How do you support your DCs in managing their money? Tell Nationwide for the chance to win a £300 voucher. NOW CLOSED

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

For some parents, when your kids get a little older, helping them to manage money responsibly can be a challenge. To celebrate their FlexOne current account for 11-17 year olds, Nationwide would like to know the ways in which you help your DCs manage their money.

So, is your DC a saver by nature or does spare cash burn a hole in their pocket? Are they always badgering you for extra pocket money, or do you enforce a strict allowance limit?

We’d also really like to hear how your DC compares to you when you were their age – do their spending habits mirror yours when you were young? If your DCs are a little younger, what advice do you plan to give them, or what advice do you wish you could give your younger self when it comes to money management?

Whatever advice you give, post a comment below to be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Money gets saved in the money box and then transferred to the bank or spent on toys. Will encourage saving for a toy, or saving for anything they want. I think that's important.

My DS is only 6 but he is saving up any money that he earns from selling his old toys. He doesn't really appreciate the value of money at the moment but it is helping with his maths at school as he likes to count it up.

DS is 5. Both DH and I work full time and earn well and he will be our only child, hence he can be a bit spoiled.

I started giving him pocket money to help him learn about money, its value, saving and how when you spend it, it's gone and does not magically replenish. When he's a bit older, I would intend to tie doing small jobs into earning extra money and to open a flex type account for him to put money in - these are short on the ground for 5 yr olds!

When I received child benefit I saved it in an isa and after this stopped, I carried on saving a bit into his isa.

My children are 6 and 4 and we are introducing the concept of earning money through completing chores.

my dc have a spreadsheet where their pocket & birthday money gets added to - it is their responsibility to update it

one DC has a phone and pays towards it from their own money as i want them to learn that they have to pay for the things they want

As a single mum with an only child aged now 13 nearly 14 I have had to work quite hard at managing my own money (for the house) as I do not get any financial help from the father, but this has also been an opportunity for me to teach my son the value of things, so he is learning by example as we go along, over the last 5 years. It has been hard for him sometimes to accept that he can't have things his friends have got, but I try and explain that even when we seem poor, we really are not compared to.... (starving children in Syria/Africa/homeless people in London etc). He has an account for savings which are strictly for university/or when he's 18 which we pay a little into regularly as do his grandparents. He has weekly pocket money of £5 which is not directly related to chores but I expect those to be done anyway, without direct payment, money does not incentivise him particularly, nor does it everyone. He has his own debit card now which he can use to withdraw money or pay for things but I encourage him to think about how much he has and how he is going to spend it. We check his balance and forecast for the future. We discuss what are wise purchases and what are not. He often even says to me now, don't buy that it's a waste of money and I don't need it, I've got X I can use/wear instead! I praise him for that. He saves up for my birthday and Xmas presents, and his Dad's. And he buys them willingly now because we are so grateful and show pride in his independence. He also saves for his own things like computer games and is starting to get the hang of how it all works. Some people say children shouldn't have to worry about money but I somewhat disagree, they should not feel distressed by it, that's the adults job to deal with difficulties, but they should learn that money doesn't grow on trees and the value of things and how to make good choices. My Dad always used to say we were on an 'economy drive' (which seemed to last forever!) when I was a child but he doesn't remember it now! I never suffered and in fact it helped me to teach my own child decades later!

By teaching them to use pocket money wisely - and also demonstrating good money management from us as adults!

My son is only 3 so now allowance yet but he has a savings account we pay into and half of his birthday/christmas money goes into. We also tell him that if he wants a toy or something in the shop that we have to save money and get it for christmas or his birthday. He also have a little piggy bank his dad gives him change for and he likes putting it in.

DD gets pocket money each week. She gets the same amount as the school year she is in e.g. in Yr3 would get £3 each week, Yr 4 would get £4 per week & so on.
I told her that she would have to use this money if she wanted magazines, sweets, general tat etc. (As I was fed up of being nagged at for said items.)
She is allowed a credit/overdraft facility of 4 weeks pocket money if she wants to buy an item that she hasn't got enough money for at that moment i.e. if something is say £12 & she only has £4 then she knows if I 'lend/advance' her the extra £8 she needs then she has to go 2 weeks without any pocket money.
This system works well as she has only used the 'advance/overdraft' facility a few times & now is more likely to save her money for a more expensive item.
I see her picking up a magazine & working out how much money she has left over & usually magazine goes back on the shelf as she realises that it blows most of that weeks pocket money (though occasionally she will buy the magazine if she really wants it, usually for all the freebies that come with it.)
As DD gets older she is starting to save a portion of her money each week.
I want DD to be good with managing money & to appreciate the value of it.
Unlike me who tends to be overdrawn, has debts which do get cleared but then restarted again.
The system is really working for DD.

I have always involved Ds in discussion about household budgeting .
I have explained to him, since he was about 10, why I have put his (modest) savings in the accounts I have chosen. I explain how much interest , and show him the statement when it arrives, pointing out how much (haha) interest has been earned.
I explain my thinking around any special offers I take advantage of.
From a young age we bought him a piggy bank for pennies, and going to the Coinstar machine in Sainsbury's was a fun treat .

We've always encouraged our kids to save little bits of money they get intermittently from family (e.g. for birthdays etc) so they can see that putting aside even small amounts of money consistently soon adds up to something more substantial, that could theoretically pay for a 'big ticket' item later, though so far, they've never chosen to spend it (& admittedly, we'd always discuss whether they really need something they might be coveting when the time comes). I suppose we encourage them to try to think longer-term, that their future selves might need something more important than their current more childish wishes, and also to consider how many people in the world have to manage without even basics, so to think responsibly about the importance of sharing wealth to try to make a real difference to others lives too.

My children each have a money box and at least one bank account and they regularly visit the bank with me to make small deposits.

Moreover we have the 'cat' a special money box that I started filling when my eldest son was born. With profound special needs and a serious heart condition, I began collecting all pennies found (on the floor, out and about, in old coat pockets, etc) as I firmly believe that these bring luck! My two youngest children do the same and place any found money in the 'cat.' Then every few months we count it together and when there's £15 - £5 each, I pay it into each of their bank accounts. It's already mounting up nicely (as we tend to pay in once or twice a year). My children are beginning to understand that 'pennies make pounds.' My late Granny always used to say 'look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves!' She was SO right.

I'm not very good at remembering to give the younger ones pocket money and they don't remind me! When they are old enough I pay them a monthly allowance into an account with a cash card, make it clear what they are responsible for paying for and leave them to it. The girls have had much bigger allowances and been responsible for buying their clothes too when they are 16 but the boys have so far not been interested in doing this.

Mine are too young yet but hopefully I have started good habits with a savings account already. Then I will try giving them choices when they are old enough, e.g. save birthday money or spend it. The idea being they will learn that saving up money can be worth it.

My daughter was one of the last who benefited from the £250 government child trust fund before they stopped it. We weren't allowed to change to an ISA and the interest rate plummeted. So, we opened a 90 day saver account with the Nationwide and have been paying a little each month. Today we took her up to put some Christmas money she had received in. The cashier updated her book and she was able to see she had nearly £3000 saved. She knows it's for university (she's in primary 2 so a way to go!).

She has a piggy bank in her room and does small chores to "earn" pocket money which she can then spend on holiday. As she gets older the chores will become slightly bigger (along with the "wages") so she can learn that to buy things you really want, you have to work to earn the money to buy them.

Her mum and dad will help out where we can but ultimately, we won't be around forever so the sooner she learns to handle money the easier it will be for her when she's older.

We give DD her own money to save for things that she wants. She is 7 so it's about £20 a month for treats. This includes comics, sweets, hair grips or whatever she wants.

Mistakes happen but I think it's important to be open and clear about money.

They each have bank accounts for Xmas and birthday money.
We run a marble system here and they get a marble for good behaviour or being kind.
When they get 20 marbles they get to choose a toy. This stops them asking for things in the shop during the week as I explain you have to save for things.
If they have pocket money I let them choose to spend or save it.

I saved much more when I was a child and had a lot more in my account.

I like the ideas on this thread especially the tips about the doughnuts!! Good idea about pooling money and buying instant or planning..!

I have two DC, one spender, one saver

They have their own debit card from age 12, and get £5 a week, to spend or save as they wish.

When they get to 14, it'll be £10 a week, but they will be expected to buy small birthday presents, cinema tickets from that as well.

Hopefully they will learn to save a little, so they can afford to go out (movie, McD) when they want to.

My son is 3 and is starting to understand a little bit about money, eg, that you have actually buy things rather than just walking out of shops with what you want. He also gets 10p to put in his money box if he helps with something, and every couple of weeks we open the box and see if there is enough to buy a magazine so he knows that helping out earns him enough to buy a nice treat.

He also has a charity money box. All the 1p and 2ps go in there then once it's full we choose a charity to give it to so I hope that he'll grow up thinking about how he can help others even with the smallest amount of money.

Once he's a little older I'll be hoping to pass on the idea that whatever money you earn or get given, it's always a good idea to save some of it for the longer term.

My youngest dc is too young at the moment for pocket money, but I do try to talk to him nevertheless about where mummy's 'coins' come from and that they're not limitless! My older dc (8) gets a small amount of pocket money (£3 pw) but I do expect her to help out with chores. She can spend the money how she likes, but knows I don't do advances, and that she uses that money to buy or save up for things she wants. I don't give her the pocket money and buy her things between birthdays and Cmas, if that makes sense. It works quite well and so far she's proving to be quite a good saver. I can see her starting to think about whether she really wants something she might previously have got on impulse, and she's learning about expensive mistakes (roller skates, for example!)

We make sure they keep a tally of their spending so they can keep track of their money.

My granddaughter has just turned 5 to show her the true value of money we bought her a purse and she is allowed pocket money, she knows any toys and magazines have to come out of this money, she is very shrewd for her age, she would rather do without the small things to save for a bigger toy...I love her style.

At the moment it's just piggy banks for holiday spending, but we do have a saving accounts too that we add to, as they grow up they'll be more involved in that.

I've always brought the children up to make choices - they see that that is how I spend my small amount of "fun" money. I'd never buy takeaway pizza, ready meals, go to Costa etc when out shopping(well, extremely rare occasion) but will spend on expensive treats I really want without guilt when I can afford it. Girls at uni budget and cook really well. Just 12yo dd to work on...

Advice I'd like to give myself - there's a balance between saving and spending to avoid missing out on things due to worry on spending.