Teaching Children The Value Of Money

Given the current state of the economy in the UK, it seems only right that Parliament is discussing how prevalent financial education should be in our schools. It’s important that we help future generations avoid accumulating such massive amounts of debt, and that’s where we, as parents, can help.  

If you want to teach your children about money from a young age, but are unsure about how start, you’ll find some useful tips in this blog…

One of the first things you could do to teach your child about the value of money is to let them help you create a shopping list and tell them about how much money you have to spend at the shops. By explaining that you need to set a budget because your money also needs to be spent on other important things, your child will understand that you can only buy what you really need. You could also ask your child to help you find produce on the shopping list that’s priced the lowest and highest so they can gage how much things cost.

In a world where credit card debts and loans are consuming peoples’ lives, it is very important to teach children about the value of earning money to buy things they want. A good way to instill this into their lives is to ask them to do simple chores that they can earn pocket money for, such as cleaning their room and making their bed each day. Once they have been given their pocket money, you can encourage them to save some so that they can reward themselves with something special in the future, like a new toy.

By doing this they will experience how it feels to reward themselves with something they really want after working and saving hard for it.

This habit will slowly grow and saving will become part of their financial routine. It will also help them see the benefits of creating a little nest egg for the future and understand how savings provide financial peace of mind.

As the child grows up and starts to understand figures, parents can take lessons further and teach them about loans, APR rates and repayment periods and helping them understand that they will repay more than they borrow. All other financial services such as hire purchase agreements, mobile telephone tariffs and overdraft fees can be explained as they get older.

Baines and Ernst specialises in offering debt management solutions to people who need help repaying debts. Contact Baines and Ernst for confidential debt advice.