Oct. 30, 2024

#258 – How to Teach Children Money Management With Halloween Candy | Revisited

#258 – How to Teach Children Money Management With Halloween Candy | Revisited

It’s October, and you know what that means—spooky season is officially here!

Between costumes, parties, and the excitement of trick-or-treating, your kids are about to score a mountain of candy. But what if you could turn that sugar stash into more than just a sweet treat?

This Halloween, let’s use all that candy to sneak in some fun, practical lessons about money management! Join me for six creative ways to introduce your kids to essential money concepts.

Anna's Takeaways:

  • Using Halloween Candy to Teach Money Lessons (02:42)
  • Motivation and Effort for Candy (04:48)
  • Saving vs. Spending Concepts (05:51)
  • Budgeting vs. Binging (07:41)
  • Teaching the Concept of Taxes (08:41)
  • Investing Concepts with Candy (09:11)
  • Charitable Intentions and Sharing (10:44)

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Transcript
Anna Sergunina:

Hey, Money Bosses. Anna is here, and



Anna Sergunina:

welcome back to the Money Boss Podcast. I am excited for this



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episode. I'm excited for all the episodes, but this one should be



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fun, because I want to really use this theme of holidays



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upcoming and start to kind of be creative how we teach money



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lessons to our kids. So let's talk a little bit about how



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Halloween candy, and I know it's coming down the road, could be



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used to start introducing these money concepts that we've been



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talking about for quite some time on the podcast already. So



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with that in mind, I know there's a lot of promotion going



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on at the moment. People are starting to put up their



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Halloween decorations. I actually am going to dig that up



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this evening and start to even though it's like just the



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beginning of the month of October, it's going to be here



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before we know it. And something really fun that we are doing



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this year is that, well, first of all, we're going to see my



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family on the east coast, but also going to spend the



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Halloween with them, and it's been years. We've lived in



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California for 10 years now. It's been years since I was



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actually in Maryland for the Halloween. I love all the fall,



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and so looking forward to that. So I already know we're going to



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have a lot of Halloween candy, because my family, my brother,



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has kids, and I know we're going to go trick or treating, so I



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want you to kind of think about All right, here's what's



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happening with the kids, and I think this, if I further think



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about this concept, how do we use the candy as a teaching



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lesson? The kids, probably of all ages, can benefit from this.



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I've been talking quite a bit with you about the different



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types of accounts you can set up and and the three jars concept



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and introducing allowance. So keep those concepts in the back



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of your head while we kind of going through that. So here are



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my kind of six ways, slash analogies, how you can use



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Halloween candy to learn more about what your kids are



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understanding about money, and start to introduce these



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concepts to them and make them more real. Because which kid out



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there in the world doesn't like candy? I don't think I can find



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anyone. So here we go. Okay, I've got six ideas for you. So



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number one is, how motivated are your kids to work for this



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candy? I know everybody loves it, but How hard are they



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willing to work so, you know, granted that you had already



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purchased them a costume or created one from scratch



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yourself. I wish I was that handy. What are they willing to



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do in order for you to take them out for trick or treating,



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right? Or even buy them a costume? Of course, I'm lacking



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ideas at the moment for my almost three year old, but and



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he's been telling me, it's funny, he's been telling me



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lately that he does not want to go trick or treating. I'm not



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sure what that's about. He only has really two years of



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experience doing that, probably just something he watched on



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YouTube about Halloween being scary. But I'm still going to



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figure out a way for him to earn, right, this opportunity to



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go out and Trick or treat, or an opportunity for us to spend



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money and buy him the costume, so it's not something that it's



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expected right every year for the parents to do. So I wonder,



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what is it that you're going to do to motivate them to actually



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earn this awesome, awesome experience. So that's number



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one. Number two, let's talk about saving versus spending



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concept, and if we're using candy as a currency. So our



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currency here is candy, and kids understand that concept very



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well. Is there any candy left in their blow buckets before you



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get home for trick or treating. So look at that right, and then



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talk to them about these concepts, right? When you have a



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lot of candy, and that's what's going to happen on that night.



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What do you do with it? Do you just eat all of it on that one



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night? And maybe you eat more than normal. But is there an



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opportunity for you to introduce the idea of maybe putting some



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of that candy aside and come back to tomorrow, right? Or come



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back to it, or save it for for the rest of the week, so that



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you can enjoy it a little bit every day. I think the three



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jars concept would be really, really handy in this, because



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that includes the save, spend and give jar. You know, maybe if



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they spread them out, even buying those jars would be



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really cool. I will include the link in the show notes. I have



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found a really inexpensive plastic jars on Amazon that have



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a little lid and it has a select for you to drop points. I don't



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think you can put candy, but you can still probably use those



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jars to accomplish the same thing. So go back and listen to



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that episode. I think it's a really handy for this particular



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concept. But I can almost see how like using the candy,



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spreading it out into these three jars. And you know, maybe



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some of the candy you can give away to mommy and daddy, right,



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two days from now. Or you can, you know, you can eat whatever



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it is that you designated to spending, which is your eating



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bucket, and then the one you're saving you're going to keep for



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a little bit. So I hope that makes sense. Number three on my



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list is budgeting versus binging. So introduce the daily



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limit on how much candy can they eat per day, right? And compare



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that to real money. So if you have five pieces of candy you



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are allowed to eat from that batch that you collected on the



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Halloween night. How long is that going to last you? And the



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same thing, if you had $5 or $50 or whatever that number is, how



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long is that going to last you? Can you spend $5 every day?



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Maybe you buy a cup of coffee or a lunch or something like that.



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So use the candy as the currency to start to introduce that



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being, you know, having a plan versus, just like eating it all



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right? And again, I'm not, after not giving kids the opportunity



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to enjoy this holiday by any means, but trying to create this



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parallel between smart money decisions and lessons for the



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kids and using candy as a fun, fun currency. Okay, number four



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is, how do we teach them the tax? How do we teach them that



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money that we make candy that we get on our trick or treating



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trip is going to have to have a tax and so maybe lay out an



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example where they have 10 pieces, and then two out of



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those pieces are going to go into a tax bucket, right? So



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that's they don't get to keep 10 pieces of the candy, because



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that's how it works in real life. Again, that way, when the



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real life comes up and they get a paycheck, a real paycheck,



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they're not expected to keep 100% of it, because that's how



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it works in real life. So introduce the tax component as



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well. Number five, introduce the investing component. So if we



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did continue with the three jar approach, you don't have to. You



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can break it out any way you want, even use just like a zip



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lock bags for this matter. Don't complicate it. If you keep the



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candy for a week, right? And whatever it is, 10 pieces, 20



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pieces in this bag, and you commit to not eating it. One



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week from now, I will put five more candies in that bag, if



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that stays there for another week. So week two, I will add



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another five pieces of the candy that they like, if it stays



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there in week three and week four and so forth. So the idea



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is that. Them to all the sudden in a little bit of time to see,



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oh, wow, I started with 10 pieces of candy. A week later, I



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now have my 10 plus mommy or daddy or grandpa or grandpa are



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going to match it up with the five pieces of candy I now have



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15. Maybe I can eat one and I still have more than I initially



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had, and so forth. So I hope this is actually a really cool



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example. And I know that you gotta eat that candy at some



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point because it's gonna go back, but let's do it for a



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month and see if this concept will sink about All right. This



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is how money grows. This is how you actually create real wealth,



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even if we're just using the candy concept here. And my last



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one for all of it, I couldn't live without it, because it



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still kind of circles back to the basic principles of money



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management. Is,



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how can we instill in them the charitable intentions, right? So



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how can they be willing to share and for younger kids, that's a



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big, big lesson too, with everything that they've got. So



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explain to them, right? And hopefully, if you prefer, maybe



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follow the order that I'm describing these steps, and



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because you can kind of build on, hey, we are going to grow



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the money or slash the candy by five pieces next week. And so



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since you have more, could you share one piece of that or two



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pieces of that, because you're going to still get more than you



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initially started. So I know that, or maybe you introduced



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the concept of kids that didn't have the opportunity to have a



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costume and go trick or treating. Now that's a good



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option for them to share, right? That you know, that particular



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candy, or whatever it is, any other you know, Halloween



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related kind of thing. So those are my six ideas that I've got



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for this exciting holiday. I'm starting to enjoy it more and



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more as Liam grows up, and really trying to, like, find



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creative ways, not just to, you know, go the traditional route



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of, like, blowing money on costumes and and simply just



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eating candy until you, like, pass out. Let me know what



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you're doing with your kids for this Halloween season and the



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next couple of weeks. And how do you keep them engaged and



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creative, and still, you're introducing these lessons for



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their finances. So I hope this could become a tradition for



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your family, so that maybe try some things this year and then



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keep on going. But I'm really liking that the currency that we



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presented here, and yeah, chocolate candy sounds like a



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lot of fun. All right, money bosses, that's all I've got for



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you today until next time. Remember you are the bosses of



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your own money.