This was a funny moment as today my little nephew wanted to tag along with me as I did some price checking at various stores. Throughout this he was showing me how he had twenty dollars in his pocket and this made him feel like he could buy anything he wanted. So of course in an effort to try and teach him some financial literacy I was telling him how he should save it as he was literally thinking of just spending it on everything he saw.
He then started to say how he wanted to buy some of these “Warhead” candies and so I agreed to go into a candy store with him. At the store you could either buy one for fifteen cents or eight for one dollar. As he tried to convince me that buying eight of them is a good deal I was emphasizing how he should only buy one as I don’t think he could eat all that. At the same time it would probably be cheaper to buy an actual package of it if he wanted that much. Afterwards he agreed and grabbed one to pay for it.
The funny thing was how he was laughing as he did this and expressed how it was so embarrassing to buy just one. I asked why that would be embarrassing and he stated it was because he was only spending fifteen cents. A lot of things ran through my mind there such as how a kid even gets that kind of perception about money where it’s like you are socially obligated to spend a certain amount.
When we left the store he opened the candy but the wrapper was noticeably hard for him to peel. Apparently the weather made the candy melt a bit and when he ate it he was saying the flavour wasn’t so great because of it. That was such a perfect opportunity for me to emphasize how he would have been so disappointed If he actually bought eight of them. He agreed. I then brought him to a store that sold at wholesale prices to compare the prices he saw at that store and again he was shocked at the difference.
Just kind of shows how at a young age many of us are all kind of taught by default by our environment to treat money recklessly in a sense. I don’t know many kids who are taught the concept of the value of money where this example kind of shows you should start young. Are money issues like the same thing such as parents being afraid of talking about the birds and the bees with kids as an example?
In this case though, I was able to semi change that embarrassment mentality for him into more of wanting to get the best value.