It started out like any other weekday morning – running around packing lunches, making breakfast, and telling the kids they have X minutes before it’s time to put on our shoes and get out the door. But then, just for a few moments, time slowed down and I got a chance to have one of those “teaching moments” with my middle child.
I was helping my 5-year-old son, Ean, brush his teeth, when he starts.
Ean: “Mom, when I grow up, you’re going to have to move out of this house.”
Mom: “What do you mean, why do I have to move out?”
Ean: “Well, because when I’m big and I have my own family, my wife will not want you to live with me.”
Mom: “But Ean, this is Daddy & Mommy’s house – why would WE move out? I think if you want your own space, you will have to move out.”
Ean (lower lip trembling slightly): “But where would I go? Whose house would I live in?”
Mom: “Buddy, you’re going to have to buy a house just like Mom and Dad did.”
Ean (tears welling up in his eyes): “But Mom, I don’t know how to buy a house!!”
Mom: “It’s okay Ean, when I was your age, I didn’t know how to buy a house either! But, when you’re older, and you’re done with school and you get a really good job, you can save up your money and have a good down payment for a house. And then, you would work with a Real Estate Agent that would help you find a house and buy it.”
Ean (big tears streaming down his face, lips quivering, full on ugly cry mode): “WHAT’S A REAL ESTATE AGENT?! Where do you get one of those from?!”
Mom: “A Real Estate Agent is a person who is licensed to help you buy and sell a house. They’ll know what you need to do. But don’t worry, you won’t have to buy a house for a LONG time – you can live with me at least until you’re 18!”
Ean (calming down & hugging me tightly as I wipe away his tears): “Oh really?! Okay Mom, thank you so much!”
Now, I don’t know how much of the conversation he’ll remember, but hopefully at least a tiny part will stick with him. And hopefully as he grows, and he hears my husband and I repeat the line “When you’re older, and done with school, and you get a really good job, you can SAVE…”, he’ll eventually have it memorized!
As a Financial Life Planner, I know that our money scripts and money habits are formed early on in life, and often in the mundane occurrences of everyday life. So when a teaching moment like this comes along, I’m grateful to be able to plant the seeds of money maturity and pray one day the kids will get to reap what’s been sown.
Now, how am I going to explain a mortgage…
By Daniela U. Jones, CFA®, CFP®
© Intrinsic Wealth Counsel, Inc. 2023
