The Spicer Bank

Justin and I have been reading Richard and Linda Eyre’s new book, The Entitlement Trap: How to rescue your child with a new family system of choosing, earning, and ownership.

It's crazy to accumulate money but never teach our kids how to handle it or even how to have the financial savvy necessary to thrive in this topsy-turvy economic world they are growing up in.

We realized that we had an economy in our own home, but it was essentially a welfare and entitlement economy. Kids asked for money {or toys or whatever} and got them. They felt that they deserved whatever they wanted and whatever their friends had, without working or waiting. And the “allowances” they received were essentially hand-outs.

• Were we setting them up for failure?
• Was our indulgence fostering an entitlement attitude?
• Were we undermining their initiative and motivation and even their entrepreneurial spirit by giving them too much?

Then we ran across a bold claim by authors Richard and Linda Eyre, who said that we could create a little microcosm of the real economy within our own homes. Specificallt, they suggested:

• Instead of “allowance” or hand outs on Sundays, we could have “pay days,” where the amount kids got was directly proportionate to how many of their tasks they remembered and completed and kept track of.
• Instead of an open wallet or purse, we could establish a “family bank”.
• Instead of cash, each child could have a checkbook with a check register to keep track of and let them deposit or withdraw from their account in the family bank {which would pay interest on the portions they elected to save}.
• And instead of them living like entitled princesses in their castle, there could be simple tasks they were responsible for … from cleaning a public area of the house or kitchen to having the initiative to get homework and music practice done without prodding and before dinner.

We have introduced the “family economy” to our girls. They love it {well, Sophie is skeptical but we are confident she will buy into it}. They were ALL flattered by the responsibility and persuaded by the adult-like recognition of having their own checkbook and account in the family bank. They love the idea having more money and having responsibility to buy their own stuff.

The learning moments have already started! Adding and subtracting figures in their check registers; trying to calculate how much they might earn in interest {the Spicer Bank will pay out 10% interest on all monies the girls still have in their account at the end of each month} and even trying to figure out how they can earn more money. Yes, their little financial wheels are spinning!

Now, when we go to the store or to the mall, instead of the “no, no, no” answers of previous shopping trips, we can reply, “You can have whatever you want to buy.” The obvious goal here is that the girls will eventually learn to carefully consider what they are buying, if they need it {and sometimes they will just want it and that's fine too} and ultimately how managing money works.