Teaching Kids to Save

Here is a question for you. How do you get your kids to save?  What I would suggest doing is, starting at an early age.  You don’t want to wait, the sooner you start the better.  When you get in the habit of doing something it’s hard to break. So start at a young age so they get into the habit of saving and you don’t have to worry about them getting into any bad habits.

Okay I know that as a kid I was awful at saving.  When I was younger and I didn’t get lots of money it wasn’t that big of a deal. Then I started babysitting and I don’t think I really ever saved that money. It usually ended up at the local candy store, or toys store.  We don’t want our little kids to grow up thinking that they can just spend all the money that they want.  There are more important things that they will need to make sure that they have. They aren’t going to always have mom and dad there to buy things for them.

First things first, you need to keep it simple and small.  Little kids don’t understand the concept of money and saving. You need to teach them that. One of the best ways is by example.  I would not personally start out with a bank account instead use the classic piggy bank.  This way the kids can see their money and as more goes in they can see the pile grow.  They know that they still have the money it’s just in a safe place. Besides when it comes to the time that they can spend some you don’t have to deal with the hassle of going to the bank.  So be an example and maybe even get your own piggy bank and you can put some of your money in it.

You need to set goals.  Make them small to begin with, and then as they get older they can get bigger.  One way to make sure that they don’t lose sight of their goal is taping a picture of whatever they are saving for on the piggy bank.  You always want to be encouraging them, praise them whenever they save money and when they make their goal congratulate them and go and get what they were saving for as soon as possible. Then you can set a new goal and start the whole process all over again.