Summer Income for Kids – Episode 617

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[00:01] Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. Prosperity thinkers, welcome to the podcast. We’re going to be chatting about summer income for kids. It’s around the corner, but there’s two sides to it. There’s the money that kids are going to be able to make and then there’s the money that they keep and that is often a different number than what they make. And so Kim, you’re going to share some wisdom around this. Not only the mental game and things that they can do, but also the financial game. Absolutely. I love this space and I will admit that it became a part of our family. So naturally because we lived on a farm and it’s super easy to put kids to work on a farm. Nevertheless, please don’t just cross this off your

[00:53] list because your kid is under 18 and can’t technically get a job. I know that there are government restrictions. However, there are so many good things that they can do in your home and in your community in your tiny little neighborhood. Even if you’re if they’re young enough and you don’t want them out in the community in a little wider space and if you’re able to be with them during the summer and help them with this awesome, you know, that’s a super cool role to play. If you’re not then look for another family and maybe trade skills and time or look for another older child that can help them facilitate this space. So I believe the first thing to start with and we teach this in our prosperity parents course is the

[01:43] three E’s. So the first E is expectations. That’s things that they’re going to do in the home which are going to be more in the summertime than other times of the year. Things that might include again always age appropriate more lawn work more yard work, you know more deep cleaning the house, whatever it is. So there’s expectations things that they’re going to do in the home. Please do not call them chores and please do not make them so that they are miserable like make them so that they’re fun. And if it’s a family thing that it has to get involved so that the misery gets taken away so that it is fun then do that because yeah, there are some things that are not super fun but have to get done but please don’t call them chores.

[02:27] That’s the most important thing expectations. Okay, the second E is earnings. So they should be able to find some things again age specific that are above the expectations that are opportunities for earning. So for example, let’s say sweeping the patio is an expectation but getting out the power washer or the hose and a scrub brush is an earning opportunity, right? You see the difference and then they’re also going to have other earning opportunities outside in the marketplace in your neighborhood in your community. So for example, let’s say you’ve got a kid that really gets pretty decent with the power washer. I mean that you know, that’s a skill. It’s going to take somebody that’s decently

[03:15] strong and can deal with it because it is powerful and you want to be careful and you know, protect eyes and all those things. But if you have a kid that really figures out the power washer, which is impressive like I hate our power washer. It never wants to work for me. So I get that this might not be appropriate for all of them. But then if they figure it out, they can go power wash the neighbor’s driveway, the neighbor’s patio on one side on the other side, you know, maybe even expand it out into a community maybe even haul it around and have it as a service for others as well. Think about the earnings, second E, that they can create with that space. Now right alongside it three E’s. The third is expenses.

[04:00] So when they earn you want to create three different jars or three different accounts or it could be three different pieces of paper to write it all down on. It doesn’t really matter how you do it. But that earnings wants to be split up. Into three additional separate spaces savings sharing and spending savings sharing and spending. So we want to have the money that they earn first be saved. So 10 20 30% you could even create some of that for taxes. Okay, whether you’re going to actually tax them or whether they’re going to literally make enough money that they need to be taxed again age-dependent you want to have that going on savings and taxes then sharing right. So whether that sharing is because you

[04:57] help them pick a charity or there’s church or synagogue or whatever donations you choose to do on a weekly basis. So the second S is sharing. So we have saving sharing and then spending now it’s very important that the earnings second e create expenses third e so the spending goes with the expenses and what that looks like is that child is now responsible to spend some of their earnings on their life, which means those nice athletic shoes the fancy jeans the birthday party gift for their friend the concert tickets the food out maybe you pay for a hamburger, but they want to steak great. They can pay the difference all kinds of things that you can do in the expenses category. So they’re spending some of their earnings

[05:53] on some of their own expenses again age appropriate and scale it up. You can scale it down. It’s going to be different for different kids and your family even if you happen to have two that are of similar age because of skill sets and that kind of This will transform your summer. That was so good. I was so good. That’s one of those episodes that every family needs to put on and they need to get ready because this is summer. It is starting to wind up and the big thing is this that I’ve noticed with my kids and I’ve seen with a few others if they have to be responsible for the expenses from that profit. They now connect the two and until they are responsible for expenses. It’s like and it’s it really is good

[06:47] nature and goodwill of a parent being nice buying all the supplies for whatever the venture is. But the kid doesn’t understand the full side of the business and here’s the other side is you mentioned is an R. Correct. There was an R. There’s one more R that I put in for myself which is you now get a kid that focuses on the return of investment because they realize this is either a venture that’s going to work or it’s not but mom and dad didn’t float it and we’re not the government. Such good learning can occur such amazing up leveling of your children at this stage and if you need a question to start this whole thing off with it’s this. How would you like more responsibility and more freedom this summer?

[07:46] That’s so good. How would you like more responsibility and more freedom this summer? Yeah, and that works for five-year-olds all the way to 15 year olds. Absolutely. Perfect. There’s one last thing in here, which is this. There’s another S I’m going to put in which is we have to have a structure in order to do it. You mentioned we could do a piece of paper. We could do envelopes like some people talk about we could actually set up the accounts, but there’s got to be a structure. There’s a structure that you have found that works really well and it starts with the letter C. You want to talk about that? Absolutely. So there’s two elements to the structure. The first and I’ll put it on camera for those that happen to be

[08:35] watching a YouTube version of this podcast. The first is a simple PDF piece of paper that goes on the fridge because you cannot homework money. You must get physically engaged in it for the younger kids. Now as the kids get older, it’s totally fine to have it all be digital and you know at the bank and that kind of thing. Nevertheless, the younger kids and even the older ones they need to see it every week and that’s the value of a piece of paper magneted to the fridge or pinned on the bulletin board. Ideally that’s in your kitchen or dining room or you know wherever the schedules are organized. There’s always some physical representation of that. Then once they get into the bank account realm.

[09:19] So a lot of people have kids home from college, right? So over 18 when you’re into the bank account realm or if you’re a young parent and you’re in the bank account realm, there is a structure called currents and is by invitation only. So this is again where you’ll use our hello at ProsperityThinkers.com to be invited into the structure that includes a bank account and an app and again, I reiterate this is for 18 years and older that will absolutely be worthwhile to drive savings behavior and is a structure that you will use the rest of your life. So Spencer, I have a question for you. What would you guess for our clients that have already been invited in and are utilizing this structure and also other

[10:15] advisors that I know who are doing this. So we’re talking thousands of people. What would you guess the average percent of income saved is? I think what is okay. This is how I’m thinking. I think that as a norm, what people are probably sub 10%. Oh, yeah, I think 4% is the national average. Ouch. Okay, we’re at least we’re at least three four times better than that. So 16 to 20%. What is it? Where’s it at? It’s at 23. Okay, way better than I thought 23% of a family’s income is what the average is on the Currents platform of the thousands of people that have implemented this already. So my question to you our listeners is when do you want to start? I love that. You know when the time to start is when the per when

[11:24] the parent asks the question to the child about the opportunities that they want and the child says yes, and then they say cool. This is when we start this. Now you can start Currents and get ahead and be a little prepared. So good. Kim, this was an awesome episode listeners. Hello at Prosperity thinkers.com to get your special invite. And if you need some more of those table conversation questions send the email Kim’s written books about it. There’s no shortage of information and wisdom here. Hello at Prosperity thinkers.com. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity podcast to take control of your money and have it work for you visit Prosperity thinkers.com