Doesn’t everyone wish that they had learned to budget, save money, and be financially savvy at an earlier age? Don’t let your children develop bad money-management habits - learn from your own experience and raise financially aware children. Establishing a solid foundation at a young age will prove beneficial to them later in life! Here are four great tips for parents to share with their children to become financially aware. Start at a young age. The earlier children learn financial responsibility the better! “Kids learn about money in school as young as 6 or 7,” notes Stephanie Nelson, better known as the Coupon Mom (www.couponmom.com). “At home, it is important to teach equivalency - for example, $1.50 is the cost of a can of soda. When my children and I stop at the market and they choose a special treat, I always let them hand the cashier the money.” Establishing a connection between actual money and the cost of products is an important foundation to create and build upon, especially at a young age. Start an allowance. Setting up an allowance for chores, school lunches, and weekly spending gives children control of their own cash, but more importantly teaches and encourages responsibility. “If they blow their whole week’s allowance at the movies on Monday night, it will teach them how to budget and prioritize. Fiscal responsibility is most important for tweens who often participate in costly activities with friends after school and on weekends. This is why it’s important to start a cash allowance based on weekly chores - and to clearly connect the work to weekly spending money. This system teaches children that weekend fun is earned, and that everything in life comes with a price. This is important and a necessary lesson to learn early on, before the excitement of credit cards and “spend now, pay later” becomes attractive. A prepaid debit card can be a useful tool. As recently reported by CBS MarketWatch and USA Today, Generation Y youngsters (those born from 1982 to 2000) have the purchasing power of over $200 billion per year, influencing as much as half of all spending in the economy. Unfortunately, much of this spending is difficult to track because they are using cash allowances. It’s important that once a teen has developed smarter spending habits through an allowance system, to transition them to a more secure and convenient form of cash, like a prepaid card. There are a number of prepaid cards that are great for familiarizing a teen with plastic. These cards are a key step toward transitioning to a credit card, and many offer useful tools such as online budgeting and rewards programs, and, most importantly, they do not accrue debt. One option is reloadable credit card because it’s been designed for families’ needs, such as instantly loadable funds via the Web or cell phone and low sign-up fees. Graduate to a checking account or a credit card only when ready. The transition to a credit card or debit card (linked to a bank account) should be smooth after a teen has familiarized themselves with the process and financial tools provided by prepaid cards. They should now be financially savvy and capable of moving into something a little more sophisticated. Credit and debit cards are perfect for college-age teenagers who are often away from home, requiring financial responsibility for everyday activities from lifestyle purchases to grocery shopping. “When my teenager began shopping at the mall and going out to dinner, I was afraid she would lose the cash I gave her, or worse - have it stolen,” says Diane Peck, a mother of three. “Sometimes she would spend it all in one place and not have enough for later.” Peck adds that her neighbor told her about the UPside card, and she soon signed up her daughter. “Now I’m not running out on Sunday nights to the ATM for last minute lunch money or worse, finding the kids in an emergency without any cash. It has made my life, and theirs, so much easier - and taught my daughter so much about managing her money.”