We were recently asked by Thinkmoney to share our views on teaching children about saving and budgets as well as to design our own piggy bank which they kindly provided.
Recent research shows that three quarters of parents would like children in primary school to be taught financial education and I have to say I agree.
Growing up you learn the basics about money, you work to earn it, you spend it however you don’t really learn about budgeting until you are out in the world and by then for some it may be a bit too late.
So here are the top tips I would give Kayleigh and Ethan as they grow up and start to learn about money and budgets:
- Spend a little, save a little – You will work hard for your money so don’t feel guilty about treating yourself now and again however try and balance it out with a little saving at the same time.
- Never spend more than you earn – I know that this seems logical but make sure you are only spending what is coming in. This all comes with budgeting and something you will learn.
- Keep a budget – It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, we have a simple book that just has all our outgoings on there. Then we just keep a running total of our bank balance to what has gone out and still to go out. This way we know exactly how much we have left each day/week/month.
Our piggy comes complete with sparkly shoes, as you always need a little bit of sparkle to cheer up any day. Gold patches on it’s side as a sign of saving money and wings as everyone needs to sometimes spread their wings as they try something new and saving money is that with the children, its new to them and they need to believe they can save for whatever it may be that they are trying to achieve.
We also gave her a beautiful red lip smile, a couple of daisy’s and some ear’s, eyes and nose.
Budgeting with Children Competition Entry