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The teenage years are the best time to teach your children wealth-building strategies. One concept we are trying to instill in our kids is "work smarter, not harder."
My 16 year old son really wanted to work at Chick Fil-A so he could earn some extra money. Of course, that's a $7 an hour job, and 7.65% less than that after FICA.
A regular job also interferes with his junior golf tournament schedule this summer, which might prevent him from reaching his golf goals (tournament wins, scholarships, etc.).
I said "Why don't you establish a business this summer where you can make $20-30 an hour, and at your own pace?" He said "Dad there is no such thing, that will never work."
Well, I ordered a plastic stencil kit online, and went to Lowes and bought a few cans of paint and some masking tape. I had him make up a flyer on Powerpoint to leave in neighbors' doors, announcing that he is painting/re-painting curb addresses.
He was skeptical. His friends were skeptical. Two of them laughed at the idea.
So...Monday night he put 20 flyers in 20 doors. On Tuesday morning, he found 7 envelopes with his $20 fee attached to the doors. I helped him paint the first few, but the boy earned $140 in about 3.5 hours of work on a Tuesday morning.
But before I let him count the money, he had to go to the next block and put out flyers for the following day. So the next day, he had 5 addresses to do, and did those in about 2.5 hours, earning $100.
So in 6 hours of work, he's earned $240. Minus $40 for supplies, he's at $200 for 6 hours of work. That equates to around $33 an hour.
Meanwhile, his scoffing friends are working the entire week at their minimum wage jobs and still might not earn what he earned. One of the ones who laughed at the idea is now asking for my son to employ him!
And here's another lesson...we pay him $25 a week to mow our grass. He disdains this work, but he asked me today "Can I pay my friend to mow it? I have the money." I said "Of course you can!" So he is learning that you can use part of your excellent earnings to pay people to do things that you don't care to do.
With his golf schedule, he realistically won't be working but 2-3 days a week this summer, but if he can average $300 a week, that's still some hefty profit for his time.
We hope that he is learning that you can make a lot more money working for yourself than "the man", and if you do a good job, more and more opportunities come your way to make more and more money.
Just thought I would share.
My 16 year old son really wanted to work at Chick Fil-A so he could earn some extra money. Of course, that's a $7 an hour job, and 7.65% less than that after FICA.
A regular job also interferes with his junior golf tournament schedule this summer, which might prevent him from reaching his golf goals (tournament wins, scholarships, etc.).
I said "Why don't you establish a business this summer where you can make $20-30 an hour, and at your own pace?" He said "Dad there is no such thing, that will never work."
Well, I ordered a plastic stencil kit online, and went to Lowes and bought a few cans of paint and some masking tape. I had him make up a flyer on Powerpoint to leave in neighbors' doors, announcing that he is painting/re-painting curb addresses.
He was skeptical. His friends were skeptical. Two of them laughed at the idea.
So...Monday night he put 20 flyers in 20 doors. On Tuesday morning, he found 7 envelopes with his $20 fee attached to the doors. I helped him paint the first few, but the boy earned $140 in about 3.5 hours of work on a Tuesday morning.
But before I let him count the money, he had to go to the next block and put out flyers for the following day. So the next day, he had 5 addresses to do, and did those in about 2.5 hours, earning $100.
So in 6 hours of work, he's earned $240. Minus $40 for supplies, he's at $200 for 6 hours of work. That equates to around $33 an hour.
Meanwhile, his scoffing friends are working the entire week at their minimum wage jobs and still might not earn what he earned. One of the ones who laughed at the idea is now asking for my son to employ him!
And here's another lesson...we pay him $25 a week to mow our grass. He disdains this work, but he asked me today "Can I pay my friend to mow it? I have the money." I said "Of course you can!" So he is learning that you can use part of your excellent earnings to pay people to do things that you don't care to do.
With his golf schedule, he realistically won't be working but 2-3 days a week this summer, but if he can average $300 a week, that's still some hefty profit for his time.
We hope that he is learning that you can make a lot more money working for yourself than "the man", and if you do a good job, more and more opportunities come your way to make more and more money.
Just thought I would share.
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