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Teaching children the value of savings

The money concept and the importance of saving money is not something that young children can understand by themselves; as parents, you have an important role to teach your children. If you want your children have a great ability and knowledge to manage their money in the future, you have to build the good financial habits since their early age.

Introducing the money concept to your children first. If they are already familiar with numbers, you can start introducing the coins money by teaching them the value of each coin. Children are good watchers and like to imitate their parents. Before teaching them to save money, give the example by always putting coins in a piggy bank in front of them. You can explain that you put coins in the piggy bank because you want to use the money a few days later. Try to simply describe the money function as an exchange means by asking your children to accompany you shopping in a grocery store.

Let your children know how to earn money. You should make your child understand that the money is earned through work. Make a daily job to do list and encourage your child to complete all tasks. If you've already given your child an allowance once a week, tell your child that it is a weekly salary for doing the jobs along the week.

You should introduce the money concept; but you must prevent your child from growing up to be a money-oriented person. You should also teach the generosity to your child. Always taking your child to every charity event in your local community and every visit to a local orphanage. Don't forget to show the example by giving money to charity regularly.

Since your children are old enough and already have a desire to own toys, books, and other things that they like, it's the right time for you to start teaching them about saving money. If your children want to buy something, teach them that they can buy it by saving money first. Here are practical guidance tips that you can apply to motivate your children in learning to save money :

Using an allowance. For example, you give an allowance to your child of only $5 a week; but he wants to buy a toy that costs $15. Let your child to make a decision about how much money he wants to save periodically. Teach them to write down his spending and saving if your child is already able to read and write.

Match savings. Giving a reward to your child by offering a matching contribution for every dollar your child saves. As your child grows up, you can less the match percentage.

Encourage your child to make a wish list and display the pictures of the wanted items. If your child is saving money for a certain purpose, it can motivate him more.

A rewarding gift. Once in a while you may buy him a gift as a reward to your child.

Open a savings account. If your child is old enough, encourage him to save part of his money on the bank. You can give the simple explanation about the functions of the bank and show him the progress amount of his bank account.

Introducing a budget in a simple way. You can introduce what a budget is by giving them a simple explanation that you must divide up the money to different posts every month. Teach your child to make his own budget; ask your child to divide his allowance to three parts: saving, charity and spending.

Learn more about this author, Maggi Thomas.
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