PARENTS may express love to their children with gifts, but financial consultant Carol Yip asks: “Is this a good thing? Or should the children be allowed to take ownership of their own budgets once they start their careers?”
Yip, who is Abacus for Money founder and chief executive officer, posed that question during her recent talk on increasing financial literacy among the younger generation.
Titled “How to talk to your kids about money and career”, the talk was organised by KDU University College’s School of Business and Social Sciences and held at its campus in Petaling Jaya.
Yip spoke about the need for parents to be frank with their children, treating them as adults in understanding the value of money.
Yip (right) sharing tips on how parents and children can talk about managing money.
As money and careers are intertwined, the young need to understand themselves better, and what they want in life. And if they do not know better, then a career profiling will help them.
Following that line of thought, participants were given the chance to learn about their personality types and relevant careers using the John Holland assessment.
Contrary to perceived notions that only lawyers and accountants make big bucks, Yip cited the stories of Mark Zuckerberg (founder of the social media website Facebook) and Taylor Swift (a country and western singer), who are young and rich but have non-conventional careers.
She also quoted the living example of Dr Charles Limb, a doctor with a love for music who carries out research on how the brain works during musical improvisation. He has now successfully combined his career with music with the hope that music can be used to understand more about hearing and the functions of the brain.
Aside from advising young people to manage peer pressure so as to not spend foolishly, Yip also called on parents to include their children when reviewing their derived income, expenses, liabilities and assets so that the children are aware of the family’s financial situation.
School-leavers Michele Lim and Chong Hon Zhen were pleased that they attended the talk, saying, “We are now more aware of money issues. It is an effective seminar as we now know ourselves better and about our careers.”
Parent H P Poh said that parents and their children should attend such talks as a family.
“It’s an eye opener for teenagers to know more about money and career, and to understand themselves better, and the real hard facts about money.
KDU University College’s School of Business and Social Sciences head Dr Todd Nelson explained that the term “financial literacy” is one that the school will be using to promote wise money management among youths and their families.
“This is our effort to educate our students and engage the public about managing their personal finances,” he said.
Dr Nelson added that the school aimed to promote financial literacy on a long-term basis.
“We will be offering a fun, interactive experiential learning programme to nurture young people in the art of career planning and managing money,” he said.
The short course, titled “Career Planning and Money Management For Youth”, will be held over four weekends at KDU University College and commences on April 9.
