The holidays often bring extra cash into your kids’ wallets. However, they may not be ready or aware of the benefits of saving money. Our credit counseling advice is to educate them sooner rather than later. Here are some tips on teaching good saving habits to your kids.
American Consumer Credit Counseling recommends teaching good saving habits to kids.
Tips for Teaching Good Saving Habits
Increasing your child’s financial literacy every year is really important to their success as an adult. The more they know and practice now, the better they will be at handling money in the future on their own.
Here are a few key points to consider for teaching them good saving habits:
- Earning Money: When you earn an income, you receive money for the time and effort put into the job. The more you work, the more money you can earn.
- Budgeting: A budget is a plan that balances your money. With a budget, you know what money is coming in and what money is going out.
- Savings: Saving means putting your money aside now so that you can use it later. Set a goal and save a little bit of money per week to buy something special.
- Making Choices: When you make a choice you give something up. It is important to weigh the costs and benefits of each situation.
- Needs vs. Wants: Things you can’t live without, like shelter, food, and clothes are needs. Things that are nice to have but aren’t necessary to live, like games, candy or toys are wants.
How to Encourage Kids to Save Money
Everyone wants something they can’t quite afford. For a preschooler, it might be $10; a teenager might want a car for thousands of dollars. No matter the dollar amount, encouragement can be a welcomed and a fun part of the process. Check out these tips on encouraging saving for your kids!
- Write out the financial goals in detail with each step along the way as a SMART goal.
- Print out some inspiring quotes.
- Make a thermometer or an other visual aid you can update.
- Offer additional chores to help them see the value of working harder to reach their goals.
- Do the math with them so they can see how long it will take and that it’s possible (or not)!
Allowing your child to dream and work towards a goal is a great habit to start. However, it’s also important to guide them based in reality. A $30,000 new car might be their dream, but you need to show them a $2,000 car is what’s achievable given their income, time and other costs associated with owning a vehicle.
Teaching kids how to save can make a big difference in their future as well as their life now. Working hard, making plans and following through are all things to be learned from good saving habits.
If you are struggling to pay off debt, ACCC can help. Sign up for a free credit counseling session with us today!
