Teaching our children about making investment covers a wider range of knowledge and experience. However, it can be summarize and simplify even for layman and the basic requirements to teach in investment are not difficult to follow.

Let's scrutinize the methodology of simplified method on teaching your children about investment in a more practical way.

Start now

It will never be too late if we take action by today. Start as early as possible is my first recommendation. The earlier you begin the lesson and practice to our kids, more effective and easier for the kids to catch up. Kids are learning and "copying" our way of doing thing, same for investment. Most importantly, the earlier they get exposed to the idea of investment, (in long run) the possibility for them to build their own wisdom of investment are greater!

Basic

Let's go back to the basic of money. Yes, I do mean money. Let them have a stronger sense of money and how money works. Our ancestors taught us how to survive by learning and using tools for hunting. Nowadays, we need to learn the power of money and how to leverage our wealth by using money. Teach them (from) the fundamental and the history of money,to the importance of money, to the identification, to the feeling of money, the "working principle of money" and finally, the power of money (how to use money to leverage wealth).

Rewards

Children love rewards. Reward for them is a form of recognition. Recognition of their achievement, recognition of their hard works and "paychecks" of their results. Reward the kids with a simple and baby-step of investment.

Discipline

Discipline come after consistency. A well-disciplined parents who's showing consistency and discipline in investment set a model for the younger generation to follow. We all make mistakes, don't be afraid of making mistakes. Be consistent on investment, share (with your children) the knowledge of investing in regular basis. Know the right investment at the right time. Fear and greed play a very important factor in investment. As long as our children is well disciplined, they'll learn the way how to overcome the fear and greed.

Practices

Start a saving account for the lovely kid. (bear in mind that the purpose of "saving" is to reward them, try not to over-emphasize with saving as compare to investments.), reward them at the end of month with their dream-toys. With the habit of saving, we brainstorm our kids with the importance of "planning, budgets and debts". Kids enjoying their "rewards" by planning how much they can afford and how long they need to achieve their goals...parents can even expose them with "spend on the right time" and they purchase power or the power of money will be under their control. Over-budget or over spend will end up in debt and let them learn how to manage their "debt" (...or advance money given by parents)

Make it (investment) a habit

Investment is a habit. A habit to leverage and park our hard-earned money, a habit in personal development (how to overcome fear and greed), and a habit to make a decision (how to select the right investment at the right time).

Say is always easier than done. Being a good investor is not only about making money, if you consider in detail or take a closer study in investment, it is not difficult to find out that its all about common sense. Remember, what really make us different is the (slight) additional efforts that you put in!

According to Salary.com and American online salaried employees are wasting around 2.9 hours of each 8 hour day. Of course this also doesn't include lunch and other breaks. Thus the total amount may actually be half of a work day. The study indicates that employers are paying an additional 759 billion annual for work that was expected but not received.

The study polled 10,000 employees and found that the following were the big time wasters:

• Personal Use of Internet 44.7%
• Talking with Others 23.4%
• Working on Personal Business 6.8%
• Day Dreaming 3.9%
• Running around Town 3.1%
• Personal Phone Calls 2.3%
• Applying to Other Companies 1.3%
• Planning Personal Events 1.0%
• Tardiness 1.0%
• Other stuff 12.5%

It appears that this study cites that Internet use and Socializing with others is one of the biggest time wasters. In many cases people browse the internet reading articles, looking at pictures and doing personal things. It also makes sense that socializing is the other problem. This problem is magnified when people work close to each other.

The question then becomes “Why do people waste their time?” It might be interesting to not that one of the top reasons is because they don't have enough work. This is interesting considering the large amount of times people claim that they are “swamped” or “up to their neck”. Consider the following:

• Not enough work 33.2%
• Not enough pay 23.4%
• Distraction from other workers 14.7%
• Not enough off work time 12.0%
• Other 16.7%

If you think all of your workers are working hard and doing what is expected of them please think again. Salaried workers appear to be some of the biggest abusers of your compensation package. Since most claim that they don't have enough work it might be beneficial to help them out by rearranging their assignments. This rearranging might actually help you pay them more (solving the under paid problem) and solving the not enough work problem and improving the company performance (laying off unused workers).

Regardless of the reason for the discussion, you need to approach your employee in a way that doesn’t make them feel threatened or intimidated. Here are 9 guidelines for having a productive conversation with your staff.

Be clear about why you are having the conversation.

When you approach your staff member, let him or her know why. If it’s based on something that you’ve personally witnessed, make sure that he or she knows that (and have the conversation as soon as possible after the incident). If you need to address a concern that has been brought to you by a customer or another staff member, be diplomatic. You shouldn’t bring the other person into the conversation by name, but you do need to indicate that someone else has brought the matter to your attention.

Keep in mind that it is unfair to blind-side your employee. If you are talking to them because there is an issue to address, let that be known right away. Don’t begin the conversation by asking them about last night’s baseball game as a way to break the ice. Many people will be more defensive and less understanding if you appear to be trapping them with the conversation.

Be specific, even if the topic makes you uncomfortable.

There are things that make people uncomfortable when they talk with employees. You may be approaching a staff member who has made racist comments about a customer or you may need to discuss your fear that the staff member has been dishonest.

No matter how uncomfortable you are with the conversation, you need to use specific examples to communicate your point. If you are unable to address the specific concerns, how do you expect the employee to understand what you’re trying to say?

Likewise, if you are approaching a staff member who just doesn’t seem to be working out, bring up the specific things that make you question them. Maybe it’s that they spend more time talking to other staff than customers, or maybe there’s just one part of the job that they just don’t seem to grasp. Regardless of the why, it’s important for you to be specific so that the employee can respond to your concerns.

Describe what you know.

Again, this will need to be as specific as possible. If someone has come to you with a complaint, let the staff person know what’s been said. Share what you need to of what’s been said.

For example, if it’s been brought to your attention that there was an issue with customer service, don’t just indicate that you think the staff member doesn’t interact well with customers. Instead, describe the situation: “Here’s what I understand has happened” and go on to explain what you know.

Ask for the other side of the story.

Don’t assume that you have all of the information about the situation, even if you were there when it happened. You may have missed a comment that provoked your staff or there may be an underlying issue between members of your staff that you’re unaware of.

Make sure that after you’ve talked about the incident you give the employee a chance to let you know what happened from his or her perspective.

Explain the way that you feel about the situation.

More than you are able to make an impact by saying “what you did was wrong,” you will be able to communicate with your employee by letting him or her know how you feel about what happened. If it makes you uncomfortable, say so and then explain why. The same holds true if the situation makes you angry, sad or concerned.

Provide a course of action for the employee to meet your expectations.

It’s important, especially if this is the first time that you are approaching an employee with a specific concern, for you to give the staff member a chance to improve.

Don’t just tell him or her “your attitude needs to improve.” Again, be specific. Give a roadmap for the employee’s improvement. Tell him or her that you expect a better outlook or that they should always try to help the customer. Find out from the staff member what extra help they might need to meet your expectations; you may find that having another staff member mentor the person might help, or that it’s a matter of needing more training.

The important thing about this step is that you are clear about what you’re expecting from the staff member so that they can improve.

Describe the consequences that will arise if the behaviors are not changed.

Just because you want all of the members of your staff to succeed at your business, you need to be clear that their chances to turn themselves around are not unlimited. If you will reduce the employee’s hours during busy times if they can’t match the pace, let him or her know this. If you expect him or her to apologize to a customer or another staff member for something that has happened, explain what will happen if that apology isn’t made.

Provide a timeline in which the changes must be made.

Just as you need to express to the employee that there are consequences for their actions, you need to give them a clear sense of the timeframe you are giving them to make the change.

If you ask the staff member to improve his or her attitude and have explained that he or she will not have a job if there aren’t changes, you also need to limit the amount of time the employee has to change. Let them know that they have 30 days if that’s the time you’re giving them.

Schedule a follow-up conversation to evaluate progress.

Once you’ve told your employee that they have a limited time to make a change, scheduling a follow-up conversation is a valuable tool to help them achieve that goal. If you’ve given the staff member 30 days to make a change, set a meeting 2 weeks away to go over the progress that’s been made. That way, you can be sure that you are giving the employee every possible opportunity to make progress.

By clearly indicating why the conversation is taking place and making sure that you are not just giving the staff member a lecture, you’ll be able to form a better relationship with your employee.

Communication is imperative for a good supervisor-employee relationship. By being specific about what’s wrong and what can be done to fix it, you’ll be able to monitor progress. By limiting the amount of time your employee has to change a behavior, you will be able to gauge his or her commitment to change. And ultimately, if the behavior cannot be repaired, you will be able to know that you did all that you could before terminating the relationship with that staff member.