Money wasn’t a thing that we used to worry about as kids. Ask any millennial adult who grew up comfortably with frugal parents.
We spent our allowances frivolously and saved only when we needed to, usually for a new toy or phone.
Something we taught ourselves or picked up from older siblings and peers. But in this day and age, being financially literate is becoming more important.
Especially with frequent inflations on the rise.
While your kids won’t necessarily have tons of things they should save for (or that many opportunities to earn money), the practice may still benefit them in adulthood.
After all, we all accumulate responsibilities as we age. It will be the same for your kids. So think of a financial budget as training wheels.
10 Tips For Raising Money-Savvy Kids
Start Small
A trick financial advisors love to recommend for adults when it comes to financial budgets is the 6 jar Concept.
But if we’re using this method, then your child needs to account for 6 different goals in their finances: needs, wants, personal development, investment, education, charity.
This is hardly practical for a toddler. The only categories that may be applicable to them on that list would be needs, wants and education. But remember, these are kids.
They don’t have a concrete vision of the future, so small, short-term goals are best. In which case, teaching them to save up for one specific goal is the way to go.
Splitting their budget into “Save” and “Spend” will usually suffice. A general rule of thumb is a 70/30 or 60/40 ratio of spend to save.
Cut Out Non-Essentials
Your kids will be tempted by many things in their childhood. Toys, trinkets, sweets.
While these aren’t bad categories to save up for, you can still help them narrow down their budget.
The things they save up for would have to be something small. Not a house or car, but a phone or laptop. Or even a pair of shoes or a game console.
The trick is to get them used to the idea of saving, instead of allowing impulsive purchases.
It’s always easier to help them save up for something instead of forcing them to save just for the sake of saving.
Or in the case of a hypothetical future emergency for which they have little imagination to conceive.
Go Digital
You’ll probably find no shortages of spreadsheets online on children’s financial budgets.
But we live in the post-digital age now where very toddler is equipped with their own personal smartphone.
If you’re one of these IT-savvy families, then consider going digital. Depending on how much allowance you give your kids per month, they may need a debit card as well.
Or better yet an e-wallet. So at the very least, if you are going the digital route, your child will need to install two apps.
An e-wallet and a money tracking app.
Having a shared account also lets you track their spending anonymously to see if they’re on the straight and narrow or veering off the well-beaten path.
Which leads us to the final point.
Monitor Progress
The hardest part about getting your kids to stick to a financial budget is that you end up having to monitor them.
Which will not be a problem if they are naturally responsible. But there will be times when your kids will forget to log in their spending for the day and there will be some holes in their budget.
In these cases you will have to help them rectify their records by looking at their bank account or e-wallet balance to know exactly where their money went.
However some e-wallets have in-built money tracking features so your child may not need a secondary app for that.
Raising Financially-Literate Children
It’s not that hard to get your kids on their own financial budget. The general rule of thumb is merely to track how much they spend and how much they save.
This will also be a good opportunity for your kids to also earn some extra ringgit or two doing chores around the house.
And picking up some responsibilities. It will teach them a lot about work ethic and give them a small preview on what awaits them in adulthood.
Getting your kids to work hard for their bills also teaches them that it’s much easier to spend money than to make it.
Which means they will be much more frugal as time goes by. A commendable trait to cultivate in all growing up children.
With any luck, your kids will be on the fast track to not only saving a lot of money, but knowing exactly what they should spent all their hard-earned cash on.
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