The FamilyMint Minute: February, 2010

February, 2010 In This Issue Happy Birthday George Tell Us Your Story and WIN Application Enhancements Teaching Moment of the Month Story of the Month Kathi-Rochester, MI When we started using FamilyMint, it did take us a few weeks to get used to this new way of organizing the kids’ money.  But I have to say, I LOVE IT and so do the kids.  My husband and I now know exactly how much each child has in his or her account and we see clearly how much money we owe each of them  (Quite a bit more than I expected but no more surprises messing up the monthly budget.)  The kids love signing into their own account and having a clear visual of how much money they have and how they are progressing toward their goals. Read More > Quick Links FamilyMint.com Blog Of Interest Facebook The FamilyMint Minute It’s February and that can only mean one thing.  Ol’ Punxsutanwney Phil’s prediction for six more weeks of winter.  Thanks Groundhog!  Does he ever see his shadow?  Of course the kids won’t mind a few extra snow days. Happy Birthday George – February 22, 1732 On Monday February 22nd we celebrate the Father of our Country, George Washington’s birth.  This title was bestowed upon George Washington since he served as commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, then as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Fast Money Facts: The dollar bill was introduced in 1862. However, George Washington’s portrait was not originally on the bill.  No, it was Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of State under President Abraham Lincoln.  It was seven years later in 1869 that the bill was redesigned with the familiar figure we still exchange today.  The dollar bill is the most common denomination of US currency, with an average life span of 21 months before it is replaced due to wear. The quarter was first produced in 1796.  It was given the nickname “two bits”, because at this time two pieces of eight were the equivalent of a quarter.  Pieces of eight were derived by dividing a Spanish Milled Dollar into eight wedge shaped segments.  George Washington made his first appearance on the quarter in 1932. A great resource for kids to learn more money and history facts is the United States Mint for Kids. Tell Us Your Story and WIN! We want to hear from you!  How has using FamilyMint within your families changed the way your kids view money?  Tell us about the before and after.  What do your kids like best?  What do you like best? Log into FamilyMint’s forum and click on Feedback under Forums and click on Add Topic to post your story.  Stories can be posted up to March 7.  Winners will be announced in the March newsletter. We will be giving away 10 Thrifty and His Money books, by our friend Michael Muchortow, CPA, to the best 10 stories submitted. With Thrifty and His Money, Learning about money just became a lot easier. Go on a journey with Thrifty as he is taught valuable lessons by his parents about: Saving a portion of what he earns and receives Different ways to invest his money Getting a job Controlling his spending Sharing a portion of what he has with others Application Enhancements As we promised, we are constantly improving upon the site and adding features based on your feedback.  We are very excited to be introducing a new highly requested feature very soon.  It is called Savings Plan and allows you to automatically distribute your deposits between numerous goals. As a parent, you can now ensure a desired percentage of automatic deposits are going towards goals you want your children to be saving for, like long term savings and charity.  Children can simply select Savings Plan when making a deposit and know the money is being distributed in a way both children and parents want. We will send out an announcement when Savings Plan becomes available.  We hope you enjoy and keep the feedback coming! Teaching Moment of the Month Dave Ramsey often says, “Children do what feels good.  Adults devise a plan and stick to it.”  We want to do all we can to teach our children to gow into successfull adults, so how do we form the skills and the habis of planning ahead?A plan is a set of goals with deadlines.  One of our first blog posts discussed the power of simply writing down your goals.   Let’s take it one step further with Dave’s advice… “You can set goals and keep them. Don`t just dream about how you wish things would be. Develop a plan and make it happen! Something amazing happens in our lives when we take the time to write down our specific goals, not just keeping them intangible thoughts in our brains.  Read More> Please keep the questions and suggestions coming.Jeff Eusebio & Bob Masterson FamilyMint co-founders

Successful people set goals

By Jeff Eusebio

Dave Ramsey often says, “Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and stick to it.”   We want to do all we can to teach our children to grow into successful adults, so how do we form the skills and the habits of planning ahead?

A plan is a set of goals with deadlines.  One of our first blog posts discussed the power of simply writing down your goals.   Let’s take it one step further with Dave’s advice…

“You can set goals and keep them. Don’t just dream about how you wish things would be. Develop a plan and make it happen! Something amazing happens in our lives when we take the time to write down our specific goals, not just keeping them intangible thoughts in our brains.

Goals that work must be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Yours
- Time-sensitive
- Written

I’m 39, not 13, and I’m still working on this myself but with the easy financial goal setting process in FamilyMint, my 5 children have a leg up that I didn’t have.  The goal setting process in FamilyMint incorporates all 5 of Dave’s recommendations.   Each account is specifically created for one goal, measurable through the target value, theirs because they create it themselves, time-sensitive through the”reach goal by” date, and of course, it’s written.

Read more from Setting Goals That Work [Dave Ramsey].

“Freedom is the ability to do what we ought to do.” — St. Augustine
“Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.” — Japanese Proverb

What are your secrets for setting and achieving goals?

Copyright Successful people set goals © 2010. All rights reserved

|

Lynn – Washington, MI

We have always had our children place their money into divided plastic piggy banks.  The banks have 3 separate sections labeled “Save, Spend, and Give.”   Since their money was already organized in this conscientious way, I was initially uncertain if keeping Family Mint accounts was going to provide any new motivation or insights for the kids.  Boy, was I wrong!

I think the single greatest benefit thus far is that the kids can clearly see, at any given time, exactly how much money they have in each category.  Before, they just saw stacks of change and wadded up dollar bills inside the piggy bank divisions, but there was no concrete amount attached to each.  I had never realized how this was hampering them from making good plans for their funds.  How can they save for a specific goal when they don’t know how much they’ve accumulated so far?  Or If they decide to take out some cash to purchase a coveted item, do they realize how this impacts their bottom line?

Since logging my kids into their Family Mint accounts and showing them the ropes, I’ve already seen great results.  Last week while we were out shopping, my 7 year old wanted to purchase a toy gun.  Since he knew exactly how much money was in spending account, he was able to quickly evaluate the purchase and make his decision.  As soon as we arrived back home, he raced to the computer to log in to his account and enter his withdrawal.  And he made it very clear that he wanted to do it by himself!

A few days later, my 13 year old daughter saw an outfit that she really liked at the store.  I told her that I was not going to purchase it for her, but she was free to buy it for herself if she would like.  Immediately, she turned to me and said, “Well, I can’t.  Because I already bought two things this month, and I only have $11.76 left in my spending account. I’m going to have to get some more babysitting jobs so I can earn the money.”

There is a lot of power in taking an abstract concept like finances, and making it visual.  The progress bars are a key part of the kids accounts as they make it easy for even my 7 year old to know at a glance what is happening with his money.  Along with the obvious values of visually managing their money, they have also really enjoyed being able to personalize their accounts with pictures and color changes.  I’m now very confident that Family Mint is going to be instrumental in helping my children to tell their money where to go, instead of asking where it went!

Thank you for this wonderful program!

Is my data safe? Are my children protected?

FamilyMint takes security seriously and our number one desire is to keep your kids and their information private and safe.  All of your family’s information is accessible only by you.  You will never have outsiders sending unsolicited messages to your children.

We use state-of-the-art encryption as well as security-hardened and firewall-protected servers.

|