Make saving money fun for your kids

As parents, we must teach our children the importance of saving, good spending habits, and being more mindful of money. Even young children can grasp financial concepts like saving and spending if they’re explained these concepts in simple, fun ways. The sooner parents start taking advantage of everyday teachable money moments, the better off our kids will be. Here’s how to make saving money fun for your kids:

Make saving fun and not a chore

Gone are the days when saving was as basic as giving your child money and feeding coins into a piggy bank. There are other ways to help your child understand the concept of saving. As your children get older, explore ways to teach them ‘adult’ money lessons in practical and memorable ways. One way could be to pay them ‘performance bonuses’ for spotting opportunities that save money in the home and their schooling. When you do annual uniform shopping, and they find a cheaper deal on school shoes elsewhere, for example, invest the difference into savings.

Open an account for them

You might consider opening a tax-free savings account on behalf of your child or a unit trust account. A formal way to save can make your children cognisant of the cause you are saving towards and aware that their efforts are actively making a difference. Share their account statements with them so that they will be less intimidated by personal financial planning and have a realistic idea of what it looks like to grow their money.

Give them an allowance

You can also mimic the discipline of saving by paying pocket money on a specific date each month. This demonstrates that money isn’t available on tap, and things need to be planned and saved for. Should the money be finished, they need to learn to wait until they receive their allowance comes again. Should they be short towards what they want, then they should save until they have enough.

Go grocery shopping with them

When you do your monthly groceries, take them with you, and show them how to bargain hunt for affordable items. Tell them your budget and don’t exceed it. If you stay within budget, reward them with an amount on their allowance. It will motivate them to save and look for deals for the family.

Allow trial and error

Talk to your children about questions that they may have about money. Helping them understand what’s confusing them opens their minds to creative ways to work with it. Once your teenagers understand the concept of compound interest, the excitement and devotion to growing the initial amount might kick in. Putting what they learned in Maths class to use is exciting for them.

Give them more financial responsibility

By giving older children the occasional responsibility of doing their own stationery shopping, for example, will teach them how to compare prices and stick to the budget. They will also learn to become familiar with the cost of things (and how they can change over time). Hopefully, your child will learn that financial planning is based on needs first, then wants. Textbooks? Need. New PlayStation? Want. It will also teach them to compare prices and quantity versus quality.

Act like their financial adviser

Pretend to be your child’s financial adviser – a qualified professional who commits to evaluating your current situation and building a realistic strategy toward reaching your ideal financial goals. As your children gain more understanding, find out their financial goals. You want them to understand the role of a financial adviser in their financial planning journey when the time comes, but more importantly, to be honest with their adviser. You might consider including them in conversations you have with your adviser as well. Small lessons amount to big, well-informed decisions and as a parent, the ongoing lesson of being financially prepared is a gift that will reap many rewards in the future. It is better to start them young so that along the line, they start achieving financial freedom.