Tips for Teaching Children to Save their Money

This is a sponsored post.

April is a time of the year when we typically talk about the importance of going “green,” and preserving natural resources with Earth Day taking place later in the month.  But this week, I’d like to talk about another kind of green: the importance of teaching our children financial literacy and what it means to save — even at a young age.

Did you know that April is National Kids Savings Month? Boiling Springs Savings Bank of Northern New Jersey is hoping to teach children under the age of 18 the value of savings through their Boiling Springs Savings Bank Buck’s Program.  There’s an adorable FREE coloring/activity book for download that begins to introduce some basic concepts of money and savings (link is at end of this post).  My 4 1/2 year old son, Roc, really enjoyed this activity.

Let’s talk about Roc and his young approach to money and savings, shall we?

Around the holidays, Roc will receive greeting cards with a small enclosure from some family and friends. He gets SO excited to see a five-dollar bill or a few dollars.  Even at 4 1/2, Roc knows that part of his gift will go into his savings account.  In fact, he’ll sometimes hand over his $5 after tearing open his card and say to my husband, “here Daddy, go put this in my account for college.”

We allow him to keep some of his gifted money on hand to use towards a special treat, like an ice cream, lunch date or if he’s working on an incentive chart of some kind (whether for eating new foods, exhibiting good behavior, etc.), some of the money will go towards a trip to the toy or bookstore to select a reward.

But even at that point, The Hubs and I try to introduce him to the concept of “savings” and “budget” by telling him that he only has $15 to spend, and he must select something that stays within that budget.

How do you teach your kids to save? If you live in Northern New Jersey, you should check out Boiling Spring’s Savings Bank Buck Account program for the little ones.

The Boiling Buck account is designed for young depositors under the age of 18 (if your child is 12 years old or younger, it will be a custodial account) and can be opened with an initial deposit of just $1!  Accounts will accrue interest on a monthly basis, which is a great incentive to show children how money grows when it is saved at the bank.  As an added bonus, Boiling Springs Savings Bank will match a $10 initial deposit to a new Bucks account with a $10 bonus. This helpful video has more details.

For a list of Boiling Springs Savings Bank locations near you, please visit: https://www.bssbank.com/about-us/atm-locations-hours/.  If you’re ever in the Ridgewood branch, be on the lookout for me and Roc!

And don’t forget to download the FREE “Saving Money is Cool” educational activities book.  You can do that here: Saving Money Is Cool

How do you teach your children to save?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

oxox

-mom a la mode

 

{This is a sponsored post.  Boiling Springs Savings Bank is a Member FDIC.}