Helping children learn to save

Disclosure: collaborative post.

Most people didn’t learn to save as children, don’t have savings, and if they do, they aren’t huge amounts. Saving money in the middle of an economic crisis like the current cost of living crisis is tough. But these reasons alone make it more important than ever to make sure you help your children understand why even a few pence little and often will make a difference, and help your children avoid your difficulties and learn to save.

As children grow up, they will eventually earn their own money and have their own bills – and things like budgeting will come into play – a related area that you can help them learn about!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

So how can you start your child to understand the importance of savings and even help them set up some savings pots?

Future Talk

From an early age, children often explore the type of job they want and the type of lifestyle they are hoping for. This is so much fun for them to make future plans, and great for you to hear about just some of the things they might do in the future. Talking about the future can involve a conversation about how savings (pocket money, birthday money, or any other gifted money) can help them as they get older.

It is important to keep some of the fun in there, though! Spend a little, save a little!

Learn to Save with Saving Pots

Even as adults, it pays to have savings pots – and label them up too. As we grow up, we can look to the future and think about things like our weddings, our children, the house we might want, places we want to see, and retirement. But savings pots can be for anything from LEGO and books to a new console. Saving with an end goal in mind makes the saving part a lot easier. Setting a goal and attaching a saving pot to it can be one of the best things about saving.

Not only do we get the thing we have saved for, but there is a sense of accomplishment that goes with it.

Move on to a Savings Account

Using physical money in coin and note form can be incredibly beneficial because then the child experiences real spending. When money is in a bank account, the numbers go down, but there is a slight disconnect. The age of your child and how they understand money is going to have a big impact on where it is best to store the savings. In a jar so they can physically see it increasing? Or in a bank account so that they can manage their own finances (with your help).

Build in Some Incentives to Save Even More

If you have room in your own budget, it can be fun and motivational for you to say that if your child manages to save half towards a new large item, you will match it and help them pay for the rest. Or that if they don’t spend their money, you’ll add an above bank rate interest. Or perhaps when they reach a certain target, you top it up by a few pounds.

Saving is tough, but when you make it fun and something that they want to do, they can learn to save and it can become a skill and habit that helps them master a lot of uncertainty in the future. The key to truly great learning is that it can be a natural and fun thing; here are some more tips for a great learning experience: The Playful Path to Development: Encouraging Growth through Outdoor Toys in Learning