Yep. Ridiculous right?

And I thought I was doing good. But nope! Despite working hard to manage our overall money, I am not doing really anything to manage my kids money.

I came to this realization a few weeks ago when I was working on my computer. I looked down at an empty top to a box of checks that I keep around just to toss little things in that don’t have a place. In this box top was about $30 that belongs to my older daughter. I was like, “I should probably put that in the bank.”

And then I thought, “Wow, it’s earning almost as much interest sitting in that box as it is in the bank earning 0.01%!”

Not good!

I have two little girls, they are 6 and a half and 3 and a half years old. They’re adorable and I’m trying to teach them a little bit about money as often as I can.

But at this stage, it is impossible for them to manage their money on their own. They can’t make decisions on where to put it or how to make it work for them.

So that’s my job.

So I have vowed, taken an oath, acquiesced, and pinky promised to do a much better job at managing my kids’ money.

Just for kicks, I calculated how much my kids would earn if I left their money right where it is and didn’t add anything to it. My older daughter has about $220 in savings (and another $30 sitting on my desk). My younger daughter has about $140 sitting in a savings account. As I mentioned, the savings accounts have that oh-so-high interest rate of 0.01%.

My older daughter is 6. By the time she is 18, her $220 will have grown to…

$220.26!!!

My younger daughter is 3. By the time she is 18, her $140 will grow to…

$140.21!!!

Yeah…the 26 and 21 cents of interest…in years.

See what I mean though?

Lessons Learned

So what’s the lesson here? And I mean besides the fact that I am not doing a good job with my kids’ money. The lesson is…

Don’t let your money sit!

I am so guilty of this it’s not even funny. Before, I had goal to pay off our debt, my money was literally doing the same thing that my little girls’ money was doing. Sitting there. I let it digitally rot in a bank account earning 0.01% interest.

Well it’s time to stop that.

I am now looking into safe investments for my kids. These won’t provide a huge rate of return, however, there will be safety. And it will grow much faster than their bank account.

Also, as I mentioned before, I’m looking into stocks and bonds for myself as well. I want to do a mix of risky and safe investments. That way I have a lot of room for growth while staying safe in some areas.

I’m Learning

Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about investing. I’m excited to learn though! I’ve come across a couple of great articles as of late that have really helped me out. I think you may find a lot of value in them as well. They are below for your learning and investment pleasure.

Passive Income 101 – Stocks (by familymoneyplan.com)

• This is a great article on the basics of investing. It doesn’t get too deep but it’s an awesome starting point. And Andrew, the author, is a straight shooter. He tells it like it is, especially with losing money in the stock market.

I Don’t Know How to Invest and I’m Afraid of Making Expensive Mistakes (by affordanything.com)

• If the title of the article describes you (like it does me), then get to clickin’! This is a rather large step by step article on how to invest and what types of accounts you should invest in. They say knowledge is power. Well, this article is full of power. The more knowledge you have, the less afraid you’ll be. I’m learning that one first hand. Paula, the author of the blog, has a fun personality that seems to shine in her writing as well.

Note: I was not asked to put these articles on here, nor am I being compensated for their inclusion. These are simply articles that I’ve found incredibly useful and think you will too.

Again, if there is one thing that I’ve learned through all of this, it’s to not let money sit in a bank account doing nothing for you. Money should be working for you. It should be working for me. It should be working for my daughters.

As I continue to learn about investing, you better believe I’ll be sharing it on here. Stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, what is the best investing advice you’ve ever received?

I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Cheers!