Weekly Family Finance Picks (#18)

We’re constantly scouring the Internet looking for articles related to family finances and teaching kids good personal finance habits. You can visit the FamZoo delicious page to see our ever growing list of family finance bookmarks. Each week, we pick our favorite articles from the previous 7 days and post them here.

The allowance vs. commission debate, college savings strategies, and healthy skepticism are the winners this week. Here they are:

Allowance vs. Commission: Which Works Better for your Kids?

by David Bibby on Money Crashers: Your Guide to Financial Fitness

David and his wife struggled with consistency, accountability, and ownership issues when they rolled out their first allowance system to their two kids, ages 7 and 9. Now they’ve switched over to a “daily commission-able chore list” approach and licked all those problems.

But, have they created new ones? Is the approach sustainable?

Check out David’s system. Be sure to browse through the reader reactions in the comments as well. You might want to weigh in with your own experiences and opinions in this age old debate.

College Savings: the Basics of Saving for College

by Sierra Black on Get Rich Slowly: Personal Finance That Makes Sense

Sierra lays out the basic best practices for putting together a sensible, achievable college savings plan for your kids. Start early, contribute often, get your debt/savings priorities right, and leverage those 529s.

Check out some good nuggets in the comments too about 529 account funding order for multiple kids

The Big Short Offers Six Great Money Lessons for Kids

by Dan Kadlec on MoneyWatch.com Bank of Dad Column

Dan distills six money lessons for kids from the book The Big Short. The book is about the failure of our banking system — material that might be too disturbing for children in unfiltered form!

The core message from Dan: teach your kids to maintain a healthy skepticism — especially when it comes to making financial decisions.

Wise advice for young and old.