LAYTON, Utah – When it comes to teaching children about finances and preparing them for missions, my parents, Randy and Carol Kimball of Layton, say the two go hand in hand. They know a little about the realities of both, after raising 11 children and supporting eight of them on full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For the kids growing up in the Kimball household, teaching them about finances started at a young age.
“When our kids were young, we would give them each boxes marked tithing, savings and spending. We would encourage them and talk about saving for a mission,” Carol said. “It was never if, but when.”
Each time their kids earned money or received it as a gift, Mom or Dad would help them distribute it in their boxes. In addition to the boxes, they found many opportunities to discuss financial principles with their family.
“We would hold family home evenings about our budget,” Randy said. “We gave everyone a rough idea of what our expenses were and where the money went. It was always a real eye-opener.”
“It helped our kids go from ‘Mom and Dad have deep pockets’ to ‘no, Mom and Dad have just managed what they had really well,’ ” Carol added.
The Kimballs would also take many everyday opportunities to continue to educate their children about finances.
Carol recalls on several occasions where if the family ever happened to go for fast food, she would point out how much was being spent for the family to eat there. She would then have everyone think of one of the family’s favorite Sunday meals and ask how much they enjoyed them.
“I could always point out that the best meal they loved at home cost a fourth of what of it took to get a fast-food meal for the family,” she said.
Along with talking about finances with their kids, the Kimballs also encouraged their children to work and earn their own money. The family had a paper route for years that was passed through the siblings as each took his or her turn delivering papers and earning money. As their children got older, Dad and Mom would encourage them to get a job.
“I specifically encouraged our children to gain employment when they turned 16,” Carol said. “I helped them look for work, and we found that doing custodial for the school district was an ideal environment for them. So once we got an in, every child when they turned 16, they worked full time during the summer.”
With a large family to raise, money was not always plentiful, so having their children get a job wasn’t just to learn about work but also necessary for them to help shoulder increasing expenses like school activities and trips.
“Having their job and things to pay for helped them learn to manage their money,” Carol said. “They had to look at what do I want and what do I need to pay for. They knew the difference between wants and needs.”
And their kids did a lot more than earn money at their jobs — working provided learning opportunities and a basis for future success.
“That experience taught them a good work ethic,” Carol said. “It taught them to be responsible, it taught them that they had to go by the rules. They had to learn to take instruction and direction. All of those things play in to preparing for a mission.”
As the Kimball children approached missionary age, because of that work experience and background, they knew how to come up with the money to get themselves out on their missions and into the mission field.
“They had to pay the initial expense of sending them out on a mission,” Randy said. “Clothes, Missionary Training Center expenses, etc., they knew they had to pay all of that. I don’t remember anyone feeling overwhelmed by that responsibility. In essence, I think it made them a better missionary because they had to make the sacrifice to make it happen and they had their own investment in their experience.”
As various children left on missions, they made the continuing financing of those missions a family affair.
“When we had missionaries out we would remind our children at home so they wouldn’t push us for expectations,” Carol said. “For example, at Christmas I would point out we weren’t spending as much and let the children know we were sacrificing as a family to support their siblings on missions.”
After raising their family and sending so many on missions, the Kimballs now have the experience of preparing for their own mission together and have advice for others that might be preparing to serve as a couple.
“The No. 1 thing is you can’t have debt,” Carol said. “We made a schedule and planned years ago to have our home paid off and everything paid for. You have to plan ahead to achieve that.”
And through the years, they say there is one source they have always been able to rely on.
“Eight kids going on missions, raising a big family, I didn’t make a whole lot of money,” Randy said. “But the Lord always provided. I think he inspires us to be wise with what we receive, if we ask him.”
Melissa Draper lives in Payson, Utah, with her husband and their three children. Her passions include being a wife and mother, writing, running and music. Read more of her writing at melissadraper.blogspot.com.