Money Matters: Teach Your Children the Importance of Saving
To create new a generation of children who are money conscious, means parents these days have to be willing to instill the important complexities of money management & savings within our children while they are still young. The idea is to teach them what they wont learn in school, so they can have more than we did or even more than our parents ever had. So to do that, we have to step outside our comfort zone and teach our children the importance of learning to save money. I am not saying throw the whole money tree at them but lets start small with saving for the rainy day perhaps.
As a kid, I can remember having a piggy bank and sticking pennies in it. I loved the sound my change would make as it would fall on all the other pennies. I loved to slide my dimes, nickels, pennies and quarters in the little slot on the top. I can say looking back now, that I did not fully understand the concept of the change and the bank but I did like the idea of seeing how many pennies I could get in my jar. My feeble mind — just thought it was fun to put money in the little slot and pour all my change out on to the floor and run my hand through them. As I got older, I realized that was my early introduction to money and savings.
Set the goal.
Set a goal in front of your child, one that originally wont take them too long to save for. Then increase the goal each time the amount is raised. Every child has a toy they want or a favorite restaurant they want to go out to eat at or some exciting playground or amusement park — this is the perfect way to teach your child to save towards these events & rewards. Make it fun.
Buy him or her a piggy bank or start small with a change jar. Print a picture of the toy or item your child wants to save for and tape it to the jar. Allow your child to earn physical money around the house doing chores or whatever you deem appropriate for their age. The idea is for your child to be able to feel, see and touch the money and save it somewhere. Counting the money ever so often reminding your child how much more they have to save. Then making the savings day a huge reward, event and big day. Your child will be so proud of themselves and physically walking in a store to purchase the items they have saved up for will be so satisfying. There is something about the process of learning visually, hands on , and working hard for the goal.
This teaches them good money habits and instills the art of saving and the importance of saving in them early on. But most importantly the “why” is there. When there’s a specific end goal it instill the art of patience, hard work reward and how saving can get you anything you desire.
Repetition is key to forming habits, so to instill this saving method in your child you have to be consistent.
Be intentional.
Goals must be age appropriate. Reward must be tangible. Reinforce the habit.
Saving is a priority.
Remind your child out of all their earnings — every time they earn some money or get paid for their chores — they must pay themselves first. Adding something to the piggy bank. Anything is better than nothing. The more they put in to save- the faster and closer they get to their end goal.
Think longevity & consistency.
The idea is to embed the thought of saving money in your child's mind. The reason we do it, the reward we feel, the stability saving causes. Also, our jobs as parents is to recreate this throughout their lives as they grow up. Staying consistent with this money this habit throughout their lives, even as they become old enough to enter the workforce.
Money Matters:
- Find a Money Mentor or speak to a Personal Banker
- Plan the money you get now — yes! Plan even with a little
- Set reasonable financial goals for yourself
- Save something — ANYTHING! It will eventually add up
- Speak positive financial affirmations to yourself
