A Guide On How To Teach Your Children To Adopt A Culture Of Saving Early

Gone are the days when all financial responsibilities rested upon parents only. Nowadays, you can teach your children as little as four years old on the need to learn how to save money and why they should embrace it at their age. Besides giving them loose change to buy whatever they want, teach them how to put that money in a piggy’s bank for instance, and explain to them how they can buy a more valuable item once the money accumulates to a sustainable amount. Some adults have a problem starting a money savings routine so the early you teach your children on the same the better so that they can get used to it by the time they become adults.

Children are very good at learning and therefore persuading them to save money can be very easy. Opening them a savings account is another milestone, but it is more practical to provide them with something more physical like a piggy’s bank so that they can be motivated to continue saving when money opportunities present themselves. For more insights on the same, go through the savings account guide from Westpac. This guide has highlighted a number of ways you can teach your children to start saving early, so go ahead and be enlightened.

Teaching Your Children How to Start Saving

Follow these tips on how to teach
your children on how to start saving early;

  • Provide earning opportunities to them. The early you start instilling the virtues of hard work into your children the better. You can facilitate this by allocating some chores to them on the basis that you will pay allowances on completion. Proceed to persuade them to save what you pay them.
  • Provide them with a saving place. You can facilitate savings accounts or a piggy bank. The younger kids can use the piggy banks, whereas for those a little older, go ahead and open them a savings account. Make sure to follow up to find out if they are keeping up with the routine.
  • Help them set a savings goal. It gets easier for a kid to embrace the saving routine when there are goals to meet. Ask them what item they would like to buy once they have reached a certain saving target. You can even motivate them by offering to contribute something to their resulting total amount if they reach a certain target.
  • Teach them to differentiate between wants and needs. They should be able to tell what is more important and what they can do without. This will help in taming their spending habits and provide enough room and chances for saving.
“A smiling pink piggybank stuffed with $100 dollar bills, on blue background with copy space. You may also like:”

Let them learn from you. Children are good imitators and observers. This means that they are more likely to do something you are doing yourself and not from the mere talk. You should be doing the same, say saving for retirement, their college education, or an emergency fund

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.