Teach Children to Save

Continuing in the spirit of training up a child in the way he/she good go, teach children to save. It’s biblical. Let’s go to the ant, again. Go to the ant…which…prepares her food in the summer, and brings in her provisions [of food for the winter] in the harvest (Proverbs 6:6-8 AMP). Ants work diligently throughout the summer, eating what they need to survive now, and stockpiling for the winter, when the temperatures are too cold, and the ground is too cold and/or covered with snow and they are unable to gather. They do instinctively. But people aren’t ants. Some are natural spenders and some are natural savers.

At a very young age, teach children to save. It creates a habit of not spending up everything they get but reserving some for the just in case; or for bigger ticket items and activities. It develops within them, the ability to delay immediate pleasures and the gotta have it now, attitude, that gets a lot of people- especially adults, in trouble.

How to Go About It

If you child is using a budget like you are, then 10% might be allocated to Savings. Teach your child to save 10% of all money they get, for savings. This includes birthday money, Christmas money, allowance, money from work and/or odd jobs, etc.

If they are very young, they can start off saving it in a piggy bank, but eventually, you want to help them open up a savings account at a bank. Initially, you are just developing the habit of saving so money is going into something like a general fund. It’s certainly not the family’s emergency fund, or the annual property tax fund, etc. Eventually though, there will be multiple reasons your child is saving. They could include:

  • Spending money for a school trip
  • To buy a bicycle
  • To buy a laptop
  • Going to a special camp
  • To buy a car
  • College tuition
  • Don’t Touch $

It’s probably not realistic to save for more than 3 things at a time, but you can work that out with your child. As time evolves, their interests will change and therefore their savings will change. I love the idea of multiple subaccounts at the same bank. Children’s accounts are more restrictive, so this may not be available. If the bank does allow it, create your 3 subaccounts with names to identify the purpose of that account (i.e. Trip Money, New Bike, Don’t Touch). Then divvy up the 10% into those accounts. If the bank doesn’t allow multiple accounts, you may want to keep a separate journal to track how much they have saved in each virtual bucket. Something could come up, but generally, you don’t want to foster the idea that it’s okay to take money from one source to use it for another just because they can’t wait. That’s the kind of bad habit that still gets a lot of adults in trouble.

The Don’t Touch $ can eventually be invested into long term savings vehicles, which you can discuss as appropriate. This wouldn’t be something that will happen until your child is saving for a couple years, at least- especially if your child is very young.

Teach them to consistently save like this. It may only be change at first or a dollar or two, but it will grow over time. Hopefully, it will become its own motivator, just to see the money growing and see himself/herself getting closer to her goal of having what he/she needs for that school trip or for their new bike. Make it fun and/or make it into a game or competition. Agree to match dollar for dollar, especially for bigger ticket items.  

 Conclusion

Learning to save (not hoard), is a skill that will serve them their whole life. I was 47 years old before I learned to save. I wasn’t taught the discipline of saving and delaying immediate gratification. So, I spent what I had to get what I wanted when I wanted it or soon as I could get it. That led to credit and debt.

So, teach them to save; it is a fundamental of godly stewardship. And teach them to honor God; He is our ultimate provider; He is the One taking care of us and we can never forget that.