Today’s question is: How can grandparents talk to their grandchildren about saving for the future?

Grandchildren want to hear about this. I have conversations with older generations every day and they will often say that the youth today doesn’t want to save money and they’re spending too much on this or that. The younger generations want guidance and advice, and what I recommend is sharing stories. What did you do? How did things work for you? It’s a different world but there are a lot of similarities out there.

Look to the basics. What does Warren Buffett say? Pay yourself first. Most people don’t even know what that means; it means when you get paid, make sure that you’re saving some of it before you’re spending all of it.

A lot of what gets talked about today, if you look at the lotto or a hot stock, is: What can I put my money into and have it quadruple in a week? The answer is nothing. It takes time. It’s not timing the market, it’s time in the market. You probably don’t want to go deep on that subject with a six-year-old, but it takes time. It’s not doing one thing, it’s consistently doing one little thing, or the right thing, along the way to get yourself in a position where you do have options and choices.

Talk about saving up for something. I have a four-year-old; we can still talk about what is important to him – it’s monster trucks. So, if you want to save up for a monster truck, how are you going to do that? One step at a time. One thing that I have said many times to my children is, and I think it’s funny as a dad joke, is how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Not to advocate eating elephants but just take it one step at a time.

Have those conversations and your grandchildren will appreciate the help. I really encourage you to do it because it had a significant impact on my life, and it will benefit them, too.