What are we leaving behind

Have you ever chatted with your teenager about the purpose of money and the different strategies they have available to grow their money?

Well, if you have not you are not alone. Did you know that most typical teenagers can start earning income by the time they are 15? Earlier usually with a basic paper route or, if they are more on the entrepreneurial side, with shoveling snow, mowing the lawn, selling lemonade, etc.

I have had the privilege of raising two of my four children to adulthood, and both of them quite different on their values of money and time.

As parents we take the time to ensure they are understanding their subjects in school, getting enough extra curricular activities, proper health checkups, and hopefully enjoying their childhood.-- but have we taken the time to explain MONEY?

There are way too many tempting gismos and gadgets that make it hard for our teens to understand how to save their money, especially when their average income is $9.00/hr!!!

Where do you start? My first suggestion: to make it believable you should make sure that you believe the system works. There are many books out on the market about how to teach your children the importance of understanding their money and how to save.

A quick and easy technique is to decide together what portion of their paycheque you want to see go into a savings account, RESP (they can start this account before they turn 16), or even an RRSP. Make sure you celebrate the savings, and help them understand what they are achieving by getting a handle on their money early!

Couples' Reprieve

Money is a hard topic to talk about just on your own, and when you are in a money crisis with your partner it can even break a marriage.

How do you break the ice so that each of you can state your claim, and listen with an open heart and mind to each other?

A few things that my husband and I do...

• Make sure that we have a quiet place to talk. We tend to go to a lounge where we can relax and it tends to keep the loudness down.
• Make a game plan that is manageable and can be split up thru out the week. Remember Rome was not built in a day and neither were your debt troubles.
• Talk about the positive aspects of getting your debt under control; what do you both want to do in a year's time; what do you want to save up for individually and together.
• DON'T TALK ABOUT how you got in this predicament -- you both know that: someone or both of you spent beyond your means.
• DO TALK ABOUT how you will both be accountable for the spending, how you should record it. My recommendation is that you meet on a weekly basis together and tackle this together. This positive and the negative belong on both of your shoulders.

Remember -- YOU LOVE EACH OTHER, and you can conquer this just like anything else you have faced together.

Trust me when I say that if you can work thru this now and together you will have a very fulfilling life together. AND YOU WON'T BE IN MONEY STRESS!

One step at a time,

Your Accountess
Tina Pratt

Wishful Thinking

Have you ever seen the Scotia Bank Commercial where the husband and wife are at the bank to discuss their retirement? In this commercial the husband refuses to make any type of eye contact with the statement, until the banker tells him that he may be able to retire early.

Well I don't know about you, but it doesn't matter how much wishful thinking you do -- unless you take action with your money, things pretty much stay status quo or they decline fairly quickly.
In business or in your personal life, DON'T BE A WISHFUL THINKER! If you become accountable for your actions you can turn any bad or UNCOMFORTABLE situation into an EARLY RETIREMENT situation.

One part of Accountess is that we handle Debt Counseling and most often than not we deal with couples who stop communicating together regarding their money situation, and sometimes even they stop communicating about their aspirations. This is the DEAD ZONE -- because without each person accepting the responsibility their money ends up in this Dead Zone.

Who wants to be working their butts off just to have their money end up in a Dead Zone?

What is the answer? Open up the lines of communication, and know that money can not hurt you, and YOU CAN MAKE THIS INTO A GOOD SITUATION!

If you can relate to this, and need the extra help to change your journey, give our office a call -- we are here to help you!

To Your Success,

The Accountess