It's never too late to change your family tree

Our church just completed our first Wednesday night Bible study with six lessons from Dave Ramsey's book set Life Lessons with Junior. It was a lot of fun. The children learned about work, spending, giving, saving, integrity and debt. The kids and even their parents had a great time. I want to encourage every parent to take time to teach your kids about money. It is never too early or late to teach them. Take a look at these staggering statistics:

• 19% of Americans between the ages of 18-24 declared bankruptcy in 2001.- USA Today, 2001. The fastest growing group of bankruptcy filers are those people who are 25 years of age or younger.- Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, 2002. Over 80% of undergraduates have at least one credit card and nearly 50% of college graduates carry four or more credit cards. According to the Department of Education, the average balance carried by these students is more than $3,000.- Senator Chris Dodd, CT. 68.1% of high school seniors surveyed failed a basic financial survey, up from 52.1% in 2001, and only 10% scored a "C" or better.-Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Annual Summary, 2002. Nearly half of college-age adults (49%) said they believe they are more likely to become millionaires by starring in a reality TV series than by learning how to budget and save wisely (36%).-Visa USA, 2003. Persons entering college are offered an average of 8 credit cards in their FIRST WEEK of school.- Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Annual Summary, 2002. 83% of adults are unaware of the resources available to help them teach children practical money skills.- Visa USA, 2003.

Dave says that your job as a parent is not just to keep your child happy - AMEN! It is tough love sometimes isn't it and saying the dreaded "NO" word to our children is done out of love. You're raising a future grown-up who needs to be able to deal with grown-up matters. If you teach little Timmy how to handle money responsibly, then grown-up Timmy will be better equipped for a richer life.