“Turn Your Kids Into Personal Finance Champs - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 1 more

Turn Your Kids Into Personal Finance Champs - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 10:04 AM PST

Do your children think you are a walking ATM?

If you are tired of "must-have-that-toy-right-now" tantrums as you walk down the aisles of Target or Toys "R" Us, go straight to your nearest bookstore and buy Alisa T. Weinstein's new book, EARN IT, LEARN IT. Alisa tosses the old allowance-based system of teaching your kids about money and replaces it with: J.O.B.S. But not in the way you might think...

Innovative learning lessons can transform a child's life. When I was growing up one of my pivotal memories was sitting down with my dad who showed me how to calculate how much money I'd have in my IRA down the road if I contributed my babysitting and lawn mowing money to it and it grew at 6%, 8%, 10%, etc. Yeesh. Once I saw that if I saved $2,000 a year (the annual max contribution back then) for 50 years and earned 8% average annual returns I'd have over $1,000,000 - I was hooked. It changed my attitude about money forever. Learning to be responsible with money became fun. Now most kids aren't as wonky as I was so punching the keys of an HP12C financial calculator might not do it for them, but I have a strong hunch Alisa's unique approach will.

How did you come up with this concept of using jobs to teach kids about money?

Alisa T. Weinstein: I credit my daughter completely. She wanted "one more lip balm Mommy!" and I thought 13 lip balms were plenty for a four-year-old (a four-year-old!). In my exasperation I told her to "get a job." As soon as I said it, I just knew that was how she was going to earn her allowance: by test-driving real jobs.

How does EARN IT, LEARN IT work?
AW: For the book, I interviewed 49 people with 49 different careers. I then translated their day-to-day responsibilities into kid-friendly tasks, many of which take 15 minutes. So when Mia was a Toy Designer, she cut out a paper version of her favorite stuffed toy and we talked about things like hard costs (which she apparently doesn't have because "Mom, I don't pay for [that stuff]. You do!")

What is the most surprising reaction you've had so far from a child?
AW: I say this with a big smile: the most surprising reactions don't come from kids. The real surprise reactions are from parents, who didn't realize it could be so easy, and take so little time, to get their kids engaged in something totally worthwhile.

What is the most common challenge parents have today when teaching their children about money?
AW: It has to be just getting started. Talking about money makes people uncomfortable. On top of this, the traditional methods (paying for chores, odd jobs, or no strings attached) aren't much fun. Since we're all so busy, it would seem easier to avoid the subject altogether. But then you end up with a kid who thinks the world exists to provide her with another lip balm.

What have you personally learned about money while writing this book?
AW: I was lucky. My parents taught me early on that what we do to earn money can be even more valuable than the money itself. Which means being more open to finding a career that simply makes us feel good. And this not only makes life richer, it makes living with (and learning about) money a lot more fun.

[You can follow Alisa on Twitter at @EarnMyKeep]

What experiences have you had teaching your kids about money?

[This post originally appeared at ManishaThakor.com.] Want more financial love? You can follow Women's Financial Literacy Initiative founder, Manisha Thakor, on Twitter at @ManishaThakor, sign up to get her email updates delivered right to your inbox here, and enroll in her innovative new online personal finance course called "Money Rules."

Follow Manisha Thakor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ManishaThakor

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New Portland personal finance site Adaptu joins the Minted crowd - Oregonian

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 06:53 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, February 02, 2011, 9:23 PM Updated: Wednesday, February 02, 2011, 9:27 PM

UPDATED 11 a.m.: Portland's StanCorp Financial Group Inc. officially launched a new personal finance tool this morning: Adaptu.com.

To that, It's Only Money says goodlucktou.

Adaptu pledges to combine financial management a la Mint, but with more of a social networking tilt. "We felt it was important to show people not only how they spent their money but also to connect and engage," said co-founder Mark Brundage. "It's organized around all the major phases people go through in their lives. It's not just focused around a money management tool." Join groups. Comment. Upload videos. All that.

It's free, but expect to see either advertising from or referrals to entities that want to sell you something (a mortgage, 401(k) services, IRAs) -- including The Standard, though Brundage says competitors will be on site as well. "If we're going to help empower people to make a better more well informed choice," he says, "they need to understand all the options out there."

Unfortunately, this is already a very crowded net space that has seen players teeter & fold.

Two years ago, It's Only Money reviewed online money management sites, it liked Wesabe best. Wesabe went under last year (Founder and Reed College grad Marc Hedlund wrote about why Mint succeeded while Wesabe didn't). It placed much more emphasis on social networking than did/has Mint.

UPDATE: Hedlund said he spent time on Adaptu last night and liked its design. But he doubts it will overcome the problem all such sites have -- keeping users engaged.

"Getting people to really stick with something or, heaven forbid, really change something in their life is really difficult, and I didn't see anything on their site that had any insight into that problem," Hedlund said.

Hedlund says most users of such sites act like many trying to diet or quit smoking; They're excited at first but they drop off after about a month and don't return.

"We did a great job for a set of people in the 10s of thousands," Hedlund said of Wesabe. "It's very hard to build a business around a group of 10s of thousands of people."

Where are some of the other sites in It's Only Money's review? Geezeo has tweaked its plan to provide services through banks and credit unions, including Portland's Unitus Community Credit Union.

moneyStrands, launched by Corvallis-based Strands Inc., appears to have moved to San Francisco and has a large office in Spain. Its fortunes, too, seem questionable.

And others have entered the scene, including PageOnce, which trumpets its existence on mobile devices.

The social networking portion of Wesabe remains active online. Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union, which is merging with Portland-based First Tech Credit Union, is paying Wesabe to maintain the site as a social engagement tool for members, Hedlund said.

Of course, none of this matters if you find Adaptu much kinder to the eye than Mint or the others.

One thing is clear: It's Only Money needs to update its review.

What online money management site do you use? SmartyPig? Yodlee? Buxfer? Why? Do you like Adaptu? Weigh in below.

Personal Finance

Friday, February 4, 2011