Money Doesn't Grow on Trees A Parent's Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children

Chapter 1 What Kind of (Financial) Personality Do You and Your Children Have?All through history and saturating our literature are references to the greed and generosity of human beings. The name Scrooge has become synonymous with "tightwad"; Carnegie has come to represent cultural generosity. Who knows or remembers what Mr. Rockefeller did except give lots and lots of money to charity. Archie Bunker, on the other hand, was known to shut the blinds and turn out all the lights on Halloween to avoid giving out free candy to children.The truth is that money affects us. No matter how much we have or don't have, it affects our mood, our marriage, our goals, our dreams, and our personalities.In America, our great land of opportunity, the 1980s proved to be the decade of the spender. The indication thus far is that the 1990s will be governed by the savers. (We'll see who's left standing at the turn of the century, won't we?)You are one of these, and the saving or spending part of your personality influences your child. Do you know if you are a spender or a saver? The following is a fourteen-question quiz to determine which financial personality type you are:THE ADULT FINANCIAL PERSONALITY TYPE QUIZ1. Do you find yourself thinking about money often?Yes __ No __2. Do you love watching your bank account grow?Yes __ No __3. If you inherited a great deal of money today, would you save the bulk of it?Yes __ No __4. Do you use your credit cards to the limit?Yes __ No __5. Are you perpetually in debt at the end of each month?Yes __ No __6. Do you feel it's important to buy the "right" things?Yes __ No __7. Do you feel inferior to your friends financially?Yes __ No __8. Does money give you a feeling of power?Yes __ No __9. Are you afraid you'll run out of money and be left poor in your old age?Yes __ No __10. Do you have a hard time making decisions about spending money, even if it's a small purchase?Yes __ No __11. When your spouse says it's time to buy something, are the first words out of your mouth "We can't afford it"?Yes __ No __12. If someone asked you, "How much money do you have in your purse or wallet?" would you know exactly?Yes __ No __13. Do you use shopping as a reward for yourself?Yes __ No __14. If it was a bad day, do you often buy yourself something to feel better?Yes __ No __How to Score: Yes answers to questions 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 indicate you are a saver. A yes answer to questions 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 14 show you have strong spending characteristics. In which area did you have the most yes answers?Saver1. __2. __3. __8. __9. __10. __11. __12. __Totalyes __Spender4. __5. __6. __7. __13. __14. __Totalyes __Now, what does the quiz show? Are you a saver or a spender? I'll bet that you already know which financial personality type your child or children are. Just to make sure, though, take one more short quiz and see:THE CHILD'S FINANCIAL PERSONALITY TYPE QUIZ1. If you give your child money, does he or she save it?Yes __ No __2. Does your child lose or misplace money often?Yes __ No __3. Do you often hear the words "I want, I want" when you go shopping with your youngster?Yes __ No __4. If you ask your young one, "Why do you want this?" does he or she often say, "Because Johnny has one" or "I saw it on TV"?Yes __ No __5. Is your child reluctant to spend any of his or her own money?Yes __ No __6. Does your child get exceptional pleasure in seeing a bank account grow?Yes __ No __7. If your child sees a penny on the ground, will he go out of his way to pick it up?Yes __ No __8. Does your child decide to save for a special toy, and then later choose not to buy the toy?Yes __ No __9. If you say no to the suggestion of stopping forGodfrey, Neale S. is the author of 'Money Doesn't Grow on Trees A Parent's Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children' with ISBN 9780671798055 and ISBN 0671798057.