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Is it time to talk to our children about money? Osper feedback thread, non-attendees chance to win £75 NOW CLOSED

183 replies

AnnMumsnet · 18/02/2015 10:02

On Monday 16th February, 10 MNers and their child(ren) aged 8-15 attended a workshop hosted by Osper.

Osper, who offer a prepaid Debit Card for 8-18's with a mobile banking app for the family, are exploring the need to talk to our children about money.

Check out the video from the event day here:

Non-attendees, for a chance to win £75 in Amazon vouchers, how can you spot when it's the right time to talk to your child about money? Add your comment to this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win £75 to spend at Amazon.

Attendees please share your responses to the following questions:

Having attended the workshop, do you think it’s important for us to talk to our children about money?

What was the most surprising thing you heard on the day?

What advice would you give to other parents on talking to their kids about money? How can they spot when it's the right time?

What did you and your children make of Osper? Do you think getting children an Osper card is a good way to start a conversation about money?

Please add your comment by 06-03-2015. Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Thanks
MNHQ

PS If your child already has an Osper card, or if you got one at the event, they've love to know how you and your child are getting on with it - in terms of spending and in terms of managing it online. Please add your thoughts below

Is it time to talk to our children about money? Osper feedback thread, non-attendees chance to win £75 NOW CLOSED
OP posts:
dragon60 · 22/02/2015 18:53

I think we are always explaining money to children, they understand people have to earn money and things cost money.

mumtocrazyboys · 22/02/2015 19:57

my eldest son has no concept of money... he's getting to
to a teenager now and I've opened him a go Henry bank account... I can monitor his spending also stop it if he's going crazy... so after one week of him spending 10 pounds on his fifa game he didn't get his top up of 5 pounds yesterday... it caused a huge tantrum on the landing but today he's accepted it

kohsamui14 · 22/02/2015 21:47

Non-attendee- inspired by the tv documentary 7+ I decided that my children would be aware of the stock market from age 7, as such we have stocks and shares junior isas for the children. They are encouraged to take an active interest in their investments and research the companies too.

krankers1982 · 23/02/2015 00:18

As soon as they know what money is you should explain about saving and the way the world works my daughter would spend money as soon as she got it now she saves and understands if she saves she can spend on or save for bigger things she know her mum and dad work to pay for things like the house car bills etc and that when shes older she wants to try get a good job and have her own car and house

Ratbagcatbag · 23/02/2015 07:54

None attendee

I think as early as possible is always great to start discussing money and budgeting and it's something we've always done with DSS (now 16) however he seems to get through money like water and is pretty crap at budgeting even though he was better in his early teens. He just seems to have no idea why he needs a part time job etc.

With regards to dd (nearly 2) I play games with her shop etc and explain she can't have everything due to not having enough pennies etc.

funkyfish586 · 23/02/2015 08:47

Non-attendee.

My little ones are only 4 & 6 so although they know about money they don't really understand the concept of it. My son lost a tooth recently & was given his first shiny pound coin, he proudly announced he was going to buy the bike he had his eye on in Halfords :)

We do try to explain how much things cost & that you have to work hard to pay for things etc so I think its just little things like this early on that give them a better understanding.

He know has a piggy bank & he is saving all his little pennies for a lego minifigure.

thanksamillion · 23/02/2015 10:55

Non-attendee

I think the discussion about money should come naturally - my DCs have been aware from a young age that there are choices to be made and that money is sometimes a deciding factor.

Pocket money is a great way to demonstrate this even if it's only a really small amount.

mumsbe · 23/02/2015 12:51

I have been talking to my child about money from the moment she could understand.
From talking about careers and how much money she could make if she works hard at school to saving money in a piggy bank.
I think its really important that children understand the value of money and where money comes from example a paid job.
I also encourage my child to do housework and tidy her room to earn pocket money.

xxgeexx · 23/02/2015 14:08

when they start to take an active interest in money and i feel they understand the different values of things

sleach · 23/02/2015 15:36

Non-attendee
I dont think there is a right time i think all the time is the right time i have been talking to my son ever since he was born, learing about money is one of the most inportant life skills you can ever learn as it affects every facet of life.

Gailspry · 23/02/2015 17:14

I think it's very important to discuss money with children from a very early age, and make it part of their play and daily lives. One of the reasons being is that I work in childcare and children as young as 3 years think that you pay for something by a 'card' that goes into a machine. These children have no idea that this is real money. In this day and age when everyone pays by card especially when food shopping or shopping for clothes when it is most likely that your children are with you, children do not get the opportunity to see 'real' money change hands, that is the giving of money, receiving your goods you have paid for and perhaps receiving change, children just do not get to see this very often. Therefore they do not understand the value of money at all. It's vital children are taught the value of money from an early age to enable them to understand how to use 'real' money in the real world.

badgermum · 23/02/2015 21:27

non attendee

My children get rewarded with money when they do well at school and receive an achievement certificate or a good report they also receive money for birthday and christmas which they can use to save up in the own savings account

glenthebattleostrich · 24/02/2015 09:52

We've always been very open about money with DD (almost 5).

When she is given money for Christmas and birthdays she knows half is to spend, half to save.

On days out DD has her own purse to buy treats (obviously with our help) and she knows if she doesn't have enough money she can't have the thing she wants. DD has a good idea about budgeting - for example at the cinema she knows that if she has sweets she won't have enough for ice cream after. She generally goes for the sweets but is accepting of the no ice cream when its explained / reminded she has spent her treat money.

glenthebattleostrich · 24/02/2015 09:53

DD also does jobs around the house to earn money - makes her bed, helps empty the dishwasher kind of thing. Some weeks she has more money than me!!

cagsd · 24/02/2015 09:55

I didn't attend the workshop, but I always talk to my kids about money and the value of things, and have done from they were small. They have to understand that they can't just have everything they want. Even small treats have to be saved for, and although they all seem to have friends that get everything, they understand that we work hard for what we can give them and we have limits.

At the moment we are in the process of doing up the younger 2's bedroom. DH and I have saved up for their new wardrobe and bookcase, but we couldn't stretch to new beds as well, so the kids had the idea of selling some of their old Lego and other stuff on ebay in order to raise the money to get the beds! I'm really pleased that they "get" that things cost money and that we have to make sacrifices.

QuietNinjaTardis · 24/02/2015 10:45

Non attendee.

We already talk to our 5 year old about money. He has a money box and if he gets small pocket money he will save it. He saved up and bought a toy that cost £4.50
I have larger amounts of pocket money put aside for him and will take it when we go on holiday for him to spend.
Think it's important to start talking to them early especially about saving.

firescorpion · 24/02/2015 22:20

I think its time to talk to you children about money when they ask to buy their own clothes.

Candyperfumegirl · 25/02/2015 13:35

i think as soon as they start school. my daughter is autistic and finds the concept of money difficult, so we have given her a chore chart so she can save money and buy things she wants when she completes her household tasks.

Tean1 · 25/02/2015 21:49

As soon as they can understand numbers

jandoc · 26/02/2015 12:35

I think you can gradually start talking to them from age 5ish.

kellyscarlett · 26/02/2015 23:52

NON Attendee-I've set up GOHENRY credit cards for both my young children.
They do jobs to earn there money which I put in there account and they use that money for treats.They now know the value of things.
It's so very important,for children to learn finances

lastlines · 27/02/2015 13:20

non attendee here.

My parents never talked about money when I was young. they were always in debt, we had no pocket money and though it made us resourceful (we worked - hard - at after school and Saturday jobs from 12 onwards) we had no idea how to manage that money so squandered it. In my mid twenties I grew up, got out of debt and learned how to manage money better.

Because of this, I have always taught my DC from a young age, how to be responsible with money.

From age 8, instead of buying expensive weekly magazines for them, we gave them generous pocket money. They quickly decided they didn't want the mags each week after all. Not now it was their money being used. They both started saving like mad and after a few months went out and bought Lego sets they really wanted. they were so proud of themselves for having saved up for what they really wanted.

Proper money discussions started when they began secondary. They each got a debit card and I pay pocket money in by standing order. They also put all their Christmas, birthday and holiday money into it and then transfer some over to their savings account. I like that they are confident using ATMs and paying by debit in stores. I like that they choose to transfer half their money to savings.

We've talked a lot about not getting into debt. I've explained to them how I got into huge debts as a student, and how I worked double shifts to pay them off and how good it was after the final payment, knowing every penny that came in was mine to spend, not owed to others.

They also know we have set aside a college fund for them each but that it will provide either cost of uni or the deposit on a first home or driving lessons and a car. If they want all three they have to get earning.

Hopezibah · 27/02/2015 23:37

non attendee.

I think it is NEVER too early to start talking about money. They need to learn the value of money and that everything is a trade off - they want to buy that magazine with their pocket money, they won't have enough to buy sweets. They want that small toy now or would they rather save up and buy a bigger toy in future.

But to seriously help them budget, I would use my experience of when I first went to university and suddenly having a debit card made it seem like my money wasn't real and became easier to spend. So I would say kids really need to be taught long before this so they don't end up learning the hard way by getting into debt.

JoBarrowman · 28/02/2015 03:23

Non attendee

I think the prepaid debit cards are a godsend. I will admit I got my daughter one when she was 7 or 8 by adjusting her year of birth on the application. It was also a card that allowed free cards on the same account for other family members so I had one too. It was perfect for to manage her money, and if she had forgotten her card I could produce the spare.

I would say she did a good mix of saving and spending, it made her purchases very considered and overall she tended to buy 'big' things, not sweets or magazines etc. I will say it made it hard as a parent when something she had really wanted and saved for turned out to be rubbish (Secret Journal) springs to mind. I wanted to refund her the money but of course that would have defeated the point!

When we finally closed the account as she was old enough to have a debit card she had just over £300 saved.

InMySpareTime · 28/02/2015 08:10

JoBarrowman, you lied on an application form for a financial product Shock. You might want to ask MNHQ to remove that post, you could get in trouble admitting that sort of thing!