Alabama’s Tax-Free Weekend: Perfect for back-to-school shopping and financial education

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Alabama’s sales tax-free weekend provided the perfect opportunity for families to shop for school supplies and clothing. Running through Sunday, the event allowed shoppers to purchase most clothing items costing $100 or less, along with computers, lunch boxes, and basic supplies like pencils, paper, and scissors, without paying sales tax.

While parents were busy with back-to-school shopping, financial advisor Gregg Murset encouraged them to incorporate financial literacy into their activities. Murset, a father of six and a certified financial advisor, highlighted the importance of teaching children about money management from an early age.

“After you teach your kids not to steal and beat people up, you need to teach them about money because they’re going to be making financial decisions every day of their life and so get them good at it,” Murset said.

Highlighting the significant cost of back-to-school shopping, Murset cited the National Retail Federation’s average spend of $875 per family. He advised parents to have open conversations with their children about financial realities. “Set the stage with your family and say, ‘Listen, everybody, as you know, everything’s more expensive these days—groceries, gas, you name it. This is not different when it comes to our school stuff,’” he explained.

Murset saw back-to-school shopping as an excellent opportunity to teach children about money management. He recommended making a list and distinguishing between wants and needs, suggesting that children cover their wants with money they earn from chores.

“I want those shoes and they’re $130, you know, it’s like, are you kidding me? So if you let that kind of change it and flip the table on them and say no, I’ll pay for $50 shoes, but anything up above 50 bucks is on you, that makes them think twice,” Murset explained.

Murset, the CEO of BusyKid, an app designed to teach children a balanced financial approach, recommended splitting earnings into three categories: saving, sharing, and spending.

“50% goes into saving and investing, 10% goes into sharing, and 40% goes into spending. That’s a good baseline,” he said.

Underscoring the long-term benefits of early financial education, Murset referenced a Harvard study linking early chore completion to later success.

“There was a Harvard study. It’s like 70 years old, tying chores and the completion of chores when they’re young to business success in the future… this is exactly how success happens and starting young is the key.”

Murset suggested that children as young as 5 could start learning about earning money and offered creative ways for kids to ask neighbors for work.

“I have a good idea when it comes to going to talk to your neighbors because it’s, you know, it’s a little awkward. Maybe. I don’t know. I wanna talk to them. Everybody has these little ring cameras nowadays, right? We had a lady come wanted to drop something off at our house and she dropped the thing off on the front door and then she ran down halfway and she, like, did a little dance and we all seem to remember, oh, that’s the ring dance lady. Right. And it was. It was like we all know what’s going on. That’s what kids can do these days. Go up if they don’t answer the door, give them a little sales pitch. ‘Hey, Mrs. Smith. I’m all the way open to watch your dog if you ever go on vacation or I’ll wash your car. Whatever.’ And then you know they’re going to watch it. And they might just remember you when it’s Saturday and you say, ‘Oh, man, I got to wash my car. I’ll call that kid across the street.’ Anyway, I think it’s a good idea!”

Taking advantage of Alabama’s tax-free weekend helped ease the financial burden of back-to-school shopping while also providing a practical way to teach children valuable financial skills.

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