National Teach Children To Save Day

National Teach Children To Save Day

Here at SJK Wealth Management we believe that having a good relationship with money starts at a very young age.  In school, our children are not learning about the basics of money and saving.  It is part of our job as parents to teach them about money, investing, saving and spending.  To celebrate National Teach Children To Save Day, we are highlighting our top five money lessons for children aged K-8:

 

  1. Start with a piggy bank at a really young age. Have your children save money in a piggy bank.  It doesn’t stop there though.  Make them count the money in their piggy bank every so often.  This is a good time to get familiar with money and how much it is worth.
  2. Pricing Games This is a game to teach your children the value of a dollar. Gather popular household items such as toothpaste, an apple, a television, shoes etc.  Ask them to rank them in order of most to least expensive.  Tell them how much each item costs.  Practice this often with all different items or even when you are out shopping.
  3. Giving to charity. You want your children to understand the importance of giving to those less fortunate.  Make your children choose a charity that they would like you as a family to donate to.  It may be helpful to make a list and have them select a charity from that list.  In addition to donating money to this charity, make sure to have your children spend time volunteering with this charity so they also have something vested in the project.
  4. Need versus Want You want your children to understand that you must work hard to get results and wants are different than needs. Have your children write down what they like to spend money on.  Ask them to separate these into three different categories; Must have, Want but not essential, Could do without.  Next, create a list of necessities and luxuries.  Have your child separate each item into the appropriate list.
  5. Bring your children to investment meetings with your advisors. You don’t need them to know everything but if you have them sit in on a few of these meetings it introduces them to the value of money.