Kids & Money

FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — the form that determines how much financial help you can get for college. Here’s what it is and how to use it.

A short, regular family money meeting normalizes talking about money and gives kids a voice. Why to hold them, what to talk about, how to run one, and how to keep it age-appropriate.

Game currencies and one-tap buying make real money invisible to kids. Why digital money is tricky, the guardrails to set up (purchase approvals, family controls), and how to teach the real-money connection.

Advertising and store layouts are designed to make kids want things. How to teach children to see the ads, separate needs from wants, compare prices with the unit price, resist the ‘sale’ trap, and practice in the real world.

Three labeled jars turn budgeting into something kids can see and touch. What each jar teaches (planned spending, patience, generosity), how to set it up, how to make it real, and how it grows into real accounts.

Kids learn money best when they don’t realize they’re learning. Why games work, hands-on activities for young kids (play store, jars, coin counting), and games for older kids and teens (board games, budget challenges, pretend investing).

A kid-run business turns earning, pricing, and profit into something real. Why a small venture teaches so much, business ideas by age, how to walk through the real numbers together, and why to let them own the flops.

Paper trading is a risk-free sandbox where teens can try investing strategies with fake money in real-time markets. The major platforms (Investopedia, The Stock Market Game, thinkorswim), how to use it well, the wrong lessons it can teach, and how to pair it with real money.

Dividend Reinvestment Plans turn dividend payments into more shares automatically. Setup is one click at any major broker. Why DRIPs are ideal teaching tools (compounding becomes visible), how to set up brokerage DRIPs vs direct DRIPs, and tax implications.

The Rule of 72 in 30 seconds. The two-siblings chart that shows why $5,000 invested at age 15 ends at $147,000 while the same $5,000 at age 35 ends at $38,000. Free tools, age-by-age teaching, and the same math running against you on credit card debt.