Prior to being a mommy, all my money was made for me and me only.
But then you have a mouth to feed and another body to house and suddenly your money isn't even your money anymore, it's your kid's.
When I first had my son, I was on mat leave, and all my savings were spent in about two months. My E.I. didn't come in for a while and I wasn't receiving a baby bonus or any tax benefits because I was the idiot that didn't file my taxes that year.
I was on social assistance for three months, and they gave me a whooping total of $28.00/month. Yes, A MONTH.
I was only 17, but between the cost of diapers, formula, raising my son was pretty ridiculous when all I had was the savings from a part-time job I had working at $10.90/hr during my pregnancy. Most of my money while I was still working went towards the crib/crib mattress/stroller/car seat and all the little necessities for a baby. My savings were fair, but they weren't everlasting. I couldn't ask my parents for money because I'm not that type of person, and of course my baby daddy wasn't in the picture and as I mentioned before, I've never claimed child support from him.
It's fair to say that the first year of my son's life was rough, but once I started going back to work, and my baby bonus came in, I was able to support my son and put myself through school. I ended up doing well in high school and got an entry scholarship for the programs I applied for in University, and since then I've been applying like crazy for scholarships and bursaries wherever I could.
Eventually, I had to make the decision to buy a car because I had the money and the need for it became more apparent when the winter months approached. I couldn't pick my son up from daycare in the winter using an unreliable public transit system. He had outgrown his stroller and making him walk was insane.
When I bought my car, it was registered under my name and I was insured as the primary driver - and for those of you driving in Brampton, you and I both know that being under 25 with a G2 and being the primary driver on a vehicle is outrageously expensive. How expensive? Try just under $500 a month, but ultimately, that was a small price to pay because I needed to take care of my son.
In August, I cancelled my insurance because I was working for a company that stopped paying me bi-weekly and I was receiving late and unreliable cheques that made my monthly payments harder and harder to keep up with. However, my situation changed and it was easier for me not to have a car this time around than it was last year. I realized that in just three months, I saved $2000 because I wasn't paying insurance or gas anymore. I ended up using that money for Christmas and still have savings because I'm STILL not driving my car.
When I bought my car, it was registered under my name and I was insured as the primary driver - and for those of you driving in Brampton, you and I both know that being under 25 with a G2 and being the primary driver on a vehicle is outrageously expensive. How expensive? Try just under $500 a month, but ultimately, that was a small price to pay because I needed to take care of my son.
In August, I cancelled my insurance because I was working for a company that stopped paying me bi-weekly and I was receiving late and unreliable cheques that made my monthly payments harder and harder to keep up with. However, my situation changed and it was easier for me not to have a car this time around than it was last year. I realized that in just three months, I saved $2000 because I wasn't paying insurance or gas anymore. I ended up using that money for Christmas and still have savings because I'm STILL not driving my car.
Anyway, you find out, after being a mom with a lot of past financial hardship that everything you make, you give back to your kids. The only reason why I bought my car was because I was a mom to begin with.
Now, it's whatever, my son's school is a ten minute walk away, I still drive my mom's car when we need to go out and I carpool downtown to get to school. But the point is, most of your money spending goes towards your kids, whether you buy things to enhance your life or even to create bigger value for yourself, it always goes back to your kids.
Being a business student and having the experience of being that mommy on a dime, I learned that one of the best ways to secure your child's financial future is to teach them how to be smart with their finances themselves. I could hand over his accounts to him when he's older, but all my saving will be nothing if he doesn't know how to use it.
When I was struggling with money and I was open about it with my son, he learned to appreciate it's value. And when I was able to make money with wiser spending and saving choices, my son learned how to do it with me.
So now that my son's in school, he's been getting an allowance for doing his chores. He's learned how to save his own money and uses his little piggy bank for his allowance and gift money from Christmas and his last birthday. Sometimes we play bank or store, it's like a role playing game where we can have fun while I teach him about basic sales transactions and how money works. I told him about his TFSA and even though he doesn't understand it fully, he did grasp the fact that the more money you save with a compounded-interest bank account, the more it grows and that when it comes the time to spend that money, it's best to be spent on something with a value that will either enhance your life or provide equitable return. Of course his main focus is toys and books, but it's not his responsibility to pay for those things because as a mom, I need to make sure he understands that my role as his mother means that I'm still the provider. So while teaching him how to save his money, that money isn't meant for him to spend until he's old enough to take the responsibility of buying things for himself.
I guess you could say I have a very weird way of teaching my son things, but assets are very powerful and I think being a dead broke mom when I was only 17 years old may have been one of the hardest struggles of my life, but it was a blessing in disguise. It taught me a lot about how I want to secure myself and my son financially for the future. I know now that if I can teach my son how to save and invest wisely with simple little make-pretend games to make it fun, then he can apply the same process to investing in good friends and good habits that enhance his life.
