GenZ and Money: 3 Tips to Teach Your Child Financial Literacy
Jennifer Openshaw spoke with Judy Zhu — CEO of MoneyGirls — on ways you can support your child’s financial education
By Jody Bell
Money. The word is on everyone’s mind as the United States unemployment rate rises to 10.4%, compared to the 3.7% tracked in 2019. For many families, COVID-19 brought a new slew of financial issues, and given the state of our economy, these repercussions won’t disappear overnight.
Now, families are dealing with their own monetary struggles while contemplating how their child will financially manage as they enter adulthood.
Jennifer Openshaw, CEO of Girls With Impact, spoke with Judy Zhu, Founder and CEO of MoneyGirls, an online network and education group focused on women’s financial literacy. She also served as the Chief Operating Officer of The Leadership Consortium, a company she launched with the Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei to bring more females into C-suite positions.
Here are some of Zhu’s insights and tips into GenZ and money – specifically, how you can teach your own child financial literacy.
GenZ and Money – What’s on their minds?
Growing up during the 2008 recession, facing daunting college tuition, and now entering adulthood with the economy reeling due to COVID-19 – how are they coping?
In short, they’re doing alright!
As Zhu puts it, “There’s no victim mentality. The older generation may feel the pain, but this generation acts on it.”
Their lives have been full of turmoil; from an increasingly polarized political climate, to rapidly changing technology shaping their upbringing. Yet, every step of the way they seem to be flexible, and ready to use the resources available to make the most out of their situation.
Tips to support your child’s financial education
While they may be independent and ready to lead the way in their journey to financial literacy, here are a few ways you can support them.
Don’t focus on the future – While the long-term benefits of financial literacy are important, Zhu doesn’t recommend this approach when inspiring or teaching your child. Instead, focus on some of the short-term goals – such as saving their allowance for a movie with friends next week, or buying a new phone or game. These short-term goals and similarly short term rewards will keep your child interested in these conversations.
Make it personal – Young people tend to get bogged down by financial literacy if it’s presented through a traditional “money advice” lens. Instead, try having a casual and open conversation that starts by asking them about their personal goals. This could be an item they want to purchase, event they want to go to, or even college tuition – try to use their passion to spur these conversations. As Zhu puts it, “Preachy-advice isn’t inspirational.”
Give them the tools – We know this is an action-oriented generation – once they’re inspired, they will use every resource available to achieve their goals. There are plenty of financial education programs such as Investopedia, which has market simulations where they can practice investing. This way, they can take charge of their own education and cater it to their interests and goals – while becoming more independent in the process.
Providing children with the tools to success starts by understanding money, which is important than ever in our current economic climate. Hopefully, these tips will help get this process and the conversations started for you and your family.
Jody Bell, 19, is Girls With Impact’s Chief Editor and a program graduate. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, after-school, entrepreneurship program for teen girls, turning them into tomorrow’s business leaders and innovators.