Have you ever stopped and thought if your kids know how to spend their money wisely, or manage their finances once they grow up? Well, it isn’t enough to just tell them that they have to save money, you have to teach them very important financial lessons so that while they’re still young, they would understand the value of money.
1. Teach them about how people make money
When kids ask parents about where money comes from, some of them say that they get it from the bank, or from ‘rich people’. This is actually a pretty bad idea, since you want to teach your kids some real-life lessons when it comes to talking about money.
That’s why it’s very important that you let them understand how people make money, and you can do this by talking to them about jobs and that people get paid to do certain things that they’re good at which helps them earn money. You should also explain to them how selling things work.
You can take this to another level by ‘hiring’ them to do their chores, or you can ask them to gather up their old clothes or toys, and start a garage sale in your neighborhood. It’s a good way to get them star
2. Teach them how to shop wisely and budget
You can start teaching them on how to budget by playing pretend games with fake money. You can give them a budget and a list of things that they want to buy and you can help them work out how to best spend their ‘money’ wisely.
Another way would be to teach your child to be a cashier, so that they can practice their math skills in a fun way. Eventually, you can let them help you out with shopping and budgeting money to make the most of it.
3. Give them a weekly allowance that they can save
A good way to start teaching your child about handling their finances is by giving them an allowance, even just a small one. You can make it fun by asking them to put the money in a piggy bank so they can save up.
You could also ask your child if there’s a toy or anything that they want to save up for, and you can help them by giving them money every week that they can slowly save in order to get what they want. Teaching them the value of saving up for the future is a very important lesson that they’ll take with them to adulthood.
4. Teach them about compound savings
Another way to encourage saving money would be to teach them about compound savings. You can tell them that you’ll add a certain amount of money to their savings once they reach a specific amount of savings. It helps them develop smart saving habits for the future, and it’s also good motivation for them to save money and see it grow.
5. Teach them how to differentiate wants and needs
While some kids can save up money to buy whatever they want, it’s also a good lesson to teach your kids that it isn’t enough to just save money and then splurge it all on one thing. You should teach them to know what things they want, and what things they really need, and that they should prioritise the things that they need first.
That way, they can better understand how to prioritise their spending so that they can focus first on the things that are really important, and not just the things that they want just for the sake of it.
Source: parents.com
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