What I'm Teaching My 5 Year-Old About Money

Zeke just turned 5! I have to say, despite how crazy these past few years have been, they are so, so sweet. I told Emily this week that I would do his ages 3 to 5 on repeat for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.

If you’ve ever stepped inside a Costco food court, the churro has probably called your name. This is the story for Zeke every time we walk by it on our way out from buying our 10-year stockpile of toilet paper. “Dad, I neeeeeed it” Zeke whined pointing at the churro on a recent Costco run.

“No, you don’t.” 

“Yes, I do. I’m hungry.” 

I walked out of the store without another word to him and without buying the churro. He soon forgot about the churro, but as I was driving home, it occurred to me that he really didn’t understand what a “need” was. He is used to “yes” and “no” answers but not necessarily the rationale behind them. We are fortunate that the answer is always “yes” to a true need – food, housing, water, etc. 

But wants are another story. Up until this point, I think he assumed the meaning of “need” was just “really really want.” That night before bed, I told him I wanted to teach him something about money. Right before bed is a golden time when you can get their full attention because the only alternative is lights out. I told him that there is a difference between using money to buy something we need and something we want. Needs are things like food, a house, a bed, and a toothbrush. Wants are things like ice cream, this stuffed doggy, and your Batmobile. They are fun but you would be okay if you didn’t have them.  

I asked him to say “need” in a sentence. “I have the need for speed!” he blurted out. Not quite the point but I couldn’t argue with it - he learned that recently divebombing the driveway on his scooter. 

I then asked him to use “want” in a sentence. “I reeeallly want that ice cream.” He seemed to be catching on.

I then went through a list of a dozen items and asked him to tell me if he needed to have it or if he just wanted it. I was surprised how quickly he seemed to pick up on it. He got them all except for his Lightening McQueen pillow, which he argued was a need. Again, hard to argue with him there. He seemed to like this guessing game and has since initiated it a few times on his own.

This is a relatively new experiment so I’m looking forward to seeing how it works in practice. I suspect he might be using this new knowledge to argue that the entire toy aisle of Target is a need.  

For more reading, see last year’s post “What I’m Teaching My 4-Year-Old About Money.” 

Happy Planning, 

Alex 

This blog post is not advice. Please read disclaimers.