Make your kid save money

Priya, excellent topic. In these days, it has become an absolute must to save for education/retirement etc. I also remember those good old days when the vendor used to bring clay piggy-banks in big carts. My favorite one was the seetaphal (custard apple) and a close second was a coconut. When it fills, we (my sis and I) used to break them and my mom used to let us buy or save whatever we want. When we were little, we used to buy toys; when we were a little older, we started saving for a special occasion. Thanks for bringing back those precious memories J

To you other question, my DD is 2 and half years old and she does have a piggy bank. This one, with polka dots on it: Pearhead Piggy Bank - Blue - PearHead - Babies "R" Us

Every day she puts a coin in it. Some days is a dollar, some days it’s 2 dollars and some very generous days, I give her $50. It’s actually quite a big piggy. Its filling up slowly. When its completely filled, she will be allowed to use that money any which way she wants. I am planning on keeping a limit of $200 though. What ever is extra, it will be deposited in her account.

Also, we have a tax saving education plan for her. We contribute to that on a monthly basis and the pool is invested in a large fund. When she is 18 and is ready to go to the university, she will be using that money for tuition fess.

 

I love that piggy bank!!! I was looking for something like this. Few guests who came to see my daughter gave us cash. I was gonna spend it to buy something for her as she's too young to understand the piggy bank concept. My husband thought we should get a piggy bank and save it for her instead. I was going to go to " things remembered" to look for one, but will check this one out too.

Cooks

 

Wonderful idea ! The habit of saving should be inculcated in childhood itself ! My dad used to say, the first expenditure of the month should be a saving !

 

Very good topic! Yes, my sister and I always shared a piggy bank (we call it Gullak in North). We used to get extra money for some chores (like keeping newspapers and bottles etc at one place to sell to the 'raddiwala) and the money from the 'raddiwala' was always ours as well. We lived on a farm so the money was saved to spend on our twice a year vacation at grandparents' place in the city. We were the richest cousins because of all that saved up money.
We haven't started a piggy bank for my son yet but we have a college fund for him to put money aside for his college education. My parents started FDs for all the grandkids at their birth so my son has that in India. I do teach him value of money in small ways though. When we are at a store and he picks up something (we do buy if it is a small, age appropriate toy or healthy, edible stuff), I ask him if he has money to pay for it and when he says 'no', I tell him that he needs money to get it and we can't buy it now. He hasn't thrown a tantrum yet but terrible twos aren't too far away

 

I used to work in a bank when my son was younger. As a gift one day they gave every one of us a red piggy bank (red was the color of the logo of the company). Till date my son has it. We don't give him pocket money, but he earns his money - taking out the trash, setting the table etc. For functions we give him a little. No huge amount because he needs to know that money is not easy to come about.

In our neighborhood we have a bank and I opened a savings account with some money he received from relatives in India. The way this bank works is that if you are a child, and you come visit the bank, they give "bank dollars" which are worthless outside the bank, but kids can use them to buy stuff in the children's store inside the bank. Simply visiting the bank with a parent earns you 1 dollar, but if you deposit money in your account, you earn $3 (even if you only put in $5). This way he saves these dollars and has infact used the store there to buy small "just because" gifts for his friends.

His piggy bank money is still almost all there. He recently used it to buy himself a wallet at a children's store here.

 

DKI, that sounds like an excellent setup! Sometimes I wonder if I am spoiling my kid by giving coins everyday. But then, I look back and think, my parents did the same thing too. So, hopefully I will be able to still teach her to respect money while splurging on her. Have the cake and eat it too. You think its possible or am I on the wrong path? I feel so confused about this.

 

Nuss, you dont have a 5 year old that I dont know of right? Are we still talking about little J? I am completely blown away! How did you manage to teach him "if you have money, you can buy it"? With the piggy bank she has right now, we havent broken it yet.

With mine, usually she sits in the shopping cart. So far, she has not thrown a tantrum saying "i want this". There was once she wanted a toy car which was $250.00. I told her mommy doesnt have money for that and maybe we will think about it at a later date. She didnt really cry, so I dont know if she already knows about the concept of money (by watching me deal with money).

 

Your dad is so right. We actually follow this rule in our home. Once the paycheck hits the bank account, the first auto debits go to retirement savings, Child's education and then the rest of the expenditure. I hope you are following what your dad taught you

 

Rakhii - at the age she is in now, nope I don't think you are spoiling her. But as she grows older maybe putting that money in a bank account would be better - simply because she can't just pipe up one day and say if you won't buy it, I can (she most probably won't ever, but even the most well behaved kids go crazy at times)

When I was in college, I would on a monthly basis ask my college friend to deposit money in an account I opened at her dad's bank (back in the day when you had to go to the branch u had an account in to get money). This was really far away from hostel, and hence made sure I always had an emergency fund for me. It grew to a good amount by the time I graduated.