Money sense 4 kids

happiness_fairy

Does anyone have any ideas on how to teach kids good money sense? I have 2 ds. One who saves like mad and one who spends like mad? How can I get the spender to save or at least stop throwing his money away. (Saver is 12, spender is 10).

wigginsmum

Do you give him pocket money or does he do chores for it? If he has to work for it, it might make him appreciate it more.

Jules

happiness_fairy

Gets pocket money at the moment but think that may be about to change. We'll give it a go and see how we get on.

wigginsmum

It's something I've learned with my stepchildren over the years; if they get it 'for free,' they don't value it half as much as if they've had to do the washing-up and gardening and then saved up for it.

I still cringe at the time my DH decided his 14-year-old son should have a mobile phone which we would pay for - we were down £250 on texts within a month and had to confiscate it! Now he has a pay-as-you-go and works in his grandparents' cafe at weekends to pay for it. No credit = no texts.

Jules

Becles

I give my their pocket money on the first day of the month, and from that they have to buy any extras they want like sweets, magazines, books, stationary, spending money for school trips etc.

On the first month, they went out straight away and spent all their pocket money on Yu-Gi-Oh cards. During the month, if they asked for things like a chocolate bar at half time at the match, I simply said tough - you shouldn't have spent all your pocket money. They gradually learned not to spend it all at once in case they want something later in the month.

I was impressed with my eldest a few months ago as he really wanted "The Game of Life" but said it was ages to wait until his birthday or Christmas. He did save up till he had enough to buy it himself.

pdoff

we always had to do chores for our pocket money. i am now dead stingy & think how many hours i have to work to afford something but brother spends if he has it & thinks later, so whatever u do it may not affect his habits in later life!!
how old do u think u should start giving spending money? ds is 3.5 & i think next year he will be old enough to understand if he wants treats (usually ends up with 1 charity shop item every time we go) he only has enough money for 1 & then can't ask for more but dh thinks i am mean & he's too young. want to get him used to it b4 the bad habits start! thought about giving say 10p a day if he been good (tidied toys away b4 bath etc.) so can be used as bribery for behaviour too. any thoughts?

wigginsmum

The kids started getting automatic pocket money (£10 per month each) into savings accounts when the boy was 9 and the girl 4, and I started paying them for doing chores (like ironing for the boy and putting away toys for the girl) a year or so after that. Now I expect them to do washing-up and tidying for nothing when they come and stay, and the girl does some of the cooking because she's celiac and has to learn to cook for herself from scratch, but we paid the boy £60 for a week's work completely digging up the garden this summer. He's a big hulking 16-year-old now.

Excellent idea - thinking of how long you would have to work to earn the money to pay for something!

Jules

black-saturn

I'm on the verge of thinking about giving my children pocket money for doing light work around the house. I'm thinking about drawing up a chart or something with jobs such as tidying your room and doing the dusting on it.

I started doing that when I was about 11 and I used to get 20p a week!!!!

Miss_Behaving

Hi, I have a twelve year old son who seemed to take it as a personal challenge to spend his pocket money as soon as he got it!

Eight months ago, I opened a young saver account for him at HSBC and each month pay his pocket money straight into the account. He has a cash card so he can get his money out but because he has to physically go down to the cash point he now thinks about his purchases and usually decides he doesn't really need the item enough to withdraw the cash. Giving him the responsibility of his own account seems to have worked for him!

Gillby1

Hi there,

Have a look at this website for starters: http://www.pfeg.org/parents.asp?id=parent

I'm not sure how useful it'll be but it's an 'educational charity who's mission is to make sure that all young people leaving school have the confidence, skills and knowledge in financial matters to take part fully in society.' It is suitable for parents of children up to 19 and should have plenty of resources for parents.

robnye

Miss_Behaving wrote:

Giving him the responsibility of his own account seems to have worked for him!

this worked for my eldest, plus she had a paperround and the money was paid directly in.

the middle daughter now has a paperround, so will be sorting an account out for her. but she is terrible with her money..... once received burns a hole until she has spent it as quickly as possible, then bemoans the fact that she has got 4 weeks until her next pocket money etc