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Teach children to be good with Money

34 replies

mamawho99 · 16/04/2022 20:23

I've always been terrible with money - Looking back I can see that this comes from my parents terrible parenting. They were always in debt, told me that loans were available if I was ever struggling with money, used to lend me £100-200 to spend on clothes when I was about 14 and would then take it out of my pocket money each week to pay them back so I would then have no money for months on end because I was repaying my "debt", told me that kids didn't need to know about bills etc as they should just be children and not know about "grown up" stuff. As soon as I got a part time job, my Dad took 3/4 of my wages each month to pay towards bills.

Anyway, I'm terrible with money and I can only assume that it stems from this.

I have 2 little girls and I really want to make sure that they understand their finances & understand the value of money & learn to save etc and not get in debt. Can anyone give me any tips on how you brought your children up to ensure they are good with their money? My eldest is 4 and I was thinking of maybe getting her a little piggy bank to learn a bit about money etc. but to be honest I've no idea where to begin. Any tips welcome.

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purpleboy · 17/04/2022 21:22

[quote MissHavershamReturns]@purpleboy if there’s any fee free way of an under 11 having a debit card please do share as I would definitely switch![/quote]
We have a joint account with mine and DDs name, I have a card (my name) which is only for her use, has worked just fine for her, before that we used to show her one of our bank accounts (barely used) weekly to get her used to what they looked like and how they worked etc..
It's crazy the only bank account you can open for -12 is a paid one, as a pp said if you give them a small amount of pocket money, the fees are a large percentage of that, which makes zero financial sense, but it's all relative.

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Onceuponatimethen · 17/04/2022 21:38

Those are really good ideas @purpleboy

I do a little bit of this too - I’ve taught dc about isas, shown them my savings account as well and how I transfer every month a set amount.

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Riverlee · 17/04/2022 21:41

A friend gives her son 50p each week. He likes a certain toy which costs £2. He knows he has to have four 50ps before he can buy his toy. He’s only four.

You can never start too early.

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Threetulips · 17/04/2022 21:43

Go Henry has 1.5 million members @ £3 per month - which is £4.5 million per month - x12 is £54,000,000!

And you have to put the ground work in!

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caringcarer · 17/04/2022 21:54

Mine have all had pocket money they kept in s little zip up purse. When they wanted something I got them to look in their purse and see if they could afford it or not. If not I used to suggest they bought it next week. When they got their money they split it into 2. 1 part to spend and 1 part to save. The 2 parts were not always equal but always something was saved. I used to show them their savings growing every 3 months or so. As adults they can all budget well and know they save up for things and go without if they can't afford it. They also all pay into pensions even though one child only earns a little more than minimum wage. Two have saved up deposits for their own homes and youngest still saving.

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purpleboy · 17/04/2022 23:45

@MissHavershamReturns

Those are really good ideas *@purpleboy*

I do a little bit of this too - I’ve taught dc about isas, shown them my savings account as well and how I transfer every month a set amount.

The savings one is a good one, we did similar, showed what we auto transferred and also explained leftover money also went into savings, we sometimes had a competition to see how much extra we could put it!

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Weenurse · 17/04/2022 23:56

Scott Pape, “The barefoot investor “ has a series of books about managing money. We have used these to help us get out of debt and plan for the future. He also has a book about teaching children about money.
Our DC are now early 20’s and very sensible with money. Both have traveled, one has an apartment and the other is actively looking for a home now that she has mortgage approval

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BHX3000 · 18/04/2022 00:06

Best thing you can do is talk, talk, talk about finances openly in the home. Discuss salaries (give approximate figures if you don't feel comfortable disclosing the actual amount), how much rent/mortgage is, how much bills are, how much the food shop is, etc.

Teach them never to get into debt. Holidays, clothes, furniture - anything that's not essential should never be bought on credit. You save and when you know you have the money, then you buy it.

My parents were incredibly open about their finances and it gave me a good understanding of money from a very young age. They had plenty of debt themselves but always taught us to avoid it as much as we could. As a result, I'm an adult who has never paid a credit card any later than the last day of the month when the 0% interest bill comes. I'm on a very modest wage but travel regularly, upgrade my phone every few years, have a little leftover at the end of each month for a takeaway or two. I manage my money wisely and NEVER buy something I can't afford or don't have the physical cash for.

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MintJulia · 18/04/2022 00:28

I bought my ds a piggy bank as soon as he could count. He got £2 a week pocket money, £1 to spend, £1 to save. Now he gets £6 a week pocket money, spends £3 and saves £3. He earns extra washing our car.

I told him to think of something he really really wanted and knew I couldn't really afford, and when he had enough, he could buy it.

In Feb this year, he took all his money and bought himself a Nintendo Switch and a game. But he took ages, checking sites and prices. worked out how to minimise the cost. He's very proud of it.

Now he has a basic savings account - he's 13 - and checks his balance on-line. No idea what his next big purchase will be. He chose not to have a card yet.