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.

i give my 7 year old pocket money every week for doing easy chores around the house like picking his toys up after him. He gets to spend it on what ever he wants. He's learned that once he's spent it theres no more. He thinks more about what he wants to spend his money on now

My daughters are only 5 and 6, but I have tried to show them visually how money is used to purchase goods, the money the more you can buy. I also use sweets to show them how £1 can buy a bag or sweets or save up and go to the cinema. It is helping as my oldest is happy to save money if it means we can go somewhere really nice for a day out rather than buying loads of rubbish.

We give dd pocketmoney when she has been behaving well, and she saves it in her piggybank to buy whatever she wants, normally books!

I'm a single parent so I think my son has learnt about the value of money quite well and how we must make it go as far as we can when shopping by looking for savings, vouchers and other ways of getting more for our money. He is also given pocket money by his grandparents and is very good about saving that up for something he wants, he knows that if he wants something badly he will have to save for it. I personally believe that finances and personal budgeting etc should be taught in schools, far more important than algebra!!

When My DS wants something that’s very expensive I give extra pocket money each week so she can save to teach her the value of money but most of the time I buy it for her and put the money she saved into her savings account

My kids love car boots and charity shops, they always look at the cheapest price in the supermarket!! I drum it into them that money doesn't come easy and you must work hard! They save their pocket money for what they want!

There is only me and my daughter living here and she’s 6 and home schooled so literally never been away from me so I don’t give her any money of her own. But I do a penny savings pot where I add varying amounts through the year every day. With a rainbow tick off chart that she follows with me. She sees the money building up and understands it can’t be spent. I have always been horrendous with money and this is the first time in my life I’ve ever saved anything, so I hope it inspires her to grow up more financially responsible than I did xxxx

If they want a toy that is more than their weekly pocket money then they save up until they can afford it, or they save their money to spend on our holidays!
Obviously there are times I buy them treats but I also think it's important they learn the value of money.

About the importance of saving to get what you want in future!

Mine get pocket money for helping around the house and I have always encouraged them to save some of it especially if they are wanting something. They know now that if they want something then if they save half of the money I will match the rest.

They also have passbook accounts with the building society and we go in every so often with money they have saved from birthdays and christmas and put it in their accounts and they love seeing the money accumulate.

I just hope these things help with forming a pattern for saving as I don't like to think of them just getting things on credit when they are older I would rather they learn now that they don't need anything desperately and can wait until they have saved the money for it.

If he asks for something i teach him he can save up for it with his pocket money and buy it.

We give our sons £5 a week pocket money and encourage them to save it rather than spend it as soon as they get it. They then either save it to buy something (working out how many weeks they need to save to be able to afford it) or put it into their bank account and to help encourage this we match whatever they put into their savings account.

We have always paid his pocket money into his bank account. He has to physically withdraw the money, which makes him think twice & when he sees how it mounts up, he is keen to leave it where it is & watch it grow

We have always openly talked about money in our household and what happens to your money as adults when you earn it (from paying bills to saving for holidays etc).

Before booking our next family holiday (a cruise) both kids were involved in deciding what we did and voted to take a small reduction in birthday and xmas presents from us for one year to be able to save for such an amazing holiday (we are all very excited) x

We have 7 year old twins, one loves to save her pennies and i often find her counting out her money box, the other rarely seems bothered, but i make a point of taking them to the bank and they hand over their money to pay in the bank, then when the bank statements come i show them what they have been given back in interest. I explain that if its left in their rooms it will earn them nothing but if its in the bank they get paid for putting it in the accounts. Its worked well so far!

By making them save up for things they want

my eldest (9) loves saving and bargain hunting, when we go out anywhere he always spots the bargains now and he's really good at saving, he doesn't get pocket money but he always gets lots of money for birthdays/Christmas/easter etc so he puts that all in his pot to save up for something he wants, he also goes through his bedroom every now and again to give me things he no longer needs to sell. He wanted to buy some pokemon cards over the weekend, we nipped to our local supermarket but they were quite expensive so we looked online and got them cheaper, he's happy he got them cheaper and he's now got something to look forward to and will probably ask me every day if his parcel has come yet!

DC has a savings account, we don't force him to use it but we let him decide for example if he has any spending money left over from Christmas or birthdays, he has a choice to spend it on a toy or something else he wants, but we encourage sensible spending and not buying for the sake of it, 9 times out of 10 he will tell us to put the money away for a rainy day.

I have never given pocket money, nor money for tasks. If I ask someone to do something, I hope that they'll do it because it needs doing, not for financial reward.

I like to think I've instilled a decent level of thriftiness in the dcs, so if they want something they always look for the best price and have to think about whether they really want it. Dh is a bit of a spendthrift, and they put him to shame!

When my little girl is a little older, I will get her a kids debit card that I will put her savings in. They are able to withdraw money only from an ATM. Everytime she wants to buy something, I will show her that we have to go to an ATM, show her the balance and hopefully will see that money goes down when you use it!

I believe in children doing age appropriate jobs in return for pocket money half of this to go towards saving for something special the other half is for the child to do whatever he/she wishes to

I encourage DD to save some of her pocket money towards larger purchases and she likes to put it in her savings account - she sees interest as being paid for saving and has told her friends that they should put the money in their piggy banks in the bank. One of her friends has £200 in her piggy bank and they got paper and pen out to work out how much interest she would get in the bank. Not as compelling an offer as when I was her age and the interest rate was double figures though!

I give mine a set amount of money each week and when we go out shopping if they choose to spend it they can, however, I tell them that once the moneys gone then there is no more until next week. There is obviously times when they spend it and complain but I stand my ground otherwise they'll never learn to save up.

I think the best way to get your kids to learn about how to handle money is to give them their own responsibility of handling it for themselves.

Our son has learnt that if he wants more expensive stuff than we are prepared to buy he has to save money. We are not tight but also not extravagant with him and he has picked up the true value of money and how its ok to buy things to have lots of fun, but how to put some away for bigger things he wants.

Now he is in college he is turning out to be savvy and putting his money to the maximum use and saving where he can so he can spend on those computer bits he wants! He pops to morrisons now to buy some lunch as its cheaper than in college or the bakeries and tastes just as good, but sometimes will go and treat himself to a massive lunch with friends.

I am not wanting him to save during college, I just feel happy that in his future life he understands how to live within his financial means and not get into debt, there have been so many friends and relatives that have struggled financially and I want him to be happy.

We have a savings account set up and i take him once a week to put money in his account. I always get him to remind me to do it as well