Mom Charges Her 7-Year-Old Rent Every Month To Teach The 'Financial Education' She Didn't Get As A Kid
Overkill, or a stroke of genius?
fizkes | Getty Images | Canva Pro If there's one thing that's lacking in our culture, it's financial literacy, and most of us would give anything to have attended a school that actually taught us things like budgeting, how debt works, and just how to manage and grow money in general. One mom in Michigan is trying to change that in an unorthodox way that has some people raising eyebrows and others giving her a round of applause.
Since most of us just wing it, hope for the best, and often end up learning about money and saving the hard way. This mom's approach certainly comes from a place of love and care, but that doesn't mean everyone was on board with the method.
A mom charges her 7, 9, and 10-year-old rent every month.
Yes, these elementary schoolers, Asher, Jonah, and Simon, are paying rent and utilities just like you and me, though they're getting one heck of a deal. Their mom, Samantha Bird of Michigan, charges them $3 a month for the roof over their head and the electricity, gas, and internet to keep it running.
Most of us would die for such a deal, and even for her kids, it's a bargain. Her three young ones each earn $6 a week in allowance and are expected to put $1 aside for rent, groceries, and utilities each month. If you're doing the math, that's 12.5% of their income. We should all be so lucky!
In a TikTok video, Bird explained that she and her kids use the "envelope method," stuffing envelopes with their dollars for the relevant categories. At the end of each month, they get a bill from mom and dad for their room and board.
The mom said she wants her kids to get the 'financial education' she didn't receive as a kid.
To some, making kids go through all this is a bit much. Shouldn't kids just be allowed to be kids? They have their whole lives to think about money, right? Perhaps. But all too many of us know exactly what happens when you launch out into the world with no financial literacy. Yup, disaster.
Bird said this is basically what she's trying to avoid. "I didn't grow up with a whole lot of financial education, and so going out into the real world, it was quite a shock, and I really struggled," she told SkyNews.
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She takes it further than just merely paying bills, too. Each boy has a workbook in which he logs all his income and expenses, tracks the due dates for their payments, and keeps track of the money coming in and the money going out.
Bird said it's her way of teaching her kids these skills "in a safe environment" where she can make it fun and enlightening, rather than a scary drag like it can become later in life. And it's likely to pay off down the road in more ways than one. She and her husband are taking all those monthly $3 payments and putting them in a savings account to give to the boys when they're older.
Most financial experts say it's never too soon to start teaching kids about financial literacy.
Bird has certainly gotten her share of blowback for her unorthodox approach, but one commenter framed the situation perfectly: "No need for this. School will teach them all they need to know. Like parallelograms. Which comes in handy during parallelogram season." Yep, I'm still waiting for anything I learned in geometry to come in handy as I stare slack-jawed at my depressing bank balance!
When Bird first went viral last year, some money experts at MoneyWatch weighed in on her approach: Too soon, or right on time? They firmly agreed it was the latter. One of them, Kate Yoho, a financial adviser at TBH Advisors in Tennessee, said she loved Bird's "good and basic" strategy. "Kids get excited about stuff when they’re little," she said, "especially money, because they don’t understand it."
Bird is quickly filling that gap with lessons about what she calls "self-control" with money and an understanding of how and how not to spend it, gleaned from her and her husband's own mistakes that left them $40,000 in debt. As they enter their teen years, she plans to add lessons on things like credit and taxes to further prepare them for the real world.
Sure, we should let kids be kids for as long as they can, but especially in America's economy, knowing how to manage your money is a vital skill, one that almost none of us are taught. Take it from who knows: This is a whole lot better than just letting them learn by experience where there's an actual credit score on the line!
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
