How to Teach Your Child About Money in a Largely Cashless Society
With society now predominantly cashless, how do you teach your kids about money?
After all, is it worth showing and teaching them different monetary denominations in coin form, if they’ll hardly be using loose change? We offer some tips in this, the latest article here on the ‘Knowledge Hub’ of our site. Read on…
Introduce a Piggy Bank
‘From around the age of five, children begin to build attitudes and habits around money’, states the Money Helper site, adding that the ages of three and four are a good time to start teaching them about money.
In an article for The Guardian last year, though, Michael Hogan discusses the fact that many children today ‘have no idea what physical money is’ anymore.
That’s where a good, old-fashioned piggy bank comes in, then – and we say it’s never too early to introduce one to your child.
‘Giving a child a money box or piggy bank provides them with a safe place to keep, and save, their money.’ confirms Money Helper.
Doing so means you can help them get to grips with the different coins and their value, helping them count their funds and get a better handle on how much they have saved – and what their funds can get them.
Society may well be going cashless, but coins are still in circulation nonetheless!
Still Visit the Bank (Where Possible)
Okay, so you may well be on board with opening a bank account for your child. While the account might come with an online app, many banks still operate from branches on the high street, too, giving you the option to visit with your little one and deposit funds into their account together.
While their savings may be accumulating in an online sense, they can still get to grips with paying in money – and counting it out before they head in to do so. It’s all in a lesson in mathematics, even if a few things have changed (regarding the way we manage our money) since we ourselves opened our very own – and first – bank account as a child.
Help Them Visualise Savings Goals
Just like some children love nothing more than counting the money in their piggy banks, older kids might enjoy seeing their money mount up in a digital sense. In today’s world, that might be just as satisfying as lifting a heavy piggy bank off the shelf and tipping it out onto the carpet.
Plus, you can still encourage saving via an online account by helping them visualise their savings goals.
Do they have their eye on a new toy, for example? Perhaps you could map out a rough timescale, which details when they might have enough money saved up to buy that treat.
Say, for example, they put their £5 pocket money aside each Friday, by the end of the month, they’ll have the £20 they need to buy the toy. Circle on the calendar, then, the date you can both head to the shops to buy the item – and it may just give them the momentum to carry on saving (even if they can’t physically see the money accumulating in a piggy bank).
Model Good Financial Behaviour
Want your children to learn good financial habits? It starts with you. Model good behaviour when it comes to money, and they may well follow your lead.
Perhaps, for example, you could teach them the value of budgeting, by allowing them to get involved in the food shopping, selecting the right ingredients at the best price, and ticking off items as you go.
Or maybe you could show them what’s possible when you put your mind to saving, by telling them about your own financial goals – and including them in the celebrations when you, for instance, finally have enough money to buy the treat (or big family holiday).
Ready to teach your child about money? Will you be using any of our top tips – or do you have some of your own? Join the conversation over on Facebook too.
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Until next time…
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