Money Milestones for Kids: An Age-by-Age Guide

Whether or not your child's idea of a fun toy is a cash register and fake coins, the fact remains that as a parent, it's your job to talk about financial responsibility with your kid.

But how young is too young to talk about budgeting or, say, credit reports? After all, we don't want them to grow up and start hiding money under their futons.

We tapped Erica Sandberg, national personal finance expert and author of Expecting Money: The Essential Financial Plan for New and Growing Families, to help us lay out money milestones for every age.

"It's important to remember that every child grows and matures at a different rate," Sandberg says. "But if you stick with this general guideline, you'll be off to a great start -- and you won't miss any important topics."

Age 3: Practice Waiting

At this age, kids should be learning about patience, and how to respond when they don't get something they want right away. The simple lesson of delayed gratification will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Activity: Tell your toddler that you'll give him a cookie now if he wants it, but you'll give him two cookies if he waits an extra ten minutes. See what he chooses and try to encourage him to wait for the extra cookie.

Lesson Learned: Be patient and wait for a bigger payoff, rather than always going for instant gratification.

Age 4: Go Over Counting

Your kid won't understand the finances behind money at this age, but he should be good at counting and basic addition. So, this is the year to start linking those budding math skills to the concept of money.

Activity: Give your child a mix of coins and have her start by counting how many there are. Each week, introduce a new coin with its name ("this is called a quarter") and have her practice picking it out of a pile. Once she's learned all of the coin names, have her separate the pile into all of the different types, and keep growing the pile each week to escalate the challenge.

Lesson Learned: The names and sizes of each coin (plus math practice).

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