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Whether it was due to necessity or pure strategy, my mother gave me a leg up in my chosen career by sharing the basics of money management with me at a very young age. I remember my first lesson vividly. I was 10 and I really wanted a pair of Jordache jeans (don’t laugh, they were cool back then!). My mom patiently sat me down with the checkbook, her paycheck and the bills and showed me exactly what it cost to run our household and how much was left for groceries, savings, and finally non-essential expenses, like the jeans in question. I was told if I really wanted them, I could save for the jeans.

Many kids today are simply handed their parent’s credit card to go off and buy whatever they want with no idea of the value of an item or how to manage their money. But through the internet, there are now a variety of tools available out there to help parents and teachers provide their children and students with the financial basics.

A really fun site, The Mint, has all kinds of financial literacy activities and interactive games designed for kids (older elementary and middle school age) and their parents. One of my favorites is their kid-friendly, money management tool called the Spending Challenge. It gives young consumers the opportunity to judge the value of some mock expenses and how they would pay for them over a 16 week period. This site also offers lesson plans for teachers.

For older students, the CFP Board provides free tools to parents and teachers through the high school programs and resources portion of their web site including free classroom posters. At NEAMB.com, we offer a link to a free Banking Basics tutorial. Plus, don’t forget to check out the Lessons Plans section of NEA.org for additional financial education material. Fellow NEA members have come up with some great ideas like the “Money Bee“, “Where Does the Money Go?“, and “Going Back to School Can Be Expensive!”

And in case you are wondering, I never did buy the jeans. By the time I saved enough, I decided I didn’t really want to spend all of my hard earned money on one pair of Jordache. Okay, you can laugh now…