The Value of Money

It is no surprise to the readers of this blog that I have enough. I have enough money to live life comfortably without worrying about the well drying up. And while I am second generation FI myself, I worry about the effect this security has on my children. My kids know, for better or worse, that if we need something, we buy it. There is no struggle. No fear. In fact, as I pull back from work, they see that we have all the monetary benefits of financial independence but that dad isn’t busy or stressing as much. So in this environment, I worry that the children will feel that everything is easy. How am I going to teach them the value of money?

Of course, I can make them do chores for an allowance. I can teach them to budget, and pay for their own expenses. But what if this all falls short?

So I am always on the lookout for unique methods to drive home the value of money.

The Apple Watch

For years, my son has been begging us to buy him an Apple Watch. He complains about how his friends have the newest and greatest electronics, and we make him buy used or broken. Neither my wife nor I feel that a child of his age should be allowed such luxuries, even if we can afford them.

Years passed, however, and my straight A son, as well-behaved as can be, was still begging us for this costly purchase.

So how could I both buy him what he rightly deserved, and yet still maintain his understanding of the value of money?

And then I had an idea

Health Incentives

My wife and I both get health care coverage from her employer. Over the last few years, they have provided incentive programs to encourage good health habits in their employees. One of these incentives was particularly enticing. By wearing a tracker and walking 10,000 steps per day, as well as recording meal choices, points are won towards a bevy of rewards.

One of those rewards was an Apple Watch.

I knew that if I walked 10K steps a day and recorded every single meal on my App, I would have enough points after 10 months to get a free apple watch. The timing was perfect for my son’s birthday.

While free is always my preferred price, the allure had very little to do with the discount.

Suddenly, I had found a concrete way to teach my son the value of money.

Healthy Habits

My wife and I were very purposeful over the next ten months.

Every time we left for a walk or jog, we made a big deal of letting him know. He watched as I inputted my meal selection onto the phone. We had contests to see who could get the most steps each day.

He counted his own steps on his phone. After a hard day of camp, we compared his activities to our five mile walk.

Day in and day out, we made sure that he was cognizant of our struggle. He noticed when everyone was getting ready to go up to bed, that I was jumping on the treadmill to get that last thousand steps to make my daily goal.

Rewards

After ten long months his birthday came, and to his great surprise, he unwrapped a brand new Apple Watch. A watch that cost not a single cent, but delivered an important lesson about the value of money.

Because my son now knew. Instead of some obscure understanding of paper or credit, he could assign a concrete image to what this expensive piece of electronica cost. It cost 300 days of tracking my meal plan. It cost 3,000,000 steps taken at inopportune times at the end of the day or when everyone else was relaxing.

The value of money is time. It is giving up one abundance in trade for another.

Forward

I would love to say that my son’s thirst for things has been quenched, but it would be a lie. He still salivates over the latest and greatest technological gadget on the market.

But now he has a much better understanding of the value of money. His notion is no longer abstract but rather concrete.

And I think that was well worth ten months of getting in shape and eating well.