You can also help your son learn from your mistakes. But if you wait too long to teach him then he’s not going to listen. Remember, he’ll probably be just like you when you were a teenager: He’ll be stubborn, thickheaded and he’ll think he knows everything.

你也可以幫助孩子從你的錯誤中吸取教訓(xùn),。但是不要等到他長大不聽話了才去教育他。記住,，他很可能跟你小時候一樣：又倔又幼稚的以為自己什么都明白了,。

He’s a little bit more open to you when he’s six years old and in the first grade. That’s also when they’ll start to teach him about money in school -- how to add quarters, dimes and nickels. So, start giving him some basic money management lessons. And remember, if you tell him something, he’ll probably forget it. If you teach it to him, he might remember. But if you involve him, he’ll learn. To make it easier for you (and him), here are the four most important lessons to teach your son about personal finance.

孩子六歲左右上小學(xué)一年級的時候會更聽話一些。這個時候也恰是學(xué)校開始教他關(guān)于“錢”這一概念的時候——怎樣加25分硬幣,、10分硬幣,、5分硬幣。所以,，開始教他一些基本的理財課程吧,。但要記住，如果你要“告訴”他事情,，他很可能會忘記,；如果你要“教給”他事情,，他可能會記??；唯有讓他自己“親歷去做”事情，他才能夠?qū)W會,。為了讓你方便教育孩子（也為了孩子）,，我這兒準(zhǔn)備了四堂教育孩子個人理財?shù)淖钣杏玫恼n程。

1- You have to earn money

第一堂課 必須自己賺錢

Some people like to give their kids allowances as a way of teaching them how to manage money. That might be fine at first, but eventually he’s going to have to understand that adulthood doesn’t come with an allowance. You have to earn money and you earn money by working -- and working is generally hard. If he understands you don’t come across money easily then he’ll understand that money has value. He’ll also be less likely to blow it on high-end video game systems when the rent is due.

有 些家長傾向于給孩子零用錢來教育孩子怎樣管錢,。這種方法起初看起來很好,，但他最終不得不明白成人以后是沒人給他零用錢的。一個人不得不自己賺錢而且是通過 工作來賺錢——通常工作都是很辛苦的,。只有明白父母賺錢不容易了,，他才能理解錢是有價值的。他也就不會再房租到期的時候把錢花光買高檔游戲機(jī)了,。

Get him involved: Give your son chores to do around the house. Make sure the chores are somewhat hard for him. It’s even a good thing if he complains about doing them. If he does a good job, tell him so and pay him a little bit of money. Money might not mean much to him when he’s in the first grade, but he’ll understand its value soon enough. When he does, he’ll understand that earning it involves some sacrifice.

讓他參與進(jìn)來：讓孩子做些屋里屋外的家務(wù),。挑那些對他來說有點(diǎn)難度的。他如果抱怨不想去做倒是件好事,。如果他可以做好,，就許諾他并且給他點(diǎn)獎金作為報酬。在他小學(xué)一年級的時候錢對于他來說可能沒什么意義,，但他會很快明白錢的價值的,。一旦他做了，他就會明白賺錢是要付出代價的,。

2- You have to follow your money

第二堂課 必須記錄費(fèi)用支出

There are all kinds of online tools and spreadsheets to help track your spending. Nearly all of them will stress the importance of dividing your purchases between your “needs” (groceries, rent/mortgage, insurance premiums) and your “wants” (bar tabs, weekend trips to Vegas). The implication, of course, is that if you are overspending then you need to cut your “wants” spending.

有很多種在線工具和電子表格可以幫助人們跟蹤記錄消費(fèi)情況,。幾乎所有的工具都會告誡人們把消費(fèi)劃分為“必要花費(fèi)”（食雜，房租/按揭貸款,，保險）和“可選花費(fèi)”（酒吧小酌,，周末拉斯維加斯旅行）。這意味著如果超支了就要削減“可選花費(fèi)”了,。

It sounds like common sense, right? Well, so is the key to losing weight: diet and exercise. Still, there are millions of overweight people in the world and bookstores are packed with all of the “secret,” “painless” and “miracle” ways to lose weight. Make sure your son knows that there are no secret/painless/miracle personal finance tips, either. You have to understand what you are spending your money on and make adjustments accordingly.

這 聽起來就是常識,，對不對？好吧,，大家都知道減肥的關(guān)鍵是：節(jié)食與鍛煉,。但全世界仍然有數(shù)以百萬記的肥胖人群，書店里仍有著標(biāo)榜著“減肥秘訣”,、“輕松減 肥”和“特效減肥”之類標(biāo)語的各種減肥書,。要讓你的孩子知道在個人理財?shù)母拍罾餂]有秘訣、輕松,、特效任何一條是可行,。要讓他明白錢都花在哪兒了,，是怎么合 理分配的。

Get him involved: This finance lesson to teach your son involves sitting down with him and drawing two columns on a blank piece of paper. Title one column “Needs” and the other “Wants.” Ask him to help you fill in each column for all of the items you spend money on each month. Explain why each item is a need or a want, making sure he understands what the consequences will be if you don’t pay the mortgage, car payment, buy groceries, and so on. You’ll be able to reinforce this lesson every time you’re in a store with him and he begs for candy or a new toy. Ask him, “Is that a need or a want?”

讓他參與進(jìn)來： 這堂課要讓你的孩子與你一起坐下來,，在空白紙上畫出兩列,。一列叫“必要花費(fèi)”，另一列叫“可選花費(fèi)”,。讓他幫你把每個月的所有花費(fèi)項目分列填好,。告訴他每 一項為什么歸到那一類，讓他明白你不付按揭貸款,，不付汽車開銷,，不買食雜用品的后果是什么。也可以在每次孩子隨你一起購物的時候給他來個強(qiáng)化課,，當(dāng)他想要 買糖果或新玩具的時候問問他：“這樣?xùn)|西是必要的還是可選的呢,？”

3- You have to save money

第三堂課 必須要存錢

Once you teach him the concept of “needs vs. wants,” you can move on to stress the importance of savings, specifically the importance of penciling in “savings” as an item in the “needs” section.

一旦你教會了他第二堂課所涉及的概念，就可以繼續(xù)下一步強(qiáng)調(diào)存錢的重要性了,，特別是省下將來用在“必要花費(fèi)”中項目的錢,。

First tell him how important it is to have a short-term emergency savings account. If he has one, then it means that he won’t have to go into debt when his car breaks down, he loses his job or some other unforeseeable emergency happens to him. Then tell him that having a long-term savings account means he’ll be able to buy a house at an earlier age, start his own business before he has a family and be able to live comfortably when he’s his grandfather’s age.

首 先要告訴他有一個短期緊急儲蓄賬戶的重要性。如果有了這個賬戶,，就意味著一旦諸如遇到車壞了,、工作丟了或其他不可預(yù)見的緊急情況發(fā)生時就不必舉債度日了。 然后告訴他有一個長期儲蓄賬戶可以讓他在更年輕的時候就可以買得起一個房子,，可以在組建家庭前開創(chuàng)自己的事業(yè),，可以在年邁的時候過得更舒服一些。

Get him involved: Let him keep 1/3 of the money he makes from doing chores in a piggy bank in his room. But tell him you are going to keep track of the rest of the money with 1/3 going to an account that he can use for things while he’s still young and 1/3 going to an account that he can have when he turns 18. As these amounts grow larger, you can open up a savings account for him at the bank so he can track his money online.

讓他參與進(jìn)來： 讓他留下做家務(wù)零活所得的三分之一放在存錢罐或他房間里隨用,。但也要告訴他你會監(jiān)督用另外三分之一的零用錢建立一個可以近期支出使用的短期戶頭,，最后三分 之一建立不滿18歲不可以使用的長期戶頭。當(dāng)這些戶頭上的錢多起來的時候,，就給他在銀行開一個儲蓄賬戶讓他可以自己在網(wǎng)上查閱他的現(xiàn)金流,。

4- You can’t spend what you don’t have

第四堂課 必須量入為出

If you teach your son no other lesson (financial or otherwise), teach him this: Live within your means. Don’t spend more than you make. Most financial hardships come down to people not being able to abide by this one simple precept. If your son “gets it,” then you’ve done him a huge favor that he’ll thank you for later.

什么都可以不教（理財或其他方面），但必須教會他：量入為出,。不可以超出自己能力范圍花錢,。很多面臨財務(wù)困境的人都是因為沒有遵守這個簡單的理念。如果你的孩子“明白了”,，你就幫了他一個大忙,，以后他必定感謝你。

When people do spend money on things they can’t afford, they go into debt. And credit card debt can take years to pay off.  If you can teach your son at an early age how credit card companies make money, he’ll probably have an edge on his peers when he gets to college.

一旦人們買了他們承擔(dān)不起的東西,，就會陷入債務(wù)危機(jī),。還信用卡債務(wù)可能要分期數(shù)年。如果你在你孩子小的時候就教他明白信用卡公司是靠什么賺錢的，當(dāng)他上大學(xué)的時候他就很可能比他的伙伴們都要強(qiáng)了,。

Get him involved: Go back to your “needs and wants” columns. Ask him what happens if he is only earning $100 per month but he is spending $75 on both needs and wants. He’ll have to borrow the extra $50 -- so after one year he’ll owe a credit card $600 plus interest. Use an online calculator to do a “time value of money” calculation that shows him how much debt you can run up when you’re using a credit card that charges 17% interest. Then show him how long it will take to pay it off if you only make the minimum payment. Make sure he understands that the more economical solution would be to cut $25 from the ”wants” column.

讓他參與進(jìn)來： 回到第二堂課提到的“必要與可選”列表,。問他如果他每個月就賺100美元但必要和可選兩個列表的花費(fèi)都是75美元時該怎么辦。他不得不借貸額外的50美元 ——一年后他就擁有了一張600美元賬單加利息的信用卡,。用在線計算器做一個“金錢的時間成本”的計算,，然后告訴他當(dāng)他用一張利息17%的信用卡時會有多 少債務(wù)滾滾而來。然后告訴他每月只還最低還款時他將用多久才能還完賬單,。必須讓他明白把“可選”列的項目削減25美元才是更經(jīng)濟(jì)的解決之道,。

finance lessons to teach your son

給孩子的理財課

If you want him to learn to hit a baseball, you don’t sit him down and describe Albert Pujols’ s swing. You take him in the backyard and pitch to him. It’s the same with money management. He’ll forget your lectures -- but he’ll learn when you get him involved.

如果你要讓孩子學(xué)會打棒球,，你就不要只是坐下來給他描述阿爾伯特·普侯斯的揮棒有多帥（譯注：Albert Pujols,，美國職棒紅雀隊的一壘手，年薪1600萬美刀,，超級大牛）,。你要把孩子帶到場地去然后投球給他。財務(wù)管理也是同樣的道理,。他會忘了你的說教,，但一旦自己參與進(jìn)來他就融會貫通了。

譯后記：個人覺得老外的方法很實用,，授人魚不如授人以漁就是這么個道理,，不能讓我們的孩子再像我們小時候一樣懵懵懂懂了。