Money can be a very tough subject for you and your kids, but you're probably doing something right if you're talking about it with them at all.

Our family finance expert, Nathan Dungan, can help you start your kids on the right track.

Dungan is an author, award-winning speaker and national expert on family finances and the effects of mass marketing on young people.

A top-performing financial adviser and vice president of marketing for a Fortune 500 financial services company, he founded Share-Save-Spend LLC, an organization that helps people of all ages develop and maintain healthy financial habits.

Dungan offers insight drawn from his highly successful Share-Save-Spend approach to money. "Having a balanced approach to financial matters means aligning what you care about with how you use your money. While this sounds simple enough, it becomes seriously complicated by the compounding pressure on young people to spend, spend, spend, and to reach for an upscale lifestyle," Dungan said.

Each week, Dungan offers advice on how parents can create financial values in their children.

Dungan offers a Share-Save-Spend tip, a question to prompt money discussions with your children, and a gotta-have-it-now fact that illustrates the incredible influence mass marketing has on our children.

This past weekend I did a workshop for a wonderful group of community leaders in northern Iowa. Suffice it to say they were shocked to learn just how bad the financial literacy rates were for young people in America.

Every two years Washington D.C.-based Jump $tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy does a comprehensive survey of several thousand high school seniors to measure their knowledge of personal finance basics. More specifically, they test a student’s ability to manage financial resources such as credit cards, insurance, retirement funds and savings accounts.

The results? Drum roll please. In 2004, more than 65 percent of students failed the exam! That’s right -- on average, students scored 52 percent (out of 100) on this basic test of financial literacy -- that’s a big, fat F.

Given those results, should we be surprised that one of the fastest growing age groups filing for bankruptcy in America is young people under age 25?

I tell parents all the time how much easier it is to instill healthy financial habits in a young child than it is to unravel the bad habits at age 20, 25 or 30. So the next time you’re retirement statement arrives at the house, invite your child into the conversation. Spend a little time telling them how much you save, where you save, and more importantly why you save.

And then do it each time the statement arrives -- even if they roll their eyes and say “this is boring.” You may not experience the fruits of your labors until years in to the future. But when your child calls you up for advice on which investments they should choose for their 401k dollars, you can think back and smile about all those boring financial conversations.

What are some teachable moments you can use to help your child improve their financial skills?

It might be talking with them about some of your financial goals or it could be helping them understand why you pay your credit card off each month. Bottom line: never underestimate the power of role modeling healthy financial habits in your family.

The Money Talks question is designed to build on the Share-Save-Spend tip for the week and can be used as a springboard for additional conversations with family and friends.

According to RCR Wireless, 10 percent of teens admit they regularly exceed monthly minutes in their postpaid calling plans. Forty-six percent are unaware how many evening/weekend minutes they're allotted each month, and 36 percent don't know how many daytime minutes they have.

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