Valuable lessons on the way to”financial adulthood”

Pocket money:

• Should we or should we not give it to our kids?
• Should we or should we not open a child bank account? 
• Should we or should we not give authority over the money we allocate them?

Yes, to all three. Let me explain why. I am an economist and for decades I dealt with multi-million dollar accounts. I allocated funds, budgeted, and approved or denied colossal transactions. And when shuffling around large sums of money like I did, I had to have confidence in my craft, as much as my employer had to have enormous trust in my ability to forecast accurately. As a result assessing the longterm consequences of any decision became my lifeblood. And because it was hammered into me, I cannot help but forecast the impact of every major action, financial or not.

So my professional experience gave me the great opportunity to pass this financial acumen on to my son, Tamás. Tamás is now 22, but I still remember how much he was looking forward to having his “own money”. From the age of 8 to10 he was constantly pestering me to open a bank account for him so he can have his own “chi-ching” card as he called the bankcard. And once he has it, he will pay with it everywhere and listen to that chi-ching sound.

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