Here on WhatMommyDoes, I write quite often about personal finance from an adult perspective. How to save money for big purchases, how to meal plan on a budget, where to get printable coupons, how to make extra money on the side, how to invest your hard earned dollars…..
But one thing I haven’t covered much is TEACHING KIDS ABOUT MONEY.
Now that my kids are getting older (they’re now 8, 6, and 4), I am thinking a lot about their future. I’m thinking about all the things I have to teach them in the short time I have them in my home, and it’s a daunting task!
Financial literacy is one my passions (I am a CPA, after all!) All throughout college my eyes were opened to just how little our children are exposed to number crunching and financial know-how while they are growing up.
Learning about things like how banks operate, how to open up and manage retirement accounts, and even simple things like how to budget for groceries weren’t things we learned as kids. We learned geography, algebra, how to diagram sentences, and even how to dissect a frog….but what about the money skills every single one of us needs to know to live our lives?
Where was that education?
I think we can do better for our children. All of us!
So I’m starting to take my “parenting financial journey” seriously….I’m carving a new path to financial knowledge for my children, and I’d love for you to join me on my journey to raising financially savvy kids!! 🙂
Excellent Book about Kids & Money
I am currently about half way through a book called The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money.
The book is quite excellent! It’s opening my eyes to the kinds of questions I can expect from each one of my kids, including “Are we rich?” and “Why don’t we have a nicer car like my friend does?” and what to say in those situations! I feel like I’m way more prepared for questions like these now. I highly recommend the book to any parent concerned about raising kids who understand money and know how to make financial decisions based on values.
I hope this page will become an ever growing resources of tools and tips for teaching kids about money.
Let’s start with some basic stuff – a book about teaching kids about money plus cute piggy banks!
Save / Spend / Give Piggy Banks
Piggy banks are a neat tool for teaching younger children about money in general.
Even to start with recognizing different coins and memorizing their values (we just went through this in Kindergarten this year with my middle child, so it’s fresh on my brain!).
I think the piggy banks with sections for saving, spending, donating, and investing are just the neatest things! I really love these two piggy bank styles:
ATM Piggy Banks
These types of piggy banks are a bit more detailed. It works like a for real ATM machine.
Your kid will have their own card, a pin number, and be able to see their total displayed. It also has a feature to set savings goals so they can see how much more money they need to accomplish it.
This is a very useful tool for money management. The coin reader makes it easier to use for younger kids while still teaching them finance management skills.
Up next:
- Best books to teach your kids about money
- How to answer the question “Are we poor?”
- A jingle to help little kids remember how much coins are worth
I was just browsing around Amazon and found a lot more piggy banks for kids! There are just so many and they’re too cute!
Jennifer | The Search For Imperfection says
I’m looking forward to reading other articles in your series about this. We’re really working to teach our 5-1/2 year old about money and it’s hard sometimes to even know where to start. I’m gonna check out that book, for sure, and love the “spend/save/share” piggy-bank ideas. She recently won $50 in a halloween costume contest so I’m reminded this would be a great opportunity to talk more about those concepts. Thanks!
Lena Gott says
Thanks, Jennifer! I hope to have time to write more before year end because it’s such an important topic!
Christina says
I love the piggy banks with sections. What a great idea! I also bought the book and am looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Lena Gott says
I think you’ll really like it!
Ashlee @ The Normal Mom's Guide says
This was a great post! My daughter is five and she understands that certain things cost money but she has no concept of what that actually means. Thanks for sharing!
Lena Gott says
You’re welcome! I love finding new ways to teach my kids important lessons like these.
Nikki @ Teach Love Nurture says
I love this post!!! I have never seen the piggy banks with four sections: save, spend, donate, invest! I am a mom to a 5, 3, and 1 year old and we have just started a chore/behavior chart I created in our home in which they earn pennies. Then, at the end of the week, we make them split their money into three cups: spend, save, and give. They get to spend the money at our family store I created for them, save some for later purchases at a real store, and give some to our church. It is working great at our home. I may have to invest in that adorable piggy bank or see if there is one with three sections. 🙂 Thanks for the great ideas!
Lena Gott says
You’re welcome! I really love those.
Janet Stelly says
I agree that we have to start teaching our kids about money.This is not always taught in school. We went as a family to Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University when one of my kids was in high school and the other in college. It was great as they were able to learn some of the basics. Thanks!
Becca says
This is something that I think about a lot. My little one is 4 so doesn’t really have a concept of money, but I try. We started with an allowance recently when he does his chores, but we haven’t been doing a save/spend/give method which I LOVE!!!! I feel like we absolutely have to take charge of the financial education of our kids. The schools definitely don’t which is kinda sad. As a budget coach, I would love to see budgeting and basic financial education offered in schools. Thanks for the post!
Lena Gott says
When I have a little more flexibility in my days, I hope to be able to go teach this stuff in schools. It’s super important to me. I figure they might like a CPA to teach financial lessons! 🙂