Teaching Kids About Money Management and Finances

Have you ever thought about how much easier life would have been had your parents proactively taught you about financial products and services, such as money management and finances? I know I certainly have. In some households when I was growing up, personal finance was a seriously taboo topic that was rarely broached; some even considered it to be extremely impolite to ask about. 

While this approach to personal finances may have suited the adults in the household, it left an entire generation ill-equipped to deal with the workings of various financial products. As I entered adulthood, and then became a parent, I had no choice but to teach myself about complicated financial products and services, such as mortgages, money management, loans, and investments.

However, now that my children are beginning to explore the world of finance, I am determined to provide them with a solid foundation and a comprehensive understanding of how the financial world operates. How am I going to accomplish this? Well, I’m glad you asked, because this blog post is going to explain all, so let’s get started.

How am I going to teach my kids about money management and finances? 

The answer is simple: through games! When it comes to teaching children, the key is to captivate their interest and make the learning experience interactive. My kids love playing games, so encouraging them to play games that subtly teach them the skills needed in adulthood seemed like the most obvious way to help my kids to learn more about the world of finance. 

Where to find money management games – for free!

Now, you might be wondering where you can find these marvellous money management games that help to teach children the vital skills that they will need later on in life. To find these games, you need to head to the brilliant resource – mortgagecalculator.org. There, you’ll find an abundance of free games available that are not only designed to teach children about money management, mortgages, business, and entrepreneurship, but they’re also ad-free. 

All the money management educational games offered on this website are entirely free to play and devoid of any ads. Therefore, if you want to teach your children about personal finances and financial products, this is one of the best resources to use.

Our favourite free money management and finance games

We’ve spent a lot of time on this site exploring the content and playing the games that are on offer. The games cater to kids and teenagers and cover a wide range of financial products and themes. For example, you can explore money games, real estate games, food business simulations, business simulations, and many more. These game topics not only teach the financial basics but also offer insights into various industries they may find themselves working in as adults.

Cash Back

One of our top picks is Cash Back. Cash Back is a simple game, yet teaches kids and teenagers a vital skill that they will need for almost any retail job – counting change. With different difficulty levels, the game challenges kids to provide the correct amount of change for a purchase. The easy level deals with rounded numbers like $5, $8, and $10, while the higher levels present customers paying amounts such as $6.75 and $10.24. You can even opt to have the customer state the amount of change needed, making it slightly easier, yet still challenging due to the time limit. Although this game doesn’t directly focus on mortgages or money management, it’s still a valuable game for children and teenagers to play.

LEGO City Adventures: Build and Protect

Another addictive game that we absolutely adored is the LEGO City Adventures: Build and Protect game. This super fun game teaches kids how to construct a thriving metropolis using tax revenue from commercial and state buildings. It’s really fun to play, and the concept is easily grasped – even by younger children. The objective is to develop your neighbourhood by digging up LEGO blocks and earning enough tax revenue to construct new buildings. As these buildings generate tax income, you can gradually expand your town into a bustling city. Each building type rewards the player with a different tax amount, so saving up your LEGO bricks is crucial to constructing as many high-tax buildings as possible.

Real Estate Tycoon

If you’re looking for a fast-paced simulation game, Real Estate Tycoon is a brilliant choice. It’s all about buying properties at low prices and aiming to maximise profits by selling them when they’re worth significantly more than the original price. The game begins with the player hurriedly clicking on houses and other properties as they appear on the map. The goal is to purchase these properties as soon as possible at low prices and then monitor the fluctuating house prices before selling. Each level has a specific profit target to achieve before advancing to the next level. As you progress, higher-value properties appear on the map, which is more expensive to buy, and their prices rise and fall rapidly. However, if you manage to sell them at the right time, you can make some seriously substantial profits! 

Utalising games is a fantastic way to teach kids about money and financial products

Of course, utilising the free games from the Mortgage Calculator website is just one way of helping children understand money management. While these games are brilliant tools, their scope is limited. The bulk of the responsibility falls on you – the parent. You must be ready to engage in financial discussions, serve as a role model, and teach your kids the basics of financial independence and management as they journey into adulthood.

If you have any more tips for boosting children’s understanding of money and finances, I would love to hear them! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

*This is a collaborative post