Mumsnet users share how they teach their children about saving money

[EllieMumsnet]

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We recently ran a survey with Mumsnetters and 45% of you said you think it’s important to speak to children about saving and investing before they reach the age of 10. So Legal & General would like to know how you teach your children how to save, invest and do more with their money.

Here’s what Legal & General has to say: “While many of us believe that encouraging children to think about the power of their pocket money is important, sometimes just knowing where to start with this tricky topic can be the biggest obstacle we need to overcome. We’ve made it easy to begin your savings journey and invest for your child – you can save for their future with £20 a month or a £100 lump sum (click here to find out more). We also recently launched our Investment Academy, which includes a wealth of resources and quick guides to help you develop your understanding, so that you can help your child with theirs.”

So how do you teach your children about saving? Do you give your DC pocket money for doing tasks? Do they have a money box or their own savings account? Perhaps they have to buy some games or toys they want themselves so they understand that you have to save up to be able to afford them?

However you teach your children about saving, please share it below and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Terms and conditions apply

Open 04/03/19 to 18/03/19. To enter please post on the thread below. One entry per person. One prize to be won: £300 voucher of winner’s choice chosen by random draw performed by computer process.

The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and any income from them is not guaranteed. Legal & General (Unit Trust Managers) Limited.

by telling them not to have kids, they are expensive!

We encourage our girls to save money and make sure we show them that it's not worth spending it on things they don't need

I have always spoke openly about money with my children (aged 11 and 7).

They are aware that I save money each month in separate accounts for our holidays (we have an account for or yearly break in Greece and a separate 5 year bond for a trip to Disney). When I am checking the balance in these accounts I show them the balance and any interest accrued.

They are also aware that they have money in a child savings account that will mature when they reach 18 and they know that this can be used for university, a car or a gap year at that time.

When they were born I also set up a pension plan each for them, they are aware of this and they know that when they start work they can take over paying into these pensions.

i also talk to them about there budget, for example in the school holidays I put aside some money and we discuss whether we are going to have one expensive days out or several cheaper days out.

They are often given money for their birthdays/Christmas from grandparents and save their money in various way. They both have money tins (the ones you open with a tin opener) and we recently opened them and they decided that with the money, they would like to visit Drayton Manor which we have booked.

With their larger amounts of money they have Building Society accounts. Thy use this money if they want expensive things such as playstation games or higher priced clothing items, outside of my budget, such as trendy trainers.

I think it is really important that children are aware of where money comes from, how to budget and how to save.

Since they were in primary school, I've given them monthly not weekly pocket money. That way they learn to budget. If they blow it all early, there's nothing left by the end of the month. Quite quickly they made the choice to put half of it away each month so they could buy some bigger toys than usual. I remember how proud they were when they;d saved up enough to go and get some really nice lego kits. They still do this: save hafl, spend half.

Opened a savings account so they could see the savings add up

Still too young to understand at the moment. But I will give them pocket money, and help them know how many weeks they need to put aside if there is something specific they want to save for.

My boys are 9, 8 and 5, and we have recently started giving them pocket money if they do little jobs around the house. This is to encourage their understanding of money and saving up for things they want. Surprisingly our 5 year old is the one who wants to do the most jobs to earn the most money!

I don't harp on about it, in case it pushes them in the opposite direction but I try and get them to save up their pocket money and sometimes to save for a specific, much wanted item rather than waste their money.

As my DC have got older I've tried to teach them about budgeting and managing the money they received, as they'll need these skills when they head off to university or out into the world on their own.

Basic pocket money with the option to earn more doing age-appropriate chores helps them understand the concept of earning.
While I wouldn't encourage my child to save for their future, (That's my job while they're still so young!) I do encourage saving for things they want, (Again, it's my responsibility to buy stuff they need.) They can speed up the process by earning more, but otherwise I think it's a valuable lesson in saving rather than instant gratification.

We have started giving our eldest pocket money and she chooses things she wants to save up for (age 7)

Mine only get stuff bought at birthdays and xmases. If they want anything else thwy have to save foe it out of pocket money. I let thwm earn money by doing extra chores if they are saving for something or want to go out somewhere like the cinema.

We don't really make and hard and fast rules about saving, but we have a lovely novelty cat savings box in the kitchen, and we say that if you put some pennies in, it's lucky! We also have opened an account for each of them, and will, encourage them to save up for a particular event, like a holiday, we make the idea of saving exciting, rather than a chore.

They have a piggy bank where they save birthday money, chore money for holiday spending money

We have a competition. They each have a piggy bank, and a wall chart, and the one who saves the most by a certain date wins.

They aren’t very good at saving pocket money, though compared to their peers they don’t get as much. With birthday or Christmas money though they fritter a third on whatever they fancy, put a third into their bank savings and a third into longer term savings. They love knowing they have savings they can dip into for bigger items and they love knowing they are building a nice little nest egg for when they reach adulthood.

I try to teach my children about money and budgeting and more importantly that you should save up for items and buy second hand if needed and not get into debt by buying on credit. They earn money by doing chores because I can't afford to just give them a set amount each week. It also encourages them to be motivated and earn it. My parents used to give me a set amount, but I had to buy absolutely everything out of it including deodorant, sanitary products etc. school pens etc. and although it did teach me to budget, I don't really like them to be spending their money on things like that so I buy toiletries etc. in bulk on offers and stock up the cupboards so everyone can help themselves. I do encourage them to save up money to buy bigger things that they want instead of just wasting it on a lot of little things and snacks. They have bank accounts and they save up to buy items but then their savings are depleted again. They don't have any long term savings unfortunately. I wish they did, but I wasn't in a position to put money by for them each month as our outgoing expenses are always too high.

Never 'taught ' them about saving as such but opened a bank account for them to make it more difficult to access their money so they had to really think about whether they wanted to buy something. As teenagers they don't get any
Pocket money but have earned their own money via paper rounds etc. They choose what to spend it on, or save. They soon realise that it doesn't go very far!

He'll do regular chores and earn pocket money. Plus he has a great visual money box so he can see the pennies building up.

My daughter is a really good saver and likes to see her saving build up, however my son doesnt really care and spends it as he gets it, He gets pocket money and as soon as he wants something he spends it, even though he opened a bank account so he could get a card, Money burns a whole in his pocket, but hes still young, I`m just hoping he starts to appreciate it a bit as he gets older, Like his big sister.

Mine are both a still a bit too young at the moment but they do have money boxes where they put any money given to them (for birthdays etc) into.

My Husband can no longer work due to a Brain Injury, and I am his Carer, so my children have grown up knowing that money is tight and you have to save up if you want something special.
They also know that little and often leads to bigger savings, so never underestimate the power of pennies in a jar

The children have money boxes to save, but I also feel it's important to teach children the value of money. When we do something big, holidays, days out, I stress to the boys that we have had to save for these and we don't have an endless pot of cash.

We haven't got the age yet, but everytime we go shopping I make sure she knows that we don't own anything unless we pay for it and that Mummy & Daddy go to work to earn money to buy things.

We have two girls, one is a massive saver and has quite a bit in her bank account from birthday money that she actually struggles to spend, but my other daughter is a massive spender, money just burns a hole in her pocket. We did talk to both of them about unnecessary spending and saving a percentage of their money and yet both have gone to extremes. I just hope they do better at saving than I have.