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" 1. Be a good financial role model. Remember: Your kids are always watching you. They learn by observing adult behavior, so remember that you&amp;#039;re constantly sending financial cues to the children in your life in ways big and small, says Linda Descano, women and money expert from Citibank&amp;#039;s Women &amp;amp;amp; Co. &amp;quot;Be a good financial role model by using examples from your own life, either success stories or shortcomings, to teach them things they should and should not do with their money,&amp;quot; Descano said. Your kids can learn from your successes and mistakes, so handle your money the way you&amp;#039;d want them to handle their own. 2. Introduce them to helpful digital tools. Now that technology has virtually taken over our lives, there is a wealth of financial services and smartphone apps that can help you show your kids how to manage their money and track their spending. You can start by trying Manilla.com, the free, award-winning and secure service that lets you manage your bills and accounts in one place online or via mobile apps. Teach your children the importance of paying their bills on time by explaining why Manilla&amp;#039;s automatic bill pay reminders are useful. With Manilla&amp;#039;s free and unlimited account document storage, you can easily show them what it means to get a bill or statement and why it&amp;#039;s important to save them. 3. Have deliberate conversations about money. Instead of going with the standard, &amp;quot;Money doesn&amp;#039;t grow on trees!&amp;quot; comment, have thoughtful and meaningful discussions about finance that encourage positive feelings about money, says Tamara Monosoff, founder of women in business website MomInvented.com. &amp;quot;Avoiding the subject actually creates unnecessary negative feelings,&amp;quot; Monosoff said. &amp;quot;Trust me, when there is unspoken financial strain, children know and feel it. Instead, talk openly with your kids about the money you make and what it pays for, such as home, food, clothing and transportation.&amp;quot; This isn&amp;#039;t to say you should burden your children with every financial detail, Monosoff added, but a conversation like this will give them context and will help them grasp early on that it costs money to have the essentials and that everything else is extra. 4. Stress the importance of finding the total cost of a service or product. When children spot an advertisement for a shiny smartphone, tablet, music player or other toy, and they shout, &amp;quot;I want that!&amp;quot; they aren&amp;#039;t aware of a major factor that the ad conveniently leaves out: the total cost, said Caroline Knorr, parenting editor of family media company Common Sense Media. Digital devices today don&amp;#039;t necessarily come with a simple one-time fee \u2014 there are service charges, maintenance costs and warranty fees, as well. &amp;quot;Be frank about the real price of the convenience afforded by smartphones and other high-tech devices,&amp;quot; Knorr said. &amp;quot;Your kids need to know that there&amp;#039;s more to them than meets the eye.&amp;quot; 5. Create games that make learning about money fun. Turn everyday chores and errands into a learning experience, says Jen Senecal, founder and editor of parenting website Keekoin.com. &amp;quot;[My kids and I] play grocery and market games that involve fake money that they&amp;#039;ve &amp;#039;earned&amp;#039; by helping me pick up toys,&amp;quot; Senecal said. &amp;quot;The market items have prices and they can only buy what they have money for. It&amp;#039;s a fun game that isn&amp;#039;t too serious, and carries over well into other game ideas, like &amp;#039;hairdresser&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;nail salon.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Another option? Introduce the more obvious kid money management system \u2014 the piggy bank. Senecal added that each of her three young daughters have their own piggy banks, which they use for spare pocket change from their parents. They save throughout the year and then break it out on special occasions. &amp;quot;When we visited Disney World this past year, we emptied their banks with them, counted their savings and told them that they could bring it along to buy something while we were there,&amp;quot; Senecal said. &amp;quot;They were especially excited that it was their own money that bought a special token from our family trip.&amp;quot; To teach older children about the importance of saving money, offer to match up to a certain amount of how much they put in their own savings account, Senecal said. Or, encourage them to deposit a monthly amount into their college savings fund. More Great Advice From Manilla.com:  Take Financial Control of Your Life Revamp Your Wardrobe Without Going Into Debt How to Organize Kids&amp;#039; School Papers Financial Resources for the CFO of Your Household  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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