How Can We Help Our Kids Develop Money Management Skills?

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. It's one of America's most important, influential, and respected voices on cultural and political issues. An apologist, Christian political advocate, and author, here is the founder and chairman of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes. Hello and welcome to Christian Perspective. It's Chris Hughes, and I'm here today with my favorite co-host, Connie Albers, and we are talking about family issues.

It's Family Friday, and we are sure glad that you've joined us on The Christian Perspective today. I want to thank Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary for letting us use their facilities and having our studios right here on their beautiful campus in Memphis, Tennessee. If you're looking for a school to attend in the fall, I encourage you to check out the College of Mid-America and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. You can learn more at mabts.edu. That is mabts.edu. And of course, we want to thank the Citizens for America Foundation for being our primary host of this radio show.

You can learn more about Citizens for America at citizensforamericafoundation.com. Connie, I'm so excited that you're here today. You've had your first full week as a grandmother.

How's it feel? Oh my goodness. You just can't get enough of them. They're just perfect.

And I will tell you, it is true. You kind of like get all of the joy without like any of the late nights and fussiness. You just hand them back to mom.

That makes it nice. And as he gets older, then you can spoil them real bad. And I've heard all these horror stories of grandmothers sugaring up their kids.

Their grandkids will send them back to their kids and kind of payback for years ago. But I'm sure you and Shawn would never do anything like that. Oh, we may have other things in mind. But I remember my mom did that.

She'd have donuts for breakfast and donuts for lunch and donuts for dinner. And they came back to me and I'd have to let them get off of all that detox from sugar. But yeah, it's really remarkable. I will say, and we'll take a second on this. It's interesting when you listen to grandparents talk about their experience. And you know, maybe one day we'll do a show about that. But I have to be really careful because I don't want to get put in grandma jail by doing anything I shouldn't do or posting something I shouldn't post. So it's like you got to learn a whole bunch of new rules. What's okay today and what's okay with the parents. It's really interesting.

I haven't thought about the posting rules. I know Vicki and I have been talking about and neither so none of my kids are married and are engaged or anything like that. But we've been trying to, I'm giving away strategies here, look at strategies, Tony, where we would be the cool grandparents. You know, what can we do to make our place more appealing and make the grandkids want to come see us at summer and vacations. And you know, I've tried to talk Vicki into buying farms and ponies and dogs and anything to be tricky. I don't want to make the grandkids want to come to our house instead of the other grandparents.

That's terrible. No, I mean, we already established this at our home. It's called Camp Albers. And we did this with our nieces and nephew and primarily we established Camp Albers because we wanted to be light and we wanted to teach our children, our nieces and nephews about the Lord and just what it means to have a relationship with their cousins and they love it to this day. And now my nephew has grown, I mean, not grown children, but my nephew has kids and he texts me often say, hey, when can my kids come to Camp Albers?

It is the funnest thing. And I look forward to all the cousins coming to Camp Albers and hanging out with us. I don't know how we'll do. Well, I'm sure it's going to be fun because we're like you thinking about it. What do we want? What do we want to create?

Yeah, yes, it's good. I don't know that we're going to buy ponies, but we'll send them to your place. I was terrible.

I want to get this up and important in a minute. But when I get in bad trouble with this, just when my kids were young, I would throw these lavish birthday parties and now they don't even remember. But would rent like ponies and carriages. And I even bought, we owned our own bouncy castles because it was cheaper. If you used them in two years, it was cheaper than renting one from some other company. And those were the days when I did stupid things and the kids don't even remember.

Oh, I bet they do. I'll tell you one one year my for my daughter's 13th birthday, I created an amazing race. Now this is back and dates me a little bit. My The Amazing Race is a television sitcom that was on like a reality show and they would send people all over the place and they had to discover these, you know, cues and then it would take them to their next place.

Well, I couldn't afford to send all these people around the world. But we I created this amazing race, and they had teams and colors and it was boats and bicycles and shop owners. And I asked my daughter about it recently if she remembered that from her childhood. And she goes, Yeah, that's one of my best family memories. And I always thought, Well, why don't you ever talk about it?

And she goes, Well, there's no reason to it. It's tucked away in my mind of what I'll do with my kids one day. So there you go.

Now I'm going to steal that one, too, somewhere down. I put the grandkids with The Amazing Race. Our economy is pretty scary right now. And I heard a report on Fox News just this morning where a host was talking about, you know, the stress that the economy is causing and how we as parents have to be and it kind of stepped on my toes how we as parents need to be careful because we can allow that stress to filter through, you know, and how we react with our spouses and our children and grandchildren, everything else. It's a stressful time for our country right now. But in this economy, how can we help our kids learn through what's going on in the economy right now? So I'll share a story.

I'll be in trouble. Hopefully he won't listen. But my son is doing an internship during the summer in between college right now. And every day when we talk, you know, money, I don't know if it's the news or what's getting to him, but the economy, I mean, he's only 18 years old with economies on his mind every day. You know, dad, I'm not going to make enough to be able to eat what I want to eat or, you know, how am I going to buy gas to get to work? And so it's not something that's just affecting adults, but it affects our kids as well.

How do we prepare our kids for this economic situation that we're in? And it doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon, Connie. It's just going to get worse, I'm afraid.

I think you're right. And I think you're wise to notice that he's not even that old. He's still, you know, a teen and he's thinking about his future. And, you know, I'm reading so much and listening to these young people and these kids. They are very aware and largely because of social media. They're in real time. They're learning what people are saying and feeling and they're absorbing that stress and anxiety.

And then, of course, when they ask mom and dad, can we go to the beach or can we go here? No, we can't. We can't afford the gas. I think the first most important thing is what you said. Pay attention. Listen and turn off the news. I mean, turn it off, turn it down. Listen to it at night when you're getting ready to go to bed or something. Don't have it in the background all day long.

Don't like that be your white noise in your home. That stresses them out because their future, Chris, you know, they're looking at like your son said, how am I going to be able to afford life? They're calculating how much money do I have if I have five dollars that could get me one gallon of gas if you like. Well, half a gallon if you live in California, but it will get you a gallon of gas. How far will that get me?

Maybe 20 miles, maybe 22 miles, depending on unless they have a little moped or something. But Chris, we have to start paying attention to what we are saying and then help our children become problem solvers and be very creative on what they can do to make it happen for their life. It's not bleak. When when economy crashes, when inflation rises, when all that happens, there's still opportunity. It's just we get to help them see how to think past doom and gloom.

I'll never achieve no matter how much I make. We get to help them see. No, no, no.

Look over in this direction, wherever the king, wherever the carrots dangling, look in the opposite direction because there's opportunity over there. Yeah. And, you know, even little things I've noticed with my kids right now is like, you know, there's a new movie. Well, it's not so new now.

It's been out for a week or so. But the Top Gun movie. And, you know, I was telling my son and my daughter, hey, you ought to go see the Top Gun. But, you know, on their minds is worrying about. And I hate to see you know, I just hate to see the stress being put on our young people over worrying about money.

But the economy is just so bad now. It's really scary that every little thing you have to think about. You know, when the cost of chicken or even a loaf of bread, you know, some some grocery items have doubled and tripled over the last year.

And it's pretty scary. You know, I went to buy peanut butter. I went to the grocery store for my kids that just had a baby. And I thought, you know, that's one way I can bless them.

So I went grocery shopping and had her had my daughter-in-law give me a lift. And so I went and was looking for the stuff. I was shocked at some of the staples that they consider like basic staples for their home. Peanut butter.

The shelves were pretty much bare. And I had to be mindful of, OK, this is what they're seeing and feeling. And how can we come alongside them and bless them? So for me, Chris, it was just something simple as this is one small, tangible thing I can do to alleviate a stress or pain that you're feeling, whether it's your college kids or your high schoolers. There's little tangible things that we can do that alleviate some of that stress. And how we talk is huge. I mean, if we're always worried and frantic and talking nay saying and doom and gloom, our kids are going to feel that, too.

And so I'm a firm believer in be truthful. Yes, the economy is really bad right now. And I don't think it's going to get better.

In fact, I think, you know, as you were watching that report, I think it's going to get worse as we get closer towards July. But how we phrase our words and how we communicate to our kids gives them hope or makes them feel depressed or anxiety-ridden. And we don't want that because God tells us, you know, don't be anxious. God is a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity.

So while there may be scarcity in our economy, that God still can trump all of that and provide because he is a God that provides for our needs. And I like what you said, how we have to be careful what we say. That's a conversation Vicki and I have had several times over the last few weeks.

Is again, I always get in trouble with you. Family stories with Vicki grew up in a very poor home. And so money is always on her mind, as it is a lot of people. I'm not saying it's not on my mind, but it's on her mind a lot more than it's on mine. And she, you know, gets concerned and worries about things. And I told her the other day, you know, we cannot be talking about this in front of our kids because they're concerned enough already. You know, they're not in any real danger, you know, compared to the rest of the world.

You know, most of the world in the United States, we're very blessed, even though our economy is hurting right now. And, you know, we have to be careful because I've noticed in the last few weeks. And, you know, I've been on the road a lot leading up to our culture engagement summit. And, you know, when I came on one grocery shop and I was shocked at how much I had not bought groceries because I've been on the road for like three months.

And I was shocked at how much more expensive groceries were. But I realized when Vicki and I were talking about it and the kids heard us talking about it, it affected them in a way that I'd never really seen before. Where I think it's good to be concerned and be wise with your money.

But, you know, you don't want to take it to the extreme either. Why don't we take a quick break, Connie? Maybe we'll come back.

I don't know if you have any budget tips or things that we can do to teach our kids during this difficult time to help them be a little more wise with their spending. So you think about that and we'll take this quick commercial break. Y'all were talking with Connie Albers. It's Family Friday and we're talking about how the economy is affecting children and our families. Stick around. Be right back. This show is brought to you by Generous Joes, the coffee company with the Christian perspective. This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about.

Order your coffee today at ShopGenerousJoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus and see the Bible come to life. This December, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, on a life-changing trip to Israel. It's one of the world's oldest and most fascinating travel destinations. Learn the faithful from all over the world for thousands of years, visit Jerusalem's religious quarters and explore Christianity's most treasured religious sites like the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Via Dolorosa. Walk with Chris through the winding alleyways of Nazareth's old city and visit ancient Bethlehem, the place of our Savior's birth. Float in the Dead Sea, visit the Sea of Galilee and the Jewish fortress of Masada. See firsthand where the events of the Bible took place. Touring Israel with Dr. Chris Hughes is a travel odyssey like no other.

Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com and get ready for an unforgettable trip and memories that will last a lifetime. Do you desire to build family relationships that stand the test of time? Does creating a godly family seem like a daunting challenge?

You're not alone. I'm Connie Yaupers, author of Parenting Beyond the Rules and host of Equipped to Be. As a mother of five, I understand your struggles. For 35 years, I have been helping families just like yours build lasting relationships.

I'd like to invite you to tune in to Equipped to Be and visit ConnieYaupers.com where I share useful tips and proven strategies to help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith and life with confidence and joy. History was made on today's date. Stay tuned for an American Minute with Bill Federer.

The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduated its first class on this day, June 10, 1854. The Academy was established under the direction of George Bancroft, Secretary of Navy under President James Polk. Bancroft was also known as the father of American history, having written the first comprehensive history of the U.S. He wrote, that the divine being should be known not as a distant providence, but as God present in the flesh, amid the sorrows protracted during centuries, carried peace into the bosom of humanity. This has been an American Minute with Bill Federer. For a free transcript, call American Minute at 1-888-USA-WORD. Welcome back to Christian Perspective.

I'm Chris Hughes. Connie Yaupers is here with me today as she is every Friday. We always talk about issues that are addressing the family and we're talking today about the economy. It's a scary time.

Gasoline in some places is over $6 a gallon and reports that it could be over $10 a gallon by the end of the summer. The cupboards in the grocery store sometimes are bare or things are a lot more expensive than they used to be. And sure, that's something we think about as parents, but as kids, it's affecting our kids too.

And I shared a story in the first segment about my teenage son, but even younger kids, I think it's starting to affect people. So, Connie, what can we do to I know you shared we need to be careful how much we talk about or look at how scared we are in front of our kids about the economy. But what are some things that we might can do to teach them to manage money? And I mean, can we take this bad situation, maybe turn it to a learning situation of how they can budget money, save money, tie to those kind of things down the line?

Oh, I love that. You know, money is the one thing we don't talk enough about. We often talk about how we don't have enough of it, but no matter how much you have, it seems like there's never enough because we always live to the level of what we have.

So talking about money as if it is just a normal part of our life, there's things we can do. Teach our children about a power bill. I mean, people don't think about showing your children. I mean, if they're elementary age, they're not going to understand it. But let's let's just break it into compartments.

Chris, if you have elementary age children, something as simple as saying talking to your children, saying when we leave a room, we turn off the light. Why, Mommy? Because children are full of and you remember this. Why? Why? Why?

Why? Children learn by getting answers to their questions. And when we freely talk about money, why do we turn off the light? Well, because it helps us save on energy.

It's something we buy from companies. And if we spend money lighting a room that doesn't need to be lit because the windows lights come through the window or nobody's using that room, it helps us save money so we can go on vacation or we can get ice cream or we can go on a date and see a movie together. And then they connect in a positive way.

My actions have an outcome, a positive experience. Right. And if they're middle school, take them a little further. We have to buy our energy from a power company. A power company charges X amount of dollars per wattage. Teach your children those fundamental basic skills. To be honest, Chris, most kids have no idea about wattage and usage. And and if you're using a 60 watt light bulb or a 40 watt light bulb or you're using the three way dimmer light, most children don't even realize that they get to college or they buy their first house and then they end up with a shock. Well, why don't we just start now?

This is a great time. So middle schoolers teach them about wattage and usage and then show them how it applies. The more we reduce again, bring it back to the application. The more we reduce, the more we say, the more we say, the more we can splurge on making your favorite dinner or doing something fun over the summer holiday. When you get to high schoolers, make it even more tangible. Put it in a chart or a graph. This may sound strange.

It probably does. But I'm married to an engineer and he calculates our wattage so we can see year over year. Are we are we using more or less energy? Now, when we had seven people living in the home, our energy usage was higher. And so we've been able, as our kids got older, to show them the decrease or there should be.

And then how much we're paying per wattage. And our kids see that when they get into their home, move out, go to college. We've already instilled wise money management strategies from something as simple as a light bill or a water bill or natural gas, whatever it is that you use.

Those are some tangible, applicable ways that our kids understand. It's a money game. It's money. We spend money over here or we spend money over there. Where would you like to spend the money? Raising the thermostat in your home.

Two degrees. How much money will that save? And it becomes a game. Some children would rather sweat so they can save more money and be able to go on a fun dinner night. I mean, it's amazing what comes out when your children start to learn.

My actions have a direct impact on future comfort or if we save this amount of money, I may be able to go to the school of my choice or I may be able to do this particular thing. Does that make sense? Yeah. As you were saying, as you were talking about, Tom, I was picturing my father because this was a real thing. Matter of fact, my mother told me he was doing it a couple of days ago. But I remember when I was growing up and I used to think it was so crazy.

Didn't really understand why. So for those of you that may not know, there's a meter on the outside of your house that shows how much electricity is being used in your house. And my father would go out on a regular basis.

And I bet from hearing Tom, because I think your husband, Tom and my father are a lot alike. My dad would go out and he would check that meter, you know, to see how much electricity we would use in a week and a month and that kind of thing to try to find ways to save money. Another thing that I just thought was crazy, became an adult is I remember my parents used to get so mad at me because I would turn on the the faucet for water to brush my teeth. And I would leave the water running the entire time that I was brushing my teeth. I used to stay in trouble with that.

That was one of my parents. Major rules is, you know, you wet your toothbrush and then you turn that water off until you get ready to rinse your mouth. You know, don't just waste, you know, gallons and gallons because that adds up. Yeah, you know, it's funny you said that.

You don't think about it. But, you know, so now. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

No, but now go ahead and finish. I was just going to say now I live in the mountains and we don't have city water. I have a pump, you know, a well, you know, well. So now I can I can have all the water I want.

So I love what you just said. And now let's apply that in another way. If we're not careful, we can make our children fearful or overreact and become so miserly or so self-aware of that, that simple things like running water becomes like this coveted.

I want to get to a place in my life where as an adult I can run the water all day long and take a bath without worrying about how much water usage. We don't want to make our children anxiety filled over over what we're trying to teach them. So there is a balance. But being aware, Chris, of how we're using our money now. I mean, there's a lot we can learn from our parents when they went through hard times like the Carter years.

We had to be very I mean, I wasn't I was young, but we had to be very or they had to be very careful. Even if they had to run three errands, they wouldn't run one errand and go home. And then 30 minutes later, run an errand, another errand.

They'd be very strategic. OK, I'm going to make a list. I'm going to go here and here and here and here. And that way I'll be more cost effective in the trips that I do have to run and get everything done. So they're learning time management and they're learning wise stewardship with their dollars. So when we teach them, whether it's electricity or water, we don't want to be overreactive, but we want to be like a teacher. A teacher teaches information that our children don't know. And when they learn that knowledge, that information, it becomes something that will help govern them as they save up to buy a home, as they lead a family and support their own families one day.

So it's a good thing. Playing the game of life is another good one. You know, where they they start learning that money is something that we earned that comes in and that we make wise investments. And, you know, God willing, there's compound interest on our investments and that there's passive and active income. Chris, kids aren't being taught this in school.

They're just not. They may take one semester of economics or microeconomics or macroeconomics, but to really become a master, to really learn how to use money well and wisely so we can give generously, give to the kingdom, give to others in need. That means that we have to learn how to live under our means. And a parent who does that now in this season, I believe, is equipping your children and your grandchildren to live a more generous life later. And I think we're becoming more and more aware of that.

I'm just sitting here thinking of ways that we've been wasteful and our family. I remember my grandparents, I'm really dating myself here. You know, they grew up in the Depression and there are still a few of those people, not many floating around.

And it was a different mindset for them because they knew what it was to. And I don't mean my grandparents, I mean the whole country knew what it was like at that time to worry about what was going on in the economy. But even in her older years, and they didn't have to worry about money anymore. But I remember my grandmother would wash aluminum for the economy or Ziploc bags.

I go through Ziploc bags like it's throwing away candy and she would wash her Ziploc bags and reuse them over and over again. And that was something that a lot of people don't even think about today. But that got instilled in her as a little girl when they were poor in the Depression.

So they always watched and they reused things, even when they were older. And they were fairly wealthy by the time they passed away. But they got that wealth not because they had super great paying jobs or anything, but just because they were frugal and wise with what they did over the years.

You know, just what you said there. They built their wealth. We can't, Chris, we have to teach our children, we can't rely on a government to afford our life.

If they do, we'll live below poverty. Because we have to build that. We have to build that wealth. And that means being creative, being innovative, looking for areas in the market where there is not a product or service that has been developed. Artificial intelligence is replacing many, many jobs. And I believe it's going to continue as these entry level positions get replaced by technology, robotics, smart machines, things like that. As you know, because you're familiar with that, as those jobs start to be replaced, our kids are actually poised and a great place to come up with something that has never been designed or created before. And we have to be thinking and helping our children, listen, we have to build our wealth, we have to manage our money, we have to be creative, look for ways to be inventive, innovators. You know, one of our listeners could be the next Elon Musk or the next Jeff Bezos. Because trying times always lead, disruptions always lead to phenomenal innovations, always.

And so this is a disruption. Now for some, it's breaking them. They're financially not able to make it, they're moving back with their parents, they're selling everything they have.

They're living in an RV because they have to, not because it's a luxury thing, it's not like they have the top of the line. So we want to be cognizant of the fact there's a lot of people suffering and they're making the decision, we can't go get our teeth cleaned. We have to go to the clinic and go to where students are learning how to be a dental hygienist and we're going to pay $5 instead of $55.

That's not bad. That's teaching our children to be aware there's alternative ways to be able to take care of yourself from a health standpoint, feed yourself by getting to know local farmers, local growers, going to your farmers market. That saves a lot of money and it doesn't take much time. It just takes, Chris, strategic. It just takes some paying attention and thinking ahead.

It really does. Folks, we're talking today about the economy and it's a stressful time right now. What we can do to help our kids not be stressed out during this difficult time. We're going to take another commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about it and I want to talk a little bit about how we can prepare our college kids. If I believe in that, Connie, I'm going to take advantage of your wise advice in consulting and you can help me out through that. Y'all stick around.

Be right back. Discovering the hidden secrets of Washington, D.C. and rediscover much of America's forgotten Christian heritage. Your tour will include an up close and personal look at the nation's establishment and how it's evolved over the centuries. Learn about the government and the men who helped forge this new kind of republic, one that acknowledged the creator from its very inception.

Know the truth about the creation of the United States of America, about the faith of the founding fathers and how Christian principles were used to establish this form of government. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today and secure your spot to join Chris Hughes in Washington, D.C. this June. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's, the coffee company with the Christian perspective. This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about.

Order your coffee today at ShopGenerousJoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. The Conservative Baptist Network is a dynamic movement of Southern Baptist pastors, churches and Christians committed to standing for the sufficiency of God's word in the face of a culture of compromise. The passion and prayer of the Conservative Baptist Network is that God would help Southern Baptists stay bold for the gospel so that we might see revival in America and the world reached for Christ. Visit our website today at ConservativeBaptistNetwork.com to learn how you and your church can join and support this exciting movement. Welcome back to Christian Perspective.

I'm Chris Hughes. Connie Albers and I today are talking about the economy. You know it's so scary right now with the price of gas and fuel and bread and milk and everything else getting so expensive and in some cases doubling in price from just a year ago. And it's stressful for us as parents and we need to be careful how we let that stress come out in our families with our spouses and with our kids. Connie, you know because I've shared with you that both of my kids are in college now and we're kind of living some of the things that you're talking about. And I've watched with interest like my daughter is getting ready to move to another town to start medical school in the fall. So we've been in the last couple of weeks trying to find her, help her find a place to live. It's been eye-opening for her because she's now realizing what's a security deposit and what's a pet deposit and why do I have to pay first and last month's rent. And I didn't realize you had to pay a deposit when you turned on your water and power and you got to call in the garbage and so many things that Vicki and I realized we had not properly prepared her in her mind to be ready for a lot of these expenses that adults have that kids never think about. So what can we do Connie to help better prepare our kids in this difficult economy but you know things that they would have to pay for anyway that's just more expensive now. Well you've said it several times Chris, you and your wife Vicki, you have conversations, you talk about it. You're noticing, oh we probably didn't do a very good job of this. It's never too late to come alongside your kids and say, hey you know you've lived with mom and dad. There are things we haven't really talked about just because we're doing life, we're paying the bills and we either never thought about it or you didn't need to know. But now all of a sudden you're having a rude awakening to how expensive, how much taxes we actually pay and our kids become indignant. We're paying that? Are you crazy?

Who voted for that or who approved for that? But Chris, starting the conversation if you can before your kids get to college is so helpful. But when they get to college, be available. Be available for them to ask you those questions and never marginalize them or say, well yeah don't you know that?

Don't marginalize them, don't make them feel like they should have known something. Remember the schools aren't teaching our children how to manage money or be wise with money or make money. I mean they teach our children how to work a job and get paid an hourly wage and that's not really equipping them for building wealth.

That's an industrial type of mindset. So when you're talking about your daughter, I remember Chris, there was a season we had our kids in college for 11 consecutive years. And nine and a half of those years we had two or three in college at the same time. We didn't have college prepay. Our children had academic scholarships. But they all graduated, Chris, with no loans and no student debt. And we had a strategy.

Spreadsheets were our friend back then. But Chris, just talking to your kids about what are some ways that they can shop for apartments, ask, negotiate, negotiate rent, negotiate locations. Everything in many ways except taxes. Taxes are non-negotiable.

But many things are negotiable. So teach your children not to be afraid to ask questions. Tell me why.

Go back to that time when they were little. Why, daddy? Why?

Why? And as your daughter comes to you, mom, dad, why do I have to pay for some last month's deposit? Well, honestly, that is even somewhat negotiable. Ask. Can I pay the first and last month's deposit in blocks? Do I have to have it all up front? Can you work with me on this?

Power bills, anything that's power or water related, unfortunately we usually can't. But talking to them, listening and explaining the why behind it. Does that make sense, Chris?

Does that answer your question? Yeah, and I think that's something that's different, I think, Connie, for the current generation than our generation. There's very much, I don't know if it's because of social media or what, but I think younger people today are very worried about what other people think. And they don't realize that you can negotiate or argue is probably not the right term. But, you know, that a price is negotiable because it's a business. So I think a lot of kids that I've noticed in our generation today, you know, if a house is for a certain sales price or rent is a certain amount.

And again, like you said, it's different with government and utilities. They're not negotiable. But this has been a learning process for my daughter because, you know, we looked at these different apartments that are for rent for her. And I told her, you know, she's like, well, that's out of my budget. I'm like, well, don't, you know, you don't just walk away from it because it's out of your budget, offer them something less. And she's like, you know, they're not going to take anything less. I'm like, yeah, they might. You don't know how long it's been on the market. I mean, there's things.

So it's been a good teaching opportunity. I mean, if a house is on the market for a longer period of time where people might need to be, they're moving. They don't want to pay two house payments at one time or, you know, it's been vacant and not been rented for a while. There are opportunities to negotiate, as you're saying, you know, they can always say no, but they might say yes.

And sometimes I think that's beautiful. You have to remember, too, when we're teaching our children that they're in the business of making money. They have probably bills they have to pay. I mean, they're not in the business of just renting properties for their costs.

They want to make money. And the other thing, Chris, that we need to talk to kids about is leverage the fact that they're going to be good tenants. They're going to pay their bills on time during the pandemic. All of ours were living out on their own and they never defaulted on their rent.

Never. And that made the tenants do a little more for them. When something broke, they would fix it quicker because they wanted to keep them. They knew they were taking care of their investments. So kind of elaborating on your point there with your daughter, if they see, oh, she's she's a studious person. She's, you know, working her way through college.

She's not going to be having these wild parties and destroy the faucets or, you know, not saying that those things do happen. And it does make renters or landlords. It makes them cautious if they have a young family or they have a student that they know that they can see because you have to go through the whole interview process. They're more likely because they know they can they can trust you with their investment.

That's a big, big factor. I know when our kids were recently, we went to look at a property for our kids. That's pretty much you got to tear it down to the shell and start all over. And we are talking with the general contractor again. Even that was what do you think it'll cost? And he gave us a ballpark and I said, could you sharpen your pencil? Not we're going to undercut you, but what could you cut cost on?

What kind of breaks could you do? So setting in a budget, like you said, with your daughter, we you have her have a budget. This is how much either Mom and Dad can give you to go towards your room and board while you're in college. This is your budget.

Then let them work with those real numbers and come back and ask you, this is what I have. This won't work. Instead of Mom, Dad, I just need more money. No, we're not just going to give you more money. We're going to help you learn how to manage the money that you do have so that when you are on your own and off our payroll, you'll have the skills needed to master the art of living within your means, saving, tithing, being generous to others. But they have to be taught those skills.

They don't get them by osmosis. Connie, you mentioned savings and tithing, which is something we haven't talked about yet today. When you travel around the country to speak or with your kids, do you recommend a certain percentage? If you're listening, when we say the word tithing, you don't know what that means. As Christians, you're generally encouraged to give 10% of your income, which is called a tithe, to the church. We also should be giving money to charity and other things as well. That comes into proper budgeting when we realize how much money we're making. Going back to my son, he's getting X amount a week as we do. Whether we work at McDonald's or whether you own IBM, you're getting a set income and you need to have a budget.

You need to live, as you said, with your kids, teach them to live within the means, not just keep coming back to mom and dad for money. But do we need to set aside a certain amount? Is it important to save for an emergency? Like, my son had a flat tire yesterday and he called me, you know, what to do. I'm like, well, you know, this is why you need to save money, because it's going to cost money to buy a new tire, you know, those kind of things.

And do we need to set aside not just for tithing, but an amount that maybe we want to give to charity or other causes as well? Do you have any recommendations on that? You know, I do. And I love that you talked on that.

I mean, I have to give a plug for if we have to take this out, you can edit out. I have to give a plug for Dave Ramsey. I love his financial piece. That's great for young people because it's not mom and dad saying it. It's not that our kids don't listen to us. But when somebody else who has built enormous wealth or has actually done it says and reiterates what mom and dad have said, somehow it kind of sinks in a little deeper.

But any type of course that your kids can go through that teaches them how to manage, how to create a budget and what percentage of your budget should go to what, it reinforces the idea that money is just another part of our lives that we need to manage and understand. We have a dollar. We can't spend a dollar.

Ten. That's what too many people do. You have a dollar.

You need to spend, you know, 70 cents of it or 80 cents of it. But what I see young people doing and actually even adults is the first time they get in a money crunch, the first thing to go is giving, supporting charitable causes. The five I wouldn't say threes or fours that people are so passionate about the the church that needs the giving that we are. It's a biblical mandate.

It's not a suggestion. It's not if you have an abundance, then you give. No, that's the first thing that we do. So, yes, we taught our kids when you earn money, whether you're pulling weeds for a neighbor or you've got that internship position, the first that God gets the first fruit because God is a God of abundance. God is God is not a God of scarcity. We don't get him from our leftovers. He doesn't.

The church, the body of Christ does not get what we have left. He gets what we bring in first. And for some, it may be 10 percent.

It may be a little less. I don't want people to be legalistic about it because sometimes you can run into hard times. But I believe there is a direct correlation, Chris, when you give generously, when you sow generously into the lives of other, into the church, into charitable organizations.

God's economy is just not ours. And we teach our kids those principles. It stays with them for life.

And I have oftentimes had my kids come back who are all now adults and on their own. They'll come back to me and say, you know, I cut back on my giving because we were trying to sock away more money to be able to buy a house. And I noticed we weren't able to put away as much as we were when we were giving regularly. I'm like, well, what do you think you need to do?

I don't need to solve your problem. What do you think you need to do? We need to get back to giving. That's important advice. Connie, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, I want to talk about what can we teach our kids to do if they're not happy with the economic design. Oh, you're listening to Christian Perspective with Chris Hughes and Connie Albers. We'll be right back with more on the economy and how we can help our kids prepare for this.

Things, prints, photo editing and much more. Give us a call today at 704-984-2432 or connect with Diggs Design on social media. In a world crowded with viewpoints and voices, critical condition after a. I believe the message of this financial problem.

Only one voice matters. Gods at the College at Mid-America and Mid-America Seminary. We equip leaders to think from a biblical worldview online or on our Memphis campus. Check out the College at Mid-America and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary at MABTS.edu and be equipped to light the way. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's, the coffee company with the Christian perspective.

This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about. Order your coffee today at shopgenerousjoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. Do you desire to build family relationships that stand the test of time? Does creating a Godly family seem like a daunting challenge?

You're not alone. I'm Connie Yaupers, author of Parenting Beyond the Rules and host of Equipped to Be. As a mother of five, I understand your struggles.

For 35 years I have been helping families just like yours build lasting relationships. I'd like to invite you to tune in to Equipped to Be and visit connyyaupers.com where I share useful tips and proven strategies to help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith and life with confidence and joy. The United States of America has a strong Christian heritage, but most Americans don't know the truly important role that God in the Bible played in the founding of this great nation. This June, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, for four amazing days in our nation's capital. With Chris, you'll embark on a journey of discovering the hidden secrets of Washington, D.C. and rediscover much of America's forgotten Christian heritage. Your tour will include an up-close and personal look at the nation's establishment and how it's evolved over the centuries. Learn about the government and the men who helped forge this new kind of republic, one that acknowledged the creator from its very inception. Know the truth about the creation of the United States of America, about the faith of the founding fathers and how Christian principles were used to establish this form of government. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today and secure your spot to join Chris Hughes in Washington, D.C. this June.

Welcome back to Christian Perspective. I'm Chris Hughes. Connie Ivers and I today are talking about the economy and how we need to be careful as parents to not let the stress of the economy chug through where it's affecting our relationship with our spouses and particularly with our children. We've been talking about how to teach our kids to budget. That is so important to know that, you know, you only have a certain amount of money coming in and you have to use that money wisely in order to pay for the expenses that you have.

And sometimes you can't do the luxurious things that you might want to do because you don't have the money to do them. Connie, this is an election year and I'm always careful or try to be careful. You probably think I'm not careful enough when you're on the show to not get into the world of politics too much.

But I'd like to talk about the process. I'm not talking about candidates or a particular elected official or political party. But if we don't like what's going on in our economy, do you think we should also teach our kids about elections, the election process and that elections have consequences and what they can do about it?

Absolutely. And I think whether you like who's in office or not, I think that's part of our civic duty as citizens of America. I think we have to teach our children to not be afraid to get in the political process. That could be through donating to a candidate of your choice, doing some research and finding out like who are these judges that we're going to be putting in positions that make very critical decisions that impact their daily lives. I remember we talked about, I think it was the first segment that we need to teach our kids that what they do, the application of those decisions. So there is a trend with young people to, I don't want to get in politics.

I don't want to talk about politics. Well, we've seen how in two short years or a year and a half, how their gas prices went from $2 to $4, $5, $6. And that is a direct result of people either not being involved in the political process, or not thinking that it mattered too much, or thinking it's not going to impact me.

I think every American knows that that is not true, because we are seeing that. So now, with the midterms coming, whether your kids are elementary age and they stand and they hold a sign that is for a gathering or a rally of some sort, or somebody's coming to or there's a school board meeting or there's a city council meeting, take your children to those. Expose them to what it looks like to be civic minded, to be engaged in the process. Chris, what is happening to our kids' future? Like you were talking about your son and the anxiety that he feels of, what is my future going to look like? It's so uncertain. Well, it is only uncertain until the next election. So if you don't like it, you can get involved. You can write a letter, you can make a phone call, you can go volunteer for a candidate or for a cause that you are passionate about, you can make your voice heard. One thing we know, Chris, this generation of young people wants to be seen and heard. They've been told to sit down and shut up for far too long. And they're like, no, I'm not.

I'm done with that. I will say something, and maybe they're afraid of being canceled, which many are. We are seeing left and right people losing their jobs. That does not mean they can't throw their support even quietly. Support behind somebody through a contribution or through writing letters or answering a phone bank. There are ways they can be involved without having to be the public face of something.

Does that make sense? Yeah, I think that's great advice, Connie. I love how you said take your kids to a school board meeting because civics are not being taught really in most high schools and middle schools around the country and even in colleges. So you have a generation of young people who don't really understand how the government process works and even most adults don't.

I would definitely encourage you. I mean, I'm not telling you, you don't have to be radical. You don't have to say anything. But every one of us as parents should take our kids to a county commission meeting or school board meeting. City Council meeting and just sit and watch and see how it works so your kids understand how the process works because it really you can have served as a local elected official for many years and when someone shows up, you're going to pay attention and they don't have to. You don't have to be wild and crazy and angry when you show up at a meeting. Just the fact that you show up because hardly nobody does is going to get that elected official's attention when you show up. And your elected officials are just people.

Yeah, go ahead. No, you're right. What you just said, people don't show up. And when you show up, whether you're the shy, quiet, introverted type, the fact that they see you, somebody is probably already trying to figure out, are you for them or against them?

And you know what else happens? Our kids learn behavior and decorum. How do these people behave? Do they treat each other with civility?

Do they show respect and respect for which frankly is lacking right now and that's decorum. It's so divisive and pitted against one another, but our children, all listeners, your children can be the game changer. And you can have a text message thread, which is what our family has where we're sharing, hey, did you read this? Yes, some of my kids get their news from TikTok. They follow people that are political on TikTok or on WhatsApp or what's on Snapchat or all the different social means out there. They're staying aware.

They're staying engaged. Some are more quiet than others. But Chris, like you know, because you've held public office before, sometimes you can win by a handful of votes, a handful, because people aren't listening. But your kids, you can help them learn about a candidate, about a judge, about a city commissioner or a city planner. How are they using the money for your city? Are they using it wise? Are they being responsible? I mean, I don't know about you, Chris, but I have to live within a budget.

I don't have unlimited funds. Our kids can see the difference between life a few years ago and life now. We weren't worried about gas prices or bacon shortages.

We weren't worried about those things. We were planning vacations. We were opening businesses.

We were stocking away money. And now radically, everything's radically changed. These don't even have to be hot, contested conversations with our home. We teach them how to have these conversations and we teach them that your voice matters. And if you tell a friend or two, if you just say, hey, would you consider? We don't have to be in their face. Just you can be kind and gracious.

You know, I heard this about that candidate. Would you consider doing some research about them? I'd love to know what your thoughts are. All of a sudden, you're inviting somebody else without being in their face to think about something and how it's going to impact their bottom line. Most of the time, Chris, people are just concerned about their money, their job, their livelihood.

They're not really thinking about yours. But if you invite them into the conversation and they realize that, ooh, everything we do impacts everybody else. Oh, now all of a sudden, this is applied elections. This is that true elections have consequences, good or bad. And we can teach our kids how to have a positive impact just by something as simple as showing up and listening. We really can. And, you know, maybe we need to do a show on that sometime or just, again, not talking about a political candidate, a particular candidate or party, just how can we teach our children to be engaged in the process? And this election year is so important. And we can discuss that with our kids just by looking at the economy that we've been talking about today. And there are things you can do. You know, I know some people are in some jobs like military and others where, you know, they've got to be careful.

They can't be seen being involved publicly. But like you said, Connie, you can we can all write a check even. And I know it sounds crazy, y'all, but even five or ten dollars makes a difference. So your kids can mow grass or do a lemonade stand, particularly on local races.

A little bit of money makes a huge difference. Another thing that you can do, and we're about out of time here, but as you know, and you may hate them, OK, but they do have a purpose. Political signs or something that have to be put up. Well, that's something that you can do in the middle of the night. Nobody would even know, you know, that you and your kids, I used to my kids probably hated it, but I would make my kids go out with me to vote for my campaign and for for other candidates as well. Put up yard signs in the middle of the night. And so people wake up the next morning and there's a sea of Chris Hughes signs all over the place. But that's something you can do anonymously.

And nobody, particularly if you do it in the middle of the night, nobody knows you're doing it. And then that time in the car, I'm teaching the kids the importance of the election process. So we're out of time today, Connie, if time flies by when I'm talking to you.

But this has been a great conversation today about how we need to get our kids talking about the economy, but not stress them out, teach them how to budget money and then engage in the process. Connie, I appreciate you so much. And our whole audience is praying for your grandbaby and for you and Tom and your kids and just excited about what God is doing in three years. Can't wait to talk to you again next Friday. Thanks for having me, Chris. See you next week. Have a great week, y'all. Let's go get out, get involved, teach our kids about the economy and let's impact the culture for Jesus. Thank you for listening. The Christian Perspective with Chris Hughes. Learn more about impacting the culture for Jesus. Visit citizensforamericafoundation.com.