Merrill Lynch VP: 5 ways to prepare my children for financial success

This also filed test is based on a conversation transcribed with Robert Furst, 38, a senior vice-president at Merrill Lynch, a heritage management division of the Bank of America. The following has been modified for duration and clarity.

I really had the chance to have incredible models in my life, and I am very intentional to be a model for my children.

I joined Merrill Lynch in 2013. I provided wealth management advice to our customers, who include business owners, professional athletes, doctors and lawyers.

In my work, I focused a lot on the education of the next generation of finances. This gave me a cheat code to deal with my own children, which are six and four.

Here are some of the main ways I decided to teach my children financial literacy and the way I plan to prepare for a financial success.

Encourage charity donations

I don’t think my children are too young to find out more about gratitude, compassion and appreciation. If we start these habits early, they will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

My children save money in frost stems for charitable donations. When they have accumulated enough funds, they will choose, with a little advice, where to give these funds. At four and six years old, my wife and I want our children to focus on the savings of charitable organizations and help the least wealthy.

When my six -year -old child will be seven years old and start the first year, I will present him to invest and we will explore the actions he would like to create his first portfolio.

My children are one step ahead in life with two loving parents with good jobs. We have already started to store money for the university. I want to teach them that once a family has “”Quite “it is crucial to restore.

Let them try to invest

My father worked in finance and discovered the articles of the Wall Street Journal so that I can read. He treated me like his “junior partner” and told me about the commercial decisions he made at work.

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When I had birthday money when I was a child, I told my father that I wanted to invest him. He left me and that aroused my interest in the market. I saw the power to make a good investment.

I plan to present my older child to invest soon. I want him to use his money to choose certain companies to invest, so that he can feel the impact of the decisions he makes. Nowadays, it is relatively easy to open a uniform transfers account to the minor law (UTMA) and let my children choose actions.

I do a lot of investment coaching with the children of our customers. Once, a 12 -year -old child visited our office. We have drawn the research reports for the companies he had chosen and discussed what can indicate a recommended or poorly advised investment. By drawing research reports on the companies he has selected, the child felt heard and respected.

The child learned the financial terms associated with research on the stock market, so the next time he wants to do digging, the jargon will not be an obstacle to the entry. I absolutely intend to do it with my children.

It is not a question of bringing children to have incredible feedback. It is a question of engaging them. If they invest long enough, they can also see the power of composition. Time on the market is switching to the timing on the market.

Teach them the value of hard work

I once asked my parents a video game system, and my mother told me that she would not pay for that.

I ended up working in a friend of my father’s factory to do simple work such as packaging boxes. Soon, I had enough money to buy the game system.

I will not make my children work in factories, but they know that their parents appreciate hard work.

Sometimes my children will ask me why my wife or I have to work late. We let them know that we strive to provide a good life to the family and that we work hard to earn money to pay for food, our house and their education. I want them to know that nothing is guaranteed in life.

I intend to pay them for chores. It could be as simple as making their beds. This is not a high -value article, but it’s worth something for me if my wife and I don’t have to do it.

Save for their future

One of my financial objectives is to send my two children to college debts, so I created a Plan 529 As soon as they had social security numbers. A 529 is an investment account for tax education which can help a child attend the university without contracting debt.

Each child has their own 529. It is important because my children are different ages and I will invest in their 529 online when they go to college. As we get closer to the university, we were going on the level of risk because the money should be spent earlier.

I also want to accumulate enough wealth to give children choices in life. If you want to work in finance or technology, it may not need help from my wife and me. But if one of them wants to become a social worker, the financial awards can be a little different.

I do not want my children to be prevented from doing an incredible job in the community for financial reasons. We want to support them so that they can make this choice without worrying about the salary difference.

Several families that I have advised help to subsidize a child who worked with diligence in a less lucrative career, and this is something that I admired.

We plan this by putting money aside and buying only what we need. We can afford to buy more luxury products than us, and it is by design.

I would probably tell my children that we have this money put aside for their age at college age. I don’t want to tell them too early because I don’t want them to count.

Do you have a story to share on planning your children’s financial future? Contact this journalist at ccheong@businessinsider.com