It’s never not the right time to teach your kids about financial literacy!
A good place to start is by talking about good debt vs. bad debt.
You can also help make money more visible and tangible to your kids by using cash and change vs credit cards. A good method to introduce this for kids is to get them a piggy bank or a check register.
Help your children earn money. While I am not a big believer that every chore should be paid, I do think its beneficially to provide additional chores that can earn extra incentive. You can also help them set up some sort of business plan to earn money (ie: recycling collection, puppy clean up from the yard, home grown veggie stand).
You should help your children set financial goals at an early age. Determine a % that you would like to see them set aside from every dollar that they make. You can positively drive this behavior by matching the contributions they make to their savings towards that goal.
Kids should be aware of financial trade offs. Teach them about name brands vs generic and the cost savings. Teach them about time vs a dollar.
Help them to establish a budget. Not just savings but a plan for all spending. I love the envelop strategy where you use envelops to compartmentalize the different budgeting needs (ie: savings, eating out, school clothes, car payment)
