Kids and Cash

One of the best and nicest things that we as parents can do for our children is to teach them about money. I don't mean things like balancing a checkbook. I'm talking about fiscal responsibility.

Things like how to earn. How to save. How to buy. How to give. How to invest.

A while back, I wrote in this post about a story that suggested kids today expect that they'll be big wage earners, earning over six figures. I hope its true! But, without knowing how to handle their finances, they'll end up living paycheck to paycheck, no matter what their level of income.

Here are a couple of real quick ideas posted at Free Money Finance on starting the teaching the process with your kids.

Related posts on Money and Credit
Teaching a son about borrowing
Financial Illiterates

Tapped into the Emergency Fund

At around midnight Sunday, the lights went out. I was worried that if the power was out for too long, the pipes might begin freezing. But, it wasn't terribly cold outside and I knew that it would probably be okay at least until it was light out.

When the sun came up, we still didn't have any power. So, I went to the basement to get out the emergency generator. Getting it out from the basement wasn't an easy chore. Ice had built up in front of the basement door. I had to chop through that before I could get the door opened.

Finally, I got the generator outside and went to start it up. Wouldn't you know, after my third or so pull on the cord it snaps! Now what!

I go inside to call the power company to find out just how long they anticipate the power being out. After holding for 15 minutes or so, I'm told it could be until TUESDAY!

Now, the power had been out for nearly eight hours at this point. I couldn't fix the generator, or otherwise get it to start, so I called Lowes to see if they had any generators.

Chuck told me that they were going fast, that he had a few left. I took out my emergency credit card and purchased it over the phone.

This generator set me back about $750.00.

I really didn't want to spend this money, but I didn't feel I had much of a choice. As far as I knew, the power may have been out for another couple of days, and if my pipes were to freeze, it would have cost me as much, if not more, to repair the damage. Not to mention that I wouldn't have any heat or water if the pipes were to freeze.

Anyway, the new generator has an electric starter, so I won't have to worry about breaking the cord next time. I'll get the old generator fixed and keep it as another stand by, or maybe I'll sell it to get some of the money back.

The power came back on at 4:00 pm. The new generator ran for just over 5 hours...