There are countless summer camps out there. Summer camps that teach survival skills are pretty common, but what about a camp that teaches financial survival? Teens have a lot to learn. Only half of high school students in a recent survey correctly answered questions about saving, budgeting and retirement.
Money camps are growing in popularity and that’s good news because many schools don’t cover the topic and parents aren’t always the best teachers. They’ve made mistakes with their own money and, so, they don’t feel ready to teach their kids about personal finance.
In a camp taught near where I live, 10-year-olds to teens learn how to budget, save, buy a house and car and start their own business. “You can do what you love and still make cash because you can make your money work for you,” the camp founder says.
Finance camps can cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars for a two day long session, or run into the thousands for sleep away camps often held at colleges. Check out www.themoneycamp.com for more info.
Would you send your kids to a money camp?
I think that the idea’s great for any parents who need to go to money camp themselves. My kids? I expect myself to educate them about everything I know about money when the time comes, so I have a hard time imagining spending that money for a service that I should be able to provide on my own. Now, I would love to learn how you teach the mentality without having them boomerang in the other direction like my friend has in reaction to her frugal and bargain-seeking mother.
We should teach our kids about finances from early age!
But then again, we should teach our kids a lot of things from early age…
– Steven Burda –
e-mail: steven.burda.mba @gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/burda
(to connect to my professional network)
I think it’s a great idea to teach kids financial literacy from an early age. Often parents themselves are fiscally irresponsible (eg.: taking loans for personal consumption), inculcating a poor fiscal discipline amongst their children. While each one gets university degrees in his/her field of profession to scale heights, our education system doesn’t make it compulsory for kids to be financially aware.
Personal Finance cannot be an elective!!
Regards,
Zak.