What's the Deal: Talking to your kids about money

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Talking to children about money can be stressful and awkward, but experts say it's important to pass that financial wisdom on.

To make sure kids have a chance at financially healthy lives, experts recommend you get creative when having conversations about these critical concepts.

First, saving money.

Financial coach Alok Deshpande says get children to appreciate deals and challenge them to make their dollar go further.

"If they can experience what that looks like and feels like they'll never forget it," he said. "If we go to Barnes and Noble and my son likes a book, we're also going to look it up on Amazon while we're in the store because I want to see if I'm actually going to save or not."

Number two, making money.

One way to teach children how to generate cash independently is to get their help selling stuff online.

"Let them take the pictures, let them put it up online. Let them do the research to set the price. and then give them 30%," suggests Alok.

Number three, compound interest.

Experts recomment you help kids experience it by giving them $50 and then paying them interest.

"And just say: 'Look if you save it, every week i'm going to give you 5% interest.' Well, that $50 dollars after 6 months is close to $180 dollars," said Alok.

Number four, talk to older teens about paying for college, student loans and credit cards.

"That is a really great time when the kids are listening. They're engaged, they're tuned in because it's about their life. It's not about a parent nagging," said Alok.

Finally, experts say it's also a great time to teach kids about sharing.

Having them donate a portion of their allowance to charity can show them money can used to help people, rather than just for buying things. Reinforce that it's not how much you give, rather that every bit counts.

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