Talk To Your Children About Money

I remember learning some simple money concepts very early. I would go to the convenience store with a tiny wallet and a few coins in it. My mother would allow me to buy candies for 50 cents and I tried very hard to count the right amount. I must have been around four or five years old. Two years later, I proudly opened up my first bank account. I have been saving money ever since.

I believe that my parents did an amazing job at educating me about money. Now that I’m a parent myself, I am discovering that it is not that easy to talk to my children about money. Truthfully, I’m a little unsure how to speak to them about it. That’s why I went online to find information about BMO’s Talk With Our Kids About Money (TWOKAM) program.

Talk With Our Kids About Money powered by BMO Financial Group in partnership with Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE), helps makes it easier for me to talk to my kids about finances. It is a free program that offers resources and tools to help integrate money conversations into our everyday life. BMO helped launch Talk With Our Kids About Money four years ago. The annual event, Talk With Our Kids About Money Day powered by BMO, will take place on the third Wednesday in April which will be on April 20 this year (2016.)

BMO is dedicated to financial literacy and in partnership with CFEE offers two different programs through TWOKAM: a home program and a school program. The home program provides parents and guardians with fun and engaging ways to help their children learn more about money. The school program support teachers in their efforts to integrate financial education into the school curriculum.

A person’s relationship with money is forged at a young age and I am so glad that BMO is here to help Canadians approach this conversation with youth, and foster financial literacy across Canada. I believe that we should talk about financial literacy all year-round. This is why I am grateful that BMO YourFinancialLife.com website was launched to help us with even more tips and articles about preparing our children’s financial future. The website is active all year to support us in talking with our children about money.

Go to talkwithourkidsaboutmoney.com to register and sign up as a parent, guardian, or as an educator. Once you have filled in your information, you will have access to the lesson plans. The program is available in English and French. What are you waiting for?

Join the conversation using the hashtag #TWOKAM and make sure to follow @BMO on Twitter and on BMO Financial Group on Facebook.

This post was brought to you by BMO but the images and opinions are my own.