4 Ways to Encourage Your Children to Save

by Miriam Caldwell | More from this Blogger

02 Oct 2007 06:18 PM

Saving should be an integral part of what you teach your children about money. It goes along with the importance of teaching your children to give. It may seem silly to teach your three-year-old to begin saving money, but if you teach her when she is young, the habit will go with her. Here are four different ways to teach your children to save.

1) When your children are young, have them save money towards a specific goal. It might be fun to do this in a big glass jar. You could save for something as a family. When they can see the pennies piling up, it will click that what they are doing does make a difference. Additionally when they receive a reward at the end they can see that savings is something positive.

2) Take your children into a bank and open a savings account with them. This will help them to become comfortable with a bank. It will also make the money in savings more difficult to access. You can go over the statements with them and explain the interest that they are doing.

3) Once your children are old enough you can offer a savings matching program. You can choose the amount that you will match up to each month. I would offer this similar to an employer-matching program. You may require that the money you put in stays in for a certain amount of time or that it earmarked for education.

4) Encourage your children to open up an IRA account. The sooner they start saving for retirement the better off they will be. Also if they make saving for retirement a priority now, it will be a priority in the future. You may want to explain what you are doing to save for your retirement as well.

Related Articles:

Five Advantages of Children's Savings Accounts

Four Ways to Teach Your Children the Importance of Giving

Teaching Your Children the True Value of a Dollar

Learn more about Miriam Caldwell

Miriam is a SAHM mom of three children. She has a daughter who is seven, and two sons, four and two. She loves being a parent and spending time with her children.

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