Expert tips for teaching your kids about financial literacy

According to an Intuit study, 85% of high school students want to learn about financial literacy in school, but only half of states have a dedicated financial literacy course. Vanguard Financial Advisor Manager Tiana Patillo joins Wealth! to discuss how to improve financial education for young people.

Patillo believes financial literacy "should start with the children," emphasizing that parents can "utilize" practical, everyday life scenarios to stress the importance of proper money management. She suggests having open conversations with children and even providing allowances to teach them the value of handling money responsibly.

The Vanguard advisor recommends using educational resources such as My Home Economy or My Classroom Economy, which can "really teach your children the power of earning, saving, and investing." These tools, she says, can help develop strong financial habits and decision-making skills from a young age.

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This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: When you think about what financial education looks like for youth, a lot of programs just trying to figure out where to start at. Where do you think they should and where should this conversation begin?

TIANA PATILLO: I say it should start with the children. As parents, we can impact our child's every single day. It could come to just practical money exercises or utilizing everyday life to show your children the importance of proper money management. I do it personally with my daughter. I have a 14-year-old daughter.

And when it comes to going grocery shopping, I'm teaching her the importance of inflation by teaching her the cost of prices rising when it comes to our food, or it could be something as simple as allowance, right? Ensuring that she's carving out a certain portion of her savings towards allowance. So I would say parents, you know, you should start at home and actually have conversations with your children because we only know what we're taught.

BRAD SMITH: All right. Your daughter is very lucky in that regard to get those lessons very early on. I imagine your conversations also extend into investments. For parents that are trying to discuss investments with their kids, where have you seen or heard success in beginning that dialogue?

TIANA PATILLO: Yeah. So even for myself personally, as you mentioned, the schools-- our schooling system sometimes, they don't have the resources available to teach our children. So I would utilize resources, such as My Classroom Economy is actually a resource that is powered by Vanguard, where you can really teach your children the importance of earning, saving, as well as investing. And then for parents, we have MyHome Economy, which helps parents teach children practical money management skills.

BRAD SMITH: Certainly. And then for some of the real-world scenarios that people are navigating through and trying to figure out, OK, where do I need to lean further into understanding more or learning more in my financial literacy journey because, I mean, they're always going to be new laws. There's always going to be new ways to kind of take advantage of codes and to set yourself up correctly.

So what are some of the real-world scenarios that you hear even anecdotally, or some of your clients, come to you guys with about how they can adjust their own strategy too?

TIANA PATILLO: No, great question. So current state I don't-- I don't have clients of my own. I actually manage financial advisors who help clients achieve their own financial success. And honestly, it's going to vary depending on the individual. Some people are very savvy when it comes to investing and they have the knowledge and the breadth to be able to teach their children the importance of these things, and others may not know. So I would say if you are uncomfortable with having those discussions, you should definitely rely on the expert to help your children.