Teaching your child how to be a good saver is one of the best gifts you can give your little one. As well as teaching them responsibility, they also learn to make their hard-earned euros count and always have something put aside for a rainy day.
The benefits of teaching children about money early on are both immediate and long term. In the short term, they may develop strong saving habits, learn how to make smart purchases and learn why they can't immediately get everything they want. In the long term, we can help them avoid getting into debt. And by teaching the value of saving for the future, you can put them on the road to financial security.
Of course most children want to spend their money as soon as they get it, but with a few simple changes, you can turn your child into a savings whizz.
Visit the local credit union
Opening a credit union account is a perfect way for big kids and tweens to start saving for the things they want.
Put a little bit aside automatically and regularly
Saving is a habit. It is learned by doing. Each time your little one is given their pocket money, get them to put a little bit aside. You can also agree that they save a certain percentage of any money gifted to them by relatives or family friends. They’ll be surprised by how quickly it builds up and what great things they can get with bigger amounts.
Set some goals
It’s easier to save up your money if you’re saving it for something specific. This might be a short term goal that will take a few weeks of saving or it might be something bigger which will take a longer time to save for.
As well as getting your little one to make some changes, Mum and Dad can also make a huge difference by following the below tips.
- Teach your children how much things cost so they realise what their money is worth.
- Give your child a small amount of pocket money each week and help them manage their funds by saving some of it.
- Develop a savings plan or calendar for your child to show when and how the savings goal can be reached.
- Consider rewarding children for regular saving. The amount saved isn’t critical; rather it is the savings habit which it is most important to nurture. Helping children to save small amounts on a regular basis helps to imbed the habit.
- Encourage your child to think about what they spend the rest of their pocket money on. While you may want to give your child everything they want, it will be more beneficial to let them buy the one thing they can afford this week, and wait until next week for the second.
- Show them how rewarding saving larger amounts of money can be and that they can buy bigger and better things with larger amounts.
- Let your little one take an active role in the process and bring your child to the local credit union to open a savings account. You can also allow them to lodge their savings every week or month themselves.
To discover more about how to provide children with a healthy attitude to money and savings visit the Credit Union GR8 Saver website.
