhaps someday, one of their jobs could be a managing our real estate “empire” and we could pass money and equity to them over time. I haven’t figured out exactly how this arrangement would work, but in theory there’s an opportunity there.

For now, I just want my kids to be better than I am with any handyman stuff. Home Depot has “kid workshops” once a month, but we haven’t had a chance to get to one yet. They also have workshops for adults, so maybe it’s not too late for me to learn a thing or two to pass on.

Personal Finance

I don’t think I’ll have to focus on teaching them too much about personal finance. I half suspect that they’ll learn it from osmosis perhaps like I did from my mother. However, I can give them a couple of boosts.

If they don’t master personal finance from osmosis, they can fill in the gaps with my Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom. I’m hopeful that when they are older they’ll give their old man 10-15 minutes to read the Cliff’s Notes to financial success.

As a practical matter, I recently wrote about their kid Roth IRAs which will give them a head start in saving for retirement.

Education

Education is one of the foundations for a high-earning career. We’re investing a lot in private school now in hopes that it will set them on a great path for the future.

I’m still not sure that’s an optimal investment. For example, an episode of Teen Titans Go! (one of my favorite kid shows) brings up the idea that investing in a rental property is better than college. I don’t agree, but it’s an interesting topic. Of course, the Teen Titans teach a lot of personal finance.

Finally, it’s helpful that the the best financial independence book is actually a kids book.

Final Thoughts

One of things that I’m hoping to balance is giving an opportunity versus handing them too much. That’s why they are earning their kid Roth IRAs by picking up dog poop. That’s also why I think they would have to be property managers before they reap the benefits of the rental properties.

Welcome to the Summer of Math

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It’s been a strange year. On one hand, it feels crazy that it is already June. One the other hand, it seemed like a really long winter. Maybe that’s because we (in New England at least) skipped spring completely.

Teaching Kids Math

I don’t want to rush the year on too quickly, but for us summer is here. Our kids graduate their preschool classes on Monday and Tuesday, about two weeks before most other schools end their year and summer camps begin.

I’ve got a bit of Tiger Dad in me, so I’ll be picking up where the teachers left off. It won’t be too bad though because the kids have camp scheduled. We also have a lot of other fun activities planned.

My first academic love was always math. So far it looks like I didn’t pass the math gene on. It’s far too early to tell as pre-school math is mostly about counting and not much else. It can’t hurt to tilt their exposure towards experiences that focus on math.

I’m sure you are just dying to read about pre-school math curriculum. Hmmm, maybe you are not. While this may be a better fit for a parenting blog, let’s not forget that math is the foundation for personal finance. It’s not like this is a completely crazy topic for a personal finance blog.

Once we have a firm grasp at math the Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaire’s Club Cartoon will make more sense. Bet you didn’t know that Warrent Buffet had a children’s cartoon about entrepreneurialism.

Teaching Your Preschooler Math

I don’t have a degree in education. I’m not known for my patience. I should be a horrible teacher. Maybe I am, but for whatever reasons my kids seem to get it. I’ve got a small sample size with similar genes, so this may not work for you.

Math is a very broad subject. For the 4-5 age group that I’m targeting, the focus is mostly on adding and subtracting. I’m throwing in fractions, because the concept of slicing a pizza is something that I think they can get. I’m also going to try to develop multiplication because… well… #TigerDad.

There are a lot of different ways to learn. I’m hoping by mixing a few different approaches, we’ll keep things fresh. I might as well start with possibly the most controversial…

Shock Therapy

… just kidding.

Learning Math Through Videos

Before I get to the good stuff, I should tell you that I’m linking mostly to Amazon versions of products. I will make a small commission if you buy product. However, you shouldn’t forget that your library can save you hundreds of dollars.

I get that kids are glued to their tablets nowadays. When I was growing up, it was controversial for kids to be glued to the “boob tube” (a.k.a. television). There is a lot of research that says that limiting screen time is for the best. I agree with that. However, research seems to show that tablets can be good and the same is true for television. The key is focusing on the quality of what is being presented. By the very nature of what I’m trying to teach, it’s going to be high-quality by almost any standard.

I’m going to start off with a few videos. These are short movies and something that be treated as a bit of a one-off.

  • Donald in Mathmagic Land

    Growing up I somehow missed this Academy Award-nominated film from 1959. I happened to find it on YouTube (not sure legally) and it was amazing. I think it’s exactly the movie to spark a child’s interest in math. It seems to cover everything, but I particularly like the focus on math in nature and music.

  • Flatland and Flatland 2

    I’ve never seen these, but they sounded extremely familiar to me. The original gets rave reviews. Some say that their high school class love it and others say that their 5 and 6 year old love it. My kids are doing well with basic geometry (flat and 3D shapes), but there’s always room to learn a little more.

  • School House Rock Multiplication

    I found this gem at my local library. It turns out that kids nowadays love School House Rock as much as I did. This focuses on multiplication tables taught through song. The interactive quiz part of the DVD was a great feature. My kids got every question wrong, but it was to be expected.

  • Older Kid Videos

    My kids are probably a few years away from some videos I found. However, rather than just move on, I’m include them here so I can research them in a few years. (This is another thing I love about blogging, looking back old ideas.) Let me know if you’ve seen or read anything good about Nova – The Great Math Mystery, The Science of Measurement, or The Story of Math

Learning Math Through Books

I’m still researching this area, but in the meantime I found a great series of math fiction books, Sir Cumference. These are fictional stories of knights and dragons with math spread throughout.

We’re still on our first book, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table and the results so far are mixed. I thought it was a great book, but they weren’t as interested as they are for other stories. Maybe I picked a bad night to read it? Maybe it is a year above their level.

I usually read to the kids before bed, so my hope was to get some mathy dreams percolating. We usually do two books a night depending on size). This is longer than most books we read, so I’m hoping we can stick with this series for awhile.

There are also a number of great workbooks at our local Dollar Tree. However, this is a different kind of book than what I was originally thinking about with this section.

Learning Math Through Games

This was really the inspiration for the whole article. It seems there are so many tremendous board games out there for kids to learn math. I want to have game night a few times a week. We have to see how the summer scheduling goes with the wife’s work, camp, and night events like sunset concerts and baseball games.

I found a pile of sneaky ways for a Tiger Dad like myself to slip math into their brains. I’ve been trolling Amazon for discounts and cheap prices on all of the following:

  • No Stress Chess
    This isn’t strictly a math game, but I had to include this timeless classic. This version comes with cards and players draw a card to tell them which piece they can move. My 5 year old is getting pretty good and see a move ahead now. My 4 year old beat me a couple weeks ago with a series of great cards. Once everyone is comfortable with how all the pieces move, we can graduate to the real game.
  • Sum Swamp
    This seems like the gold standard in math learning games. I bought it a couple of weeks ago with the idea of it being a school graduation gift. I have to talk with my wife about that, because we are trying to pare down the excessive number of toys that have invaded our home. It seems just about the right age (5-6) to teach just the right skills (adding and subtracting).
  • Math Dice Jr.
    Portable, easy to learn, award-winning, and priced under $7. It might be a stretch for our 4-year old, but I think he can grow into it. This toy is in our waiting room downstairs as the current sale price made me jump on it.
  • I Sea 10!
    Go fishing for combinations of numbers adding to 10. It’s another 6+ game, but I think we can work it in this summer. Since I already have Sum Swamp and Dice Jr. waiting, I’ll see how those go first.
  • Clumsy Thief
    “The Crazy, Fast-Paced, Money Game”?!?! Now we are talking. However, with an 8+ rating, we’ll probably wait on this until next year, maybe even next Christmas when our 4 year old is closer to 6.
  • Fraction Tower
    This looks like a fun physical way to learn fractions, decimals, and percentages. It’s not really a game, but I’m sure I could make it into one somehow. I like the idea that kids can physically see and feel that 1/2, 50%, and 0.5 is the same thing. I’ve been waiting for the price of this to get back towards its historical $12 level, but it seems to be pinned in the $15-range.
  • Pop For Addition & Subtraction
    This seems a little like I Sea 10, but without trying to make the combinations of 10. I could see setting up a reward system for correct answers. It looks like it would travel well to use while waiting for the food at restaurants and things like that. I haven’t seen the price budget from $9.99 in awhile.
  • Wrap-ups Multiplication Keys
    I really don’t understand how this works at all, but a ton of reviews says they are great and there aren’t a lot of multiplication tools out there. I like the tactile aspect to this and it certainly seems like something that could work on a road trip. I suspect that kids will get bored of this quickly though. I’m watching this for a good price and we can probably wait a year or more. There are Addition keys as well, which would be more appropriate.
  • Lake Shore Multiplication Machine
    I don’t know if most kids would find this very fun, but I think my kids would for at least a little while. It’s better for older kids (again multiplication), but I think my oldest could probably start it.

Learning Math Through Television

I covered videos above, but there are a lot of television shows that cover math concepts. My kids are already watching a lot of them. I have personally watched many episodes and highly recommend:

  • Peg + Cat
  • CyberChase
  • Monster Math Squad (used to be on Netflix, but no longer, so I bought it)
  • Team Umizoomi

I’d like to call out CyberChase, it’s very much “under the radar” because it is an older show (though they still make several new episodes each year). I think it’s on PBS once a week. I ended up signing up for PBS Kids on Amazon for access to that and a bunch of other shows. I hope PBS gets the vast bulk of that money, because supporting PBS is something I believe in.

Learning Math Through Apps/Websites

I haven’t scratched the surface on using apps to learn math yet. I certainly should. I’d love to hear your suggestions.

We have a subscription to ABC Mouse and it works well with our new Amazon Fire HD 10.

If I find I need more, this list from Common Sense Media. They have another great list of apps and websites here

Final Thoughts and Your Turn

As you can tell there are nearly infinite resources out there in just about every fun way you could imagine. I wrote the bare minimum about a few of them and I still feel like this is the longest article ever. After all this typing, it feels like we’ll be spending 90% of our time on math, but that’s not the case.

Now it’s your turn to give your thoughts. Feel free to rave about a mathy resource, rant about the lack of personal finance focus in this post, or anything in between.

The Best Frugal Baby Toys I’ve Found

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Last week, my first son reach a milestone. He’s been alive one revolution of the earth around the sun. During that time we’ve both done a lot of growing. I’d like to share with you a few of the things that I’ve learned.

One of things we’ve learned is that he’s not impressed by expensive toys, yet. In fact, he loves a lot of really cheap toys. Specifically,

  • A Dollar Store Pot – A local dollar store had a plastic cooking set for a buck. The pot is perfect for him to hold and bang on any table, floor, or wood-burning stove (when off, of course). He loves the sound of it on different things. My wife thinks this is an indication that he’ll grow up to be a great chef. I just think he’s exploring the world. He’ll grow up fast enough, we probably don’t need to typecast to a career yet.
  • Giant Hand Clapper – This is another dollar store find. This may be giving the wrong impression that we do a lot of shopping at the dollar store, but these are the only two items we’ve bought. I’m hesitant to buy more, why mess with a perfect record.
  • Baby Crab Hat – It’s not the exact hat in the link, but that’s a representation of it. To be fair, this isn’t a toy and it actually wasn’t frugal. I had to throw it in so that I can write, “I got my baby addicted to pot and gave him crabs and the clap.” (I’d go into more detail, but I’d have to run it by my lawyer first.)
  • Curious George’s Opposites – This was one of the first books we got (it was a gift) and it was a hit from the beginning. I’m think it might have a calming effect like I get with an old Seinfeld re-run. In truth he loves all books, but he’ll go dig through his whole toy bin pick up the book and bring it to us to read to him. It was amazing to see him do that when he had just barely managed to crawl.
  • Look, Baby Flash Cards – This is just a step below Curious George Opposites. Between these two, I’ve been able to distract him from severe teething pain while the baby Tylenol takes effect. Combine all that with Baby Oragel and the biggest meltdown becomes sleepy time.
  • Baby Einstein on YouTube – We have a number of Baby Einstein DVDs, but I’ve found it is easier to call up YouTube on my TV. Can’t beat the price of free. I realize that there’s evidence that baby’s under two shouldn’t watch television, but he really enjoys it and I can tell he’s actually learning from it. If I were an expert in baby education perhaps I could a better job, but I’m not. My favorite of the videos is Primeras Palabras as it covers learning Spanish complete with baby sign language from Marlee Matlin.

    As for the watching of copyrighted material for free, I have to imagine that Disney, worth around 115 billion dollars this morning could easily get it removed if they wanted to.

What are the best frugal baby toys you’ve found?