5 Ways To Teach Your Kids About Savings

Teaching kids how to save money is not easy. Most kids have an ‘easy come, easy go’ approach to money. They like to spend it as soon as they get it – you can virtually see their pocket money burning a hole in their pockets!

5WAYS TO TEACH YOUR KIDS

About Savings

Regardless of age, the best way to teach children about the value and importance of saving is to start small and to keep it simple.

Here are some tips that you can follow that will help encourage your children to start saving:

LEAD BY

EXAMPLE

Keep a money box at home somewhere visible where the whole family can see it. Get into the habit of regularly using it and putting coins and small notes into it. For older children, look into Spriggy cards. They provide you and your child with an app to view pocket money, oversee savings goals, track spending, instantly transfer funds and lock cards.

GIVE REWARDS

Giving your child a financial reward for jobs they do around the house is a good way to teach them the value of earning their own money. Likewise, giving your children a weekly or monthly pocket money is also a handy way to teach them how to budget and save.

SET GOALS

Most kids have plenty of things that they are desperate to purchase or for you to purchase for them! Encourage your child to identify what particular thing they wish to save for, to prioritise, and help them work towards achieving it.

MATCH THEM

A great way to motivate your child to save is to match them dollar for dollar. If your child is aiming to save $100 to take on your end of year family holiday then offer to match the same amount once they have reached their goal. Similarly, if your child is saving for a new game offer to meet them halfway. This concept works well and helps to keep kids motivated to save.

LET YOUR CHILD MAKE MISTAKES

Some times the best lessons come from a poor decision, especially when your child is young and the financial loss will be relatively insignificant. If your child gets money for their birthday and rushes out and spends it immediately only to realise that they have no money left for the new game that they really want they may make different choices the next time.