I have four beautiful kids, and anyone who is a parent understands there are opportunities for each to learn daily. I’m not talking about schooling; I’m talking about real-world moments where questions arise, practical questions that come from experience. Depending on their age, kids are constantly experiencing new things and soaking up knowledge like little sponges. So, I’m always looking for moments to provide lessons they can relate to and adopt into their developing identities. 

Case in point: a few weeks back, I took my family to the Topsfield Fair, one of the biggest annual fairs in New England that runs for about two or three weeks in October. If you’ve been to this fair, or really any fair, you know how they’re designed to operate; everything costs money, and if you don’t go in with a financial plan, you’ll be out hundreds of dollars before you’ve had a chance to enjoy some hot fried dough. 

Financial Literacy for Kids – Outlining the Plan

As a family financial planner, I was determined to roll out a different type of strategy going into the fair this year. My highest priority was teaching my kids how to allocate funds and diversify their assets. I gave each child (3 of spending age; my daughter is still a toddler) $35, and they could choose to spend it however they wanted, but that was the limit. As I suspected, each of my children chose to spend their $35 in different ways, and knowing them as fathers, it mostly went as I had anticipated. Overall, this worked out very well. I avoided the chaos of each kid asking me for money at every corner, and they all gained some perspective on how quickly money can disappear with a plan. 

Understanding the Economic Environment 

The first lesson I wanted all my kids to learn was what environment they were entering to spend their money. Fairs are worse than any mall or Lego store in terms of layout; casino psychology is at play. They’re curated to put parents in the position of saying no to their children for hours on end. From the rides to the games to the food, even the bathrooms can cost money, so teaching my kids that this type of economic environment they’re stepping into was one of my top priorities. Some understood that from hearing it from me, while my youngest son needed to learn it through experience. 

Outlining Priorities

Before we rushed off to the games or Ferris wheel, I wanted each child to decide where to allocate their money and what they wanted to do most. I found myself saying, “Are you sure you just want to do rides the whole time?” or “Are you sure you want to win that goldfish more than you’d like a snowcone?” Between my three boys, between the ages of 5 and 11, you can imagine their priorities were different. While one preferred to spend his money on games and snacks, the other wanted just to do rides, while my third boy wanted to mix and match, sampling all the fair had to offer. 

It was important to me not to define or tell my sons what they should be doing but to let them learn through experience, giving them context for making decisions going forward. 

Achieving Goals

Each boy had a goal, whether that was to sample some of the fine fair cuisine and play some games, get on as many rides as possible during our visit, or win a goldfish from the ringtoss booth. All had goals they set out to achieve, providing them with a strategy to follow with their $35 foundational funding. While some were more successful than others and may have felt a little sick after rides and candy apples, all learned a lesson about sticking to a path and not being sidelined by distractions. 

Financial Literacy for Kids – Making it Fun and Relatable 

I find I’m most successful teaching my boys life lessons, financial or otherwise, when they have context and are engaging/fun. I remember being taught financial lessons in school, but it was hard to have any of them stick, as there was nothing relatable to me about saving or spending money when being taught in 4th-grade math class out of a textbook. Now, I’m not blaming schools or teachers for this at all; they’ve got enough to worry about. No, I’m simply saying financial literacy for kids is best practiced out in the world, where they can contextualize what’s happening with their money, they can taste what a $7 fried Oreo is like, and hold a $35 goldfish in a plastic cup – this is when knowledge arises experience and grows into wisdom.  

If you have kids, I hope this story about our family outing to the Topsfield Fair will help you craft some lessons for your kids to experience, too. 

Please contact me with any questions regarding family financial planning; my door is always open.