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Teach your kids how to avoid the debt trap and build real wealth

How to help make your kids rich.

Save your cents and the dollars will look after themselves.Open up a bank account and put two dollars a week of your pocket money into it. Don't waste your money on lollies and soft drink. Buy quality shares . Invest in a property trust etc etc etc. Your kids hear it from you ,their grandparents ,their teachers and any one else with a rags to rich story. It is any wonder the kids turn off and stumble along the financial path going from one problem to the next.

The major problem I feel is that kids are not taught to think for themselves. History is full of examples of lost fortunes of adult "would be millionaires" simply because no real homework was done in the first place and the real thinking was left to others. Time and time again you hear that if something appears to be too good to be true is usually is. Why then, do people lose their life savings in seemly sound investments. Quite simply they have not been taught well enough to think for themselves and do not use their brains.

Take the advice of opening up a bank account. You give your child $50 to start a bank account. He wanted to buy a collector's item . Twelve months later ,assuming that the bank has not deducted any fees your child is actually no better off with the bank account because no interest was paid. In fact the purchasing power of $50 has decreased with inflation. That collector's now costs $58 to buy. You have been a great help there haven't you?

Take the advice of never using credit to buy anything. You give you child $20 and tell him to save his $5 dollars a week pocket money towards a push bike as you do not want to use credit yourself to buy it for him. Unfortunately twelve months later that $270 push bike is now $320 to buy and you child has to work another ten weeks with his fingers crossed that the bike will still be there and the price still $320. Twelve months ago he wanted the bike so he could do a paper run that paid $20 per week. He has decided that it is just too much effort now. You were a great help there weren't you.

So if you want to make your kids rich give them the power of thinking for themselves. Ask them to set goals. Ask them what obstacles have to be overcome in achieving that goal. Ask them what research they have done and what qualified assistance they have sort. Ask them to explain to you the risks involved and so forth . In short make them use their brains to explore every avenue of a venture that involves hard earned cash before making any decision to part with it.

Many rich people today have simply started with an idea , added an ounce of brain power along with the determination to reach their set goal and never look back.

I cant help but think back when I was a kid , if I had have pushed ahead with my plans to market hamburgers world wide , I might have been a millionaire by now. Unfortunately I let others do the thinking for me and was persuaded it would never work. Yes , I have just told a big fib ,- but you do get the idea don't you?

Learn more about this author, Barry Williams.
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Teach your kids how to avoid the debt trap and build real wealth

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