The world can be an expensive place, especially as we get older and incur more financial obligations, which is why the ability to save and budget are essential when it comes to maintaining your financial wellness. But what are you doing to help prepare the next generation for the challenges associated with saving and spending? After all, they are likely to have many of the same financial concerns you have now and, like you, they will need to know how to follow a budget and save for things like emergencies, college, retirement and other big-ticket expenses.
In celebration of Teach Your Children to Save Day, we’ve put together four great tips to help you teach the youngsters in your life about the value of a dollar. We’ve also included a few extra resources for those of you who are looking for ways to get your own financial wellness back in check as well.
For the kids
Set goals
One way to get your kids excited to save their money is to set goals and help them visualize their progress. Feel free to get a little crafty and help them create something that will help them track their progress. A poster or sticker chart is a great tool for this. Every time they add to their savings, they can color in their chart or add stickers. This strategy will help them see how far they’ve come and how far they have left to go. Plus, when they’ve reached their goal, they will get a nice reward – along with the satisfaction of knowing that they bought it themselves!
Chores
We all want our children to help out around the house. Assigning chores not only help facilitate responsibility, they help encourage a strong worth ethic. They can also be a great way to teach your child the value of a dollar. Assigning monetary amounts to different jobs will help your child calculate worth and that different services or items have different values and those values are assigned for a variety of reasons. You can talk to you child about those reasons and then encourage them to save the money they earn.
Incentivize
Sure, the act of saving money is a reward all its own! But sometimes, children need a little extra push in the right direction. One way to do this is to set up a reward system to recognize their ongoing progress. What this looks like depends on you. One example would be to offer extra time on their electronics for every $5 they earn. Or, maybe you could give them another dollar or two for a job well done!
Fill the jar
It’s important for your kids to know how to budget. A great way to teach this lesson is to utilize jars to indicate how much of their money they will set aside for different things. Whether they want to put money away for a toy, for some extra spending money during your next vacation or something like a gift for a parent (for example), letting them decide how much money goes in each jar will help them get into the mindset of budgeting.
For the adults
It starts with a penny
On this episode of unsuitable on Rea Radio, Rea’s award-winning podcast, listeners will learn about the importance of taking control of your finances. By setting personal financial goals and developing a strategy for reaching those goals you can prepare your bank account for issues that may develop over the course of your lifetime. Read on to learn more.
Financial considerations for every age group
Are you on track to meet your financial goals? Check out this article to learn some of the best practices when it comes to financial best practices in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. We’ve also included some great tips to help you along the way. Read on to learn more.
Financial calculators
From managing your home’s mortgage and saving for college to making sense of your current finances and saving for retirement, we have a calculator to help you understand your financial state while helping you make financially sound decisions. Check them out here.
At the end of the day, the best way to teach your children good financial habits is to lead by example. Hopefully this list helps you on multiple levels. In the meantime, please consider following Rea on Facebook and Twitter. We are always passing along great tips to help you get more from your finances! And, while you’re adding Rea as a connection, consider sharing this post along with the hashtag “#TeachChildrenToSave” to help get the word out.
By Trista Acker, CPA, CFP, NSSA (Dublin office)