Kids Archives - Page 2 of 3

Like Father, Like Daughter…

Like father, like daughter… Recently, my 7-year-old daughter started asking me some questions about my blog. She wanted to know what I write about and why I do it. I’m very deliberate in making sure that I don’t treat her like a kid when she’s interested in answers to something. I have a couple reasons for this: 1) I want to ensure she’s never afraid to ask questions. And so far, that’s always been effective. She never feels like she can’t check with us on something she’s unsure of. She asks a lot of questions… the right questions. I like that a lot. If you think you know everything, you won’t learn. If you’re not afraid to ask questions, though,

The 10 Commandments for Kids and Money

When it comes to kids and money, we all want to ensure that they’ve got the greatest chance to succeed in life. We can push our kids to be smart and learn in school. We can teach them to be good to other kids and to share. We can help them to understand that they should respect others. We can show them good manners and how to be polite. But what about the money side of the formula? Isn’t that important? I spend a lot of my time staring at Quicken and Personal Capital trying to plan for financial independence and early retirement. I feel very blessed that we’re in a solid position to make this happen. However, another part

Another Reason Why Working for Yourself is a Smart Idea…

We all know that working for yourself has a lot of benefits that you can’t get from working for someone else. The ability to better control your company’s destiny, the independence and freedom you can gain, and the flexibility in hours are just a few of the possibilities that might be gained. However, I was thinking recently about another major benefit that working for yourself can provide. But what fun would that be to just share it outright with you? A personal anecdote would make it all the more dramatic and amusing and make it feel like you’ve learned some kind of valuable lesson in the process… The garage sale Every year, our development has a monster garage sale. I say monster because we have

An Open Letter to My Daughter

An Open Letter to My Daughter My father passed away when I was around the age my daughter is now. That’s made me think over the years that, should something ever happen to me, I’d like to know that I was able to pass on some of what I’ve learned. With that, I decided to write a letter to my daughter with some of my thoughts. I consider this a work in progress. There’s ultimately too much information to share at one time, so I’ll probably update this post or add an additional letter at a later time. I’ve made the decision to share the letter to my daughter because I’m hoping that, as she gets older, she might appreciate this site as a document of

Saving for Kids – Thoughts to Consider

When it comes to saving for kids, there are a ton of different options out there. Should you start a separate account for them somewhere and if so where? Mrs. R2R and I have a 6-year-old daughter and we’re starting to think through this whole problem right now. Here’s what we’ve figured out so far… First things first Before you do anything for your kids, you need to make sure to get your own finances in order. If you have any hanging debt (other than maybe your mortgage), you need to address that first. We all want to take care of our kids, but your debt affects your own well-being and guess what? Your well-being can become your kid’s problem

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

I recently asked my 6-year old daughter “what do you want to be when you grow up?” She answered back that said she wants to buy duplexes. That’s my girl! Now, before you start chastising me for trying to force my daughter to be something she doesn’t want to when she grows up, let me explain. When I grow up… When I was young, I had my sights set on being an artist for Disney. I had a pretty good knack for drawing and that just seemed like a really cool place to work for a living. When I got to college, I continued heading down the path somewhat. I was a Studio Art major for the first couple of years of school, but then one day, while