Convenience Banking, Children, And Wealth Creation
Many of us, particularly those of us with children, never step foot in a bank anymore. Unless we make special plans to leave the kids at home, we’re doing our banking online and at the drive-up teller. What impact might this convenience banking atmosphere be having on the efforts of our children to create wealth?
The Good, The Bad
Convenience banking is resulting in a generation of children that have no concept of the reality of money. In wealth creation, that could be a blessing or a curse; which one it becomes depends largely on you as parent and/or mentor.The good news is that convenience banking raises children to think that money isn’t real. As we learn in wealth creation, money really isn’t real; money management and investment is nothing more than paper transactions in reality. It takes no “real” cash money to buy anything anymore—not fast food, not clothes, and especially not the big things like real estate and stocks. This is beneficial in that kids don’t get so hung-up and fearful of money.
The bad news is that convenience banking raises children to think money isn’t real. They have no idea about the actual cash backing debit card transactions and credit lines. They lack the concept of working for money to pay for a purchase. Children learn today that you buy what you want with plastic, but don’t often see the work and pay side of things. They learn to focus on the materials of life, not the money behind them. Instead of learning to save and build wealth, children learn to spend and become indebted to the banks. Later, they learn how to struggle to pay for it. It’s a backwards understanding of money systems.
The Answer
You can help your children and use this convenience banking phenomenon to your advantage as a teaching tool. How? The same way you help yourself learn to manage money and create wealth—with a wealth creation education. By giving your children more of a financial education, you will garner the benefits of the convenience banking mentality without the liabilities of the spending and debt trap. Include your children in wealth creation, and let them learn with you before creditors teach them the hard way.
Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008
Tags: Building Wealth, Create Wealth, Financial Education, Invest, Investment, Money, Wealth, Wealth Creation
February 16th, 2009 at 3:32 am
I know a thing or two about this subject, since I work in collections and my gf teaches money and life skills to young adults. You are not wrong, there is a shortage of information and understanding, but . . . Don’t forget that “banks” in order to improve their yield are starting to target higher end customers and even refusing accounts to some people. Some banks even require a certain credit score just to open an account. Clients who open and close accounts often, move often, or have a lot of bounced checks are an expense the major banks would like to avoid. The “self banking” sometimes know they are getting ripped off, but they also recall the holds and limits a regular bank put on their account. Don’t be too quick to judge, as time passes their will be a two tier banking system, as “traditional banks” become more like Macy’s and Convenience Banking becomes like Target or K-Mart.