Page 11 - aruba-today-20201231

A11
business Thursday 31 december 2020
To raise financially savvy kids, give money lessons a reboot

By SARA RATHNER for suspicious activity.
of NerdWallet OPEN UP ABOUT YOUR OWN
Many elder millennials may CREDIT HABITS — AND MIS-
have learned to manage TAKES
money much like our par- Credit cards can be a
ents did: waiting for state- much-feared financial
ments to arrive in the mail, product because of the risk
balancing checkbooks of getting into high-inter-
and paying in cash. But if est debt, but they can be
you’re planning to impart a useful tool, too. Sharing
the same lessons to your your credit triumphs and er-
own children, ask yourself a rors with your kids can help
few questions first. Is this still them make confident deci-
how you deal with your fi- sions as adults. Agado and
nances? How often do you her husband don’t want
carry cash anymore? Do credit to be a mystery to
you even know where your their kids. They discuss top-
checkbook is? If the re- ics like credit card rewards,
spective answers are “no,” which card to use for which
“rarely” and “maybe in that purchase and what hap-
box I never unpacked since pens if you take on debt
moving six months ago,” or miss a credit card pay-
then the money lessons of ment. “One of the main
the ‘90s aren’t going to cut In this Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020 file photo, children are silhouetted against a pond as they look at driving forces was the fact
it for the next generation. Christmas lights at a park in Lenexa, Kan. Associated Press that my husband and I
The way we handle money both destroyed our credit
had already been chang- you for it. avoid introducing credit and her husband act like a when we were younger,”
ing dramatically, but the BEGIN CREDIT LESSONS AT A and debit lessons as soon bank account and lender she says.
pandemic accelerated YOUNG AGE as possible. Swap check- combined. When one of HOVER LESS, TRUST MORE
those changes. One ex- Because cash is tactile, it book lessons for monitoring their children decides to Money talks are important,
ample: A September 2020 provides a natural way to bank and credit accounts buy something, the parents but kids learn even more
American Express study introduce younger kids to online. Show your kids what pay and deduct the total when they apply those les-
found that since the CO- money. But according to a credit card statement from that kid’s savings. The sons to real-life purchas-
VID-19 outbreak began, Gregg Murset — founder looks like. Talk about build- kids are allowed to go into ing decisions. Let your kids
70% of merchants had cus- and CEO of the BusyKid ing credit history by show- debt and aren’t charged choose what to buy, within
tomers request contactless app, which teaches kids ing them your credit report. interest, but they must skip reason, even if you think
payment options, and 73% about money manage- HELP KIDS TRACK EARNING, however many weeks of they’re making a frivo-
of merchants prefer cus- ment — you don’t need SPENDING AND DEBT allowance are needed lous choice that will blow
tomers to pay with a card to stick to coin counting Rosanna Agado, who re- until the debt is repaid. If through a month’s worth of
or app instead of cash. for long. “I think kids are cently moved from the something seems unusual, their allowance. Much as
So trade in those old-school very smart these days, and Seattle area to Glasgow, Agado discusses the pur- you learned from your own
money lectures for a primer they can learn that a quar- Scotland, maintains a chase with her son to verify regrettable decisions, your
on plastic and digital pay- ter equals 0.25 in like five spreadsheet for her three that it’s accurate — not to children can do the same.
ments. By the time your kids minutes,” he says. Since kids. Rather than give them judge his decision, but to Better a $10 mistake at 13
become financially inde- cash is out and cards are their weekly allowance in teach him the importance than a $10,000 mistake at
pendent, they may thank in, there’s little reason to the form of cash, Agado of monitoring his account 33, after all.q

Walmart apologizes for tweet calling Sen. Hawley sore loser

By JOSEPH PISANI the company’s official Twit- President Donald Trump
AP Retail Writer ter account. has, without evidence,
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart The tweet was a response said there was widespread
apologized Wednesday to Hawley’s announce- fraud in the election and
for a tweet that called Re- ment that he plans to raise has pushed Republican
publican Missouri Sen. Josh objections next week when Senators to back him up.
Hawley a sore loser for con- Congress meets to affirm But the Electoral College
testing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The objec- has already cemented
Biden’s victory in the U.S. tions won’t alter the elec- Biden’s 306-232 victory and
presidential election. tion results, but it could numerous court challenges
The now deleted tweet, delay the certification of have been thrown out or
“Go ahead. Get your 2 Biden’s win. rejected.
hour debate. #soreloser,” “We have removed the Still, Hawley responded
was mistakenly sent by post and have no intention to Walmart with his own
a member of Walmart’s of commenting on the sub- tweets Wednesday, ask-
social media team who ject of certifying the elec- ing the company if it would In this Dec. 16, 2020 file photo, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asks
meant to publish it on toral college,” Walmart “apologize for using slave questions during a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental
their personal account, said in a prepared state- labor,” and for the “pa- Affairs Committee hearing to discuss election security and the
the company said. The ment. “We apologize to thetic wages you pay your 2020 election process on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Associated Press
hashtag #BoycottWalmart Senator Hawley for this error workers as you drive mom
began to trend on Twitter and any confusion about and pop stores out of busi- major retailers like Target above the federally man-
shortly after it appeared on our position.” ness.” Walmart and other and Amazon pay well dated minimum wage.q