I have been meaning to start education savings plans for my two daughters now for some time. I have approximately $2,000 saved up for one and $1,300 for the other, just sitting in a high-yield bank account earning interest.

Over the long Veteran's Day weekend, we hosted some good friends, Dave and Charlene, who have a young son E. During the course of our visit, we got talking about various financial issues. The conversation moved from our own daughter's recent accumulation of debt to teaching young kids about money. Dave and Char outlined a system that they've developed to help educate their son about money.

Positive incentives work: Pay your kids

This is more of a rant than anything, but I'm quite irritated with the whole topic.

As a libertarian, I have no great love for public schools, but my wife and I can't really afford to send our older daughter to a private school. (Our younger daughter goes to a private day care though.) Now, I have yet another reason to hate public school: It is teaching my daughter that going into debt is okay if you want something right now, and that everybody deserves a free lunch.

Not including my 401k, I've been "in the market" (i.e., the stock market) for about nine months now.