Feedback wanted - especially if you have children

Lotta_Littlies

I did post this last night on the "Anything else moneysaving" board but on reflection think it would have been better to post it here.

I wasn't sure where to post this so mods please do move it if you think it would be more appropriate elsewhere or remove it if you think it completely out of turn.

DD (aged 12) is very much into learning about financial matters and aims to be an IFA and freelance journalist when she's older. Anyway, she has put together a little site to try to explain a bit about finances to young children and would be interested in your feedback or any idea's you may have for her to add to it. She's especially like feedback from children on if they find it helpful/informative and what else they'd like to see explained or included.

If you've got a couple of minutes spare we'd both appreciate it if you'd take a look and let us know what you think.

I've put the link in my profile as I'm not sure if I can post it in the body of this message.

Thank you,

Lotta

CharleneUK

Oooh, how clever! I'll ask my 10yo to have a look when she gets home from school.

tiff

What a great idea. Not worth showing to my son, he's 9 and couldnt care less about money! As long as the PSP is within arms reach lol.

lottee

OMG, how clever is she! My little one a bit too young at the mo (only just learnt to write his own name!) but just wanted to say it looks great!

BargainBabe_3

Oh My God what a genius you have there lotta littlies! She sounds like she is going to do great things in life and be one of the worlds .com millionaires.

What a clever girl all credit to you. Well done. Site looks great and easy to understand for kids of year 5 and above. My DD is only 6 but we do try to teach her the importance of money and saving just hope she ends up as Savvy as your DD. Have started this year with a sticker chart to earn pocket money for eating veggies and doing small jobs like tidying toys away. Hope we are doing the right thing she has to earn money to be able to spend it and save some too. Just out of interest does your DD have an idea what the weekly rate is for pocket money? Well done to your DD she will be going far in this life and be very succsesful too. BBx :T

Lotta_Littlies

We don't give pocket money so neither I nor she has any idea what the going rate is, though I'd imagine it'd vary greatly. Having said that the children all do have a token payment going into their accounts every month (only £2.50for older two then £2.00 for younger four), the older two (13 and 12) can do bigger odd jobs to earn money if they want to such as washing the cars/cleaning out the kitchen cupboards (this is on top of normal jobs we expect them all to do in order to simply help out and not take it for granted that they can sit in front of tv/gamecube etc - they help to make a mess, they can help to tidy up after themselves!). 7 yr old sometimes does smaller odd jobs to earn an extra 10p here and there and if 3 year old wants to join in he does for money for his piggy. Younger three (3,2,1 yr olds) get odd pennies in their pots.

Lotta

arthur_dent_2

I only have young children 3 + 5 so I am not sure how older children deal with money, but I opted to teach my children about money from a very very young age. From about 1 and a half I taught my children to pay for their own treats and now at 5 years old my daughter is fully aware of paying for stuff, which coins are which and that if you buy your sweets from home bargains or the market you get more for your money. She knows about buying from Ebay (and selling) and knows that if you need to buy something then you have to check out the price on the internet first

The site your daughter has created is excellent but I am not sure that it is totally relevant to all ages of children. I am afraid that most young teens don't want to even begin to think about a mortgage but the saving accounts run down would be of relevance to them. How about putting stuff on about where to get the cheapest phones or where you can get cheap music or clothes.

Perhaps a poll to find out about how much pocket money/allowance people get or reviews of various download sites. Perhaps an article about money for chores or other ways of trying to earn a little extra (paper rounds or getting mum or dad to ebay your unwanted stuff)

Lastly it isn't that colourful and whether it would hold the attention of a teen or younger for very long is debatable.

All that said please don't think I am belittling the idea it is excellent and the srticled are informative and well written. Keep up the good work.

Lotta_Littlies

Thanks Arthur - some good ideas there and she'll have a read of it tomorrow. You've made some good points and it's so good to get something constructive. She too thought it would be good to add a piece on earning money and what different jobs youngsters could do and would like any children who have any ideas to get in touch so they could be added.

I'm not sure that she'd go for sections on cheapest items as she wanted it to be more of an informative site and to educate them on the benefits of saving as opposed to spending every penny.

As for the colour scheme, she did a more ... umm... colourful site shall we say, but she then felt it was too much and wanted something simpler so as to keep the reader focused on what she'd written rather than everything else going on on the page.


Lotta

evilwitch

What a little star you have. Well done her for opting for a real career rather than aiming to be a popstar or a model (or a WWE wrestler like my son is:rotfl: )

I agree with what arthur dent said. Its well written and tbh I found it interesting and explained things in an easy to understand way. The idea of adding a 'where to find the cheapest.....' would be useful with the added comment/encouragment about putting the money you saved by shopping around into the savings!

I don't know much about them but I've heard of a card that teenagers can get that you pre load with money (I think it was from Mastercard??) then it gets used in the same way as a debit card ( think it might be a pre payment card). If she knows anything about them it might be worth adding that into the cash card etc section. Sure they had a load of fees attached to them per transaction/replacement card/ deposit etc

Also would a graphic showing how much can be saved by putting a small amount away each week help? I mean showing like banks do what you could expect to have in your savings assuming growth at x% and a regular deposit of £x. It might help to illustrate how easy it would be to save up for the cd/fancy trainers or whatever is the latest must have thing.

We've just started being a bit (lots!) harder with DS about money. He was turning into a spoilt ungrateful little toad and wanting all the time so now we've a new rule that if he wants it he can work for it. Jobs are worth 25p and he can do as many as he wants. I've even applied it to buying sweets after school to which he called me horrible but funnily enough when it came to raiding the Dalek money box for the money for the sweets he wasn't so keen on having them:j

dlb

What a fantastic site.
Ds1 now 11 has looked and found it easy to understand, i think it is a wonderfull idea, maybe she should contact martin:money: and she can start a mini MSE !!!:D

Stop the furture adults getting into debt!!
Well done you!!

Crazychik

That is fantastic, my DS is 10 & DD is 7, they both know the meaning & value of money. I will let my DS look tomorrow after school.

Well done to your DD xxx