Off Topic: How to Rai$e your Children to be ~$Rich$~

Even though there isnt going to be a real dish until Monday, I found this article from wikihow.com would be very useful to some parents out there.  I also wanted to point out that you can now add the Dish to your Google, AOL, Yahoo and MSN pages by clicking on the button at the end of the article.
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How to Raise Children to Be Rich

Many of the skills and attitudes needed to become rich begin to develop in childhood. If you want your child to grow up to become the next Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, or if you just want to encourage the development of habits that will help your child become more responsible with money, start early and be a good example.

Steps

1. Examine your beliefs and feelings about money. Do you believe that money is a good thing that can help you achieve your dreams and have fun, or do you see it first and foremost at “the root of all evil”? If your thoughts tend toward the latter, you’ll have a hard time convincing your child that building wealth is a good thing. What’s more, you may not want to instill such values if they come into conflict with your own. Carefully think about your attitudes toward money and where they came from; you may decide wealth is more (or less) important than you thought. Still, no matter how you feel about money, you probably want your child to grow up to be a financially secure adult, so consider that in your child-rearing decisions.
2. Fix your own spending habits. If you spend more than you earn, or if you spend your money frivolously and neglect to save and invest, you can’t expect your child to develop responsible habits. Worse, you’ll probably have more trouble providing your child with his or her basic needs, and money will always be a source of stress in your household. Identify your problem areas, and work to correct them. Develop a budget and stick to it. Start saving money and investing for retirement. These steps will make your life easier now and will set a good example for your child.
3. Appraise your work ethic. Hard work is the only way to financial success for most people. Are you a conscientious worker, or do you drift from job to job without putting much effort into your career? A bad work ethic is hard to change, but if you can do it now, you will be more financially comfortable, and your child won’t have to overcome the same hurdle later in life.
4. Think about what values you want to instill in your child. Chances are, you have mixed feelings about money and about work. That’s only natural, but you don’t want to send your child mixed messages. If you want your child to aspire to build wealth, you need to espouse the virtues of money and of work. If you think that the wealthy should share more of their wealth (or even that rich people are jerks), don’t say things that make your child think that being rich is bad or somehow wrong, and don’t suggest to your child that wealth brings unhappiness. Instead, praise the ingenuity and work ethic of financially successful people while also encouraging your child to be ethical, charitable, and socially responsible with money. If you hate your job, take action and get a different job. Whatever you do, don’t complain to your children about your job or how much you have to work. This may cause them to feel that work is something that should be avoided.
5. Plan your family. If you don’t yet have children, or if you’re thinking about adding to your family, try to make sure that you can afford a child before you have one. Kids are very expensive, and if you’re on shaky financial ground, the expenses of raising a child can put you in a very difficult position. Successful adults are more likely to spring from secure homes, where parents have enough time to spend with their children. If you have to work constantly to support your children, you just won’t have time to raise them right.
6. Invest in your child’s education. Unfortunately, a large percentage of children in the U.S. (and all over the world) don’t get a good education, even if they do well in school. Research schools in your area and try to get your child into the best schools available. There are many excellent public schools, but depending on where you live you may need to invest in private school. Look for a rigorous educational experience that will challenge your child, prepare him or her for college, and build character. If you can get your child into a good preschool, he or she will typically be better prepared to do well in school.
7. Start saving for college early. As the cost of tuition at good colleges rises to outrageous levels, parents need to prepare for college earlier and earlier. An Ivy League education isn’t necessary to become rich or successful, but it helps.
8. Expect good grades from your child. Early on, encourage your child to get good grades, and stress the importance of doing well in school. You need to support your child in this endeavor, however—be ready to help them address any problems they may have with learning, and make sure your home is an environment conducive for studying. If your child has trouble with school, seek advice from his or her teachers. If nothing else works, consider getting a tutor. While education is valuable in many ways, one of the most important things your child can learn from school isn’t taught in class: how to develop good work habits. By demanding and supporting good academic performance, you can help your child on the path to self-reliance.
9. Communicate the value of money to your child. Probably every parent at some point says that “money doesn’t grow on trees.” It’s important that children understand that making money requires initiative and hard work, but all too often money only enters the discussion when you’re refusing a child something, and this can cause your child to see money as a source of stress, rather than as a means to get the things they want. Make sure that children understand the role of money in bringing them good things, not just its role in preventing them from having some things. Be thankful for what you have, and help your child understand that money allows them to live comfortably. By doing so, you will encourage your child to see money as a positive, desirable thing.
10. Teach your child to manage money. If you supply your child with an allowance, help them to develop a budget, and don’t bail them out if they spend their money too quickly. Make sure they have a reasonable amount of money so that they don’t become resentful if they can’t do anything that their friends are doing, but at the same time don’t try to “keep up with the Joneses.” Early on, children will usually spend beyond their means. While it can be difficult to refuse to supply them with additional money, in the long run it will encourage them to be more responsible. If a child wants something that they could reasonably save up and buy with their allowance or earnings, teach them how to set aside a little money each week so that they can eventually buy the item, and have them keep track of their savings.
11. Encourage and allow your child to earn money starting at a young age. Whether they’re mowing lawns, cleaning the house, or running a lemonade stand, young entrepreneurs learn the value of work and ambition. Encourage your child in these pursuits. Remember, though, that kids should have time to be kids, too.
12. Make your teenager get a job. Even if your teen just works during the summer, a job will help him or her to develop a good work ethic and learn the value of money. By the time kids are teenagers, you should already have helped them to develop money management skills. As they grow older, they’ll need more money for things that they want, and if they work for it they’ll value it more.
13. Encourage your child to think about the future. Aimlessness is one of the most formidable obstacles to building wealth. Unfortunately, a growing number of young adults graduate from high school or even college without any idea of what they want to do with their lives. Beginning in middle school, ask your children to really think about what they want to do “when they grow up.” Have them research their choice and write out a plan of how they intend to accomplish it. Of course, their choice is likely to change several times, but if you encourage your children to really consider their future they’ll likely form a clearer idea of how they want to spend it, and they’ll be able to plan ahead so that they can fulfill their dreams.
14. Encourage kids to take the long view on their finances. This is related to the previous step, and it is also related to saving money. Nothing kills the ambition to succeed more than a feeling of hopelessness. Encourage your children to set attainable financial goals and then to work hard and save money to attain them. Many high school and college students expect to graduate and immediately make $100,000 a year or be able to buy their dream car. This isn’t usually how it works in the real world, however, so you need to start early to make sure your children understand that building wealth is a lengthy process, but that they can have or do just about anything they want if they’re willing to set goals for themselves and conscientiously work toward those goals. Patience is a virtue.
    • Teach your child about banking and investing. When your children enter middle school (or before), you should educate them about the banking system. Have them set up checking and savings accounts, and teach them to balance their checkbooks. As they get older, teach them about investments and the miracle of compound interest. Hard work is the key to making money, but investing is the best way to build real wealth. Most college students haven’t the faintest idea of how financial markets work.

Tips

• There are a lot of ways to become rich. While you may have a set career path that you would like your child to take, you shouldn’t force him or her into your dream. Give your children advice, but let them make their own choices. If they can find something they really enjoy doing, they will be more likely to put the necessary work into it to become successful. Encourage and support your kids if they are interested in hobbies or arts.
• Let your kids fail. If your kids (especially those of college age or older) make bad choices against your advice, don’t be too eager to bail them out. If they constantly fall back on you, they’ll never learn to be self-reliant. Help them through the really tough times, if necessary, but in general just help them see failures as learning experiences. Successful people typically leave behind a long string of failures, but they learn from them and bounce back.
• Give your children every opportunity to network with wealthy people or people in their chosen careers and teach them the value of networking. People get ahead based on who they know and how they leverage their network more than any other factor.
• Offer your children instruction in golf, tennis, skiing, and sailing - send them to camps for those activities. Stereotypical as it may seem, these are "wealthy person" sports and if your children learn to enjoy them, they will automatically get more opportunities to meet wealthy people who can help them on their path to becoming wealthy.
• Remember that money isn’t everything. Of course you want your children to grow up to be independent, financially successful adults, but remember that money really isn’t the key to happiness. Be sure to teach your children how to be happy, not just how to be rich.

Warnings

• Don’t micromanage. Young children obviously require a lot of supervision with their money, but you shouldn’t always be looking over your kids’ shoulders to make sure they’re spending their money “responsibly.” They’ll learn to spend their money more responsibly if they run out a couple times and you won’t supply them with more.
• Don’t expect your children to become financially responsible if you’re not. Set a good example.
• Don’t instill your children with the ambition for wealth without also instilling in them a strong moral and ethical code. Put wealth in context or your child might grow up to be a gang member or Enron CEO.
• Even if you do everything right, your children may not grow up to be rich. It will depend a lot on their choices and on pure luck. Don't be discouraged if this happens; hopefully, you will have given them the tools they need to at least be independent, responsible adults.