By Dr. Daneen SkubeTribune Content Agency
Q: I have young adult kids getting ready to enter the work world. I see so many parents who end up supporting their kids financially. Are there approaches you teach that help kids become financially independent and succeed in their chosen careers?
A: Repeated research demonstrates that financially successful people tend to share specific habits and traits. You can start teaching your kids these critical habits at any point in their development.
Studies show that people who accumulate wealth and have vibrant careers think long-term. Those who do less well only think about being comfortable today. Wealthy people think in decades, not days or weeks. They think about where they want to end up 10 years in the future, and those goals determine what they do today and this week.
Ask yourself if you’re teaching your kids to delay gratification. Will they save their allowance for a much-loved toy? Can they wait to share a toy? Are you helping them see how what they do today will give them a better tomorrow?
Other research shows that:
1. Poor people talk about other people (gossip).
2. Middle-class people talk about things (cars, phones, clothes).
3. Wealthy people talk about ideas and are life-long learners.
It’s not that wealthy people never talk about things or people. However, when they do, they use the lens of what they can learn. Rich people don’t tend to waste time being obsessed with other people’s lives or things.
Are you modeling and teaching your kids to be able to learn something from every life event? Are you teaching them to think about accountability in any life difficulty? Are you modeling the ability to fail with enthusiasm and a willingness to look foolish if they can learn and grow?
Children watch us more than they listen to us. If you’re obsessed with learning rather than people or things, you’re setting your children up to have both success and money as adults.
Many adults I work with never had parents who taught them to think long-term. Many didn’t have parents or mentors who taught them the benefits of an insatiable thirst for knowledge and personal growth.
If you’ve ever thought that just winning the lottery would solve all your problems, be aware that most lottery winners end up poor. The problem isn’t how much money they win, but the habits they bring to their new-found life. Just being handed money won’t guarantee you’ll keep it if you don’t change yourself.
As parents, we know we won’t be around forever to guide our children. The lessons we leave them are gifts that keep on giving.
Obviously, money is not the only barometer of happiness. What we do know, however, is that chronic worry about money creates a certainty of misery.
As you use, model and mentor the habits of wealth with your children, you will benefit as well. You may find yourself making more money as you teach them the skills they’ll need to do well in any economy.
The last word(s)
Q: Do you have a favorite piece of advice to help clients get the career they really want?
A: Yes. Take the time to really know yourself. You’ll find it impossible to build a career that fits you if you fail to know who you’re building the career for!
Daneen Skube, Ph.D., executive coach, trainer, therapist and speaker, also appears as the FOX Channel’s “Workplace Guru” each Monday morning. She’s the author of “Interpersonal Edge: Breakthrough Tools for Talking to Anyone, Anywhere, About Anything” (Hay House, 2006). You can contact Dr. Skube at www.interpersonaledge.com or 1420 NW Gilman Blvd., #2845, Issaquah, WA 98027. Sorry, no personal replies.
(c) 2015 INTERPERSONAL EDGE
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
This column was printed in the June 14, 2015 – June 27, 2015 edition.
