Teaching kids money habits

When we only have 1 kid, we would normally go out on weekends as J was scared that K would be suaku. We would normally let K ride the kiddy rides if they are available, but would not put money in, instead trying to educate her (uselessly) that putting money in is not worth it.

I would always feel sad when K looked longingly at other kids on moving (paid) kiddy rides. She would sometimes scamper to board the kiddy ride after the other kid had left, and asked me how come there was no more electricity (as the ride no longer moved).

Later on, I decided to do the following:

• give K her own pocket money
• $1 per week for every year of age. Since K was 3 yrs old then, she gets $3 a week.
• I round up every transaction to $1, as it is easier for her 3 yr old brain to understand.
• If it is a transaction I approve of, e.g. buying from NTUC, I will round the amount down (e.g. $3.60 become $3)
• If it is a transaction I do not approve, e.g. buying from vending machine, I will round up.
• K can do whatever she wants with her money (to teach her responsibility and power of $$). 
• e.g. if we go out for a family meal and she rejects the family meal and want to order ice cream instead, she can. She will pay for her ice cream though.

Later on, when K wants to ride kiddy rides, she will decide how much she wants to put in. E.g. she has $3. Does she wants to put money into the kiddy ride, or does she want to conserve money to buy tidbits at NTUC.

Once K wanted to put money into a machine that she can turn a knob to dispense a toy. Although we tell her that she likely won't get the toy she wanted as the machine was filled with random toys, she didn't want to listen. She wanted to use her money (she had saved up like $10+). After a few tries (each try was $2), she understood that it was not worth it, and didn't want to put in more money.

I feel that giving her her own money helped to teach her the value of money. No longer does she look longingly at kids on kiddy rides (She has the power to choose if she wants to put in $). She now sometimes educates her friends not to spend money at the vending machine too (buy at NTUC is cheaper!).

Early month baby

Do you guys believe that babies born in the earlier months have it easier? I do. This article largely explains why.

Education planning.

Most people will probably think I am KS, but I am already thinking about my kids' education in the distant future (> 5 yrs).

Will I encourage them to study poly, A levels, IP or IB?

I had a chat with a youngster today. She studied IB, and doesn't really know what she wants to study in. According to her, she thinks IB and poly > A Levels. She has the following thoughts:

• University entry scores are typically easier for IB compared to A levels
• Her poly friends seems to know what they want to study (in university). Poly seems to be more open to let students explore and find out their interests/passion.

This post is a reminder to me next time when I am thinking about my kids' future education. 

-H

Kids future education expenses

Although to DBS, in Singapore public universities, a four-year undergraduate program costs on average S$40,000 for Singapore Citizen students. This is approximately a third higher than what it was 10 years ago, and does not include other miscellaneous fees. 

My eldest kid is 6 yrs old. Assuming the cost is 20 yrs away, the cost is 40k x 1.33 (1st 10 yr) x 1.33 (2nd 10 yr) = ~71k. Since I have 3 kids, I estimate that their university fees will be $71k x 3 = $213k.

The DBS article further says "If you’re thinking of sending your child to an overseas university in Australia, the UK or America, the fees charged by universities are markedly higher, ranging from S$16,000 to an eye-watering $86,000 per year. Factor in student accommodation, living costs and flights, and the amount could reach $100,000 for a single academic year, which is just about enough to wonder if you will ever retire."

I had this conversation with J before, on whether we should sponsor the kids' university education. Her parents sponsored her education while my parents sponsored mine partially, maybe 10% and I took a education loan for the rest which I started to repay when I started working. I had assumed then that most people paid for their university this way, and did not see anything wrong. I still do not see anything wrong.

She told me that she felt we should sponsor the kids' university fees. I asked her whether we sponsor a engineering (cheap) degree or a medical (expensive!) degree. Her reply was "How do we tell the kid that we only sponsor engineering and not medical degree right?" At that time, I was wondering if I will ever retire.

Later on, I had other thoughts as well. Do I want my kids to study overseas, to experience overseas living, better job prospects etc? 

After some research, I decided that our universities (NUS, NTU) had very good ranking, and I should not spend much more in getting them to study overseas! Hopefully, what I can give them then, is their own financial independence then. The money saved by getting a local education can go towards that.

-H

Kids expenses

A lot of people seem to assume that my expenses will be high because I have 3 kids. But I pointed out that my 3 kids go to SparkleTots and their total school fees are < $1k. Compared that to a parent with a single kid in atas childcare where the fee is > $1k.

I believe that to be good parents, there should be no financial stress on the parents as financial stress is what breaks up family, lead to arguments etc. Anyway, as the nearest childcare is SparkleTots, its a no brainer for me.

-H

Helping kids love reading.

This is a rather short first post. I decided to pen down my (H) thoughts here and got my wife (J) to pen down hers too! Maybe we (or the kids) will look back at this in 20 years fondly.

I wish to help my kids love reading. So I dug out my 30~ year comic book.

Looking at it for a while, I think its too cheem for a 6 yr old. I shall attempt to look for suitable comics for the kids next time we are at the library.

10 Great Kids Comics for Early Readers

-H