Super Kid Saver

The ever so gorgeous NorthernMum is a judge in the Money Supermarket Super Kids Saver competition and I have been reliably informed that she will not receive bribes in any form, not even cake, so I had better come up with something good!

My older kids think saving is boring, and suffer with (and this is a real affliction) - moneyburnaholeinmypocket syndrome!

All the children had an account opened for them at birth with £100 put in it.  This has been topped up with birthday / Christmas money as the years progress and then they get this money when they turn 18.  It isn't going to set the world on fire, but it did help Abbey with the costs of buying her first car.  Isaac was the lucky one in all this, as he was entitled to the £250 Child's Trust Fund from the Government, although it isn't performing as well as I hoped.

Anyway, I digress........

At 11 years old, we have opened a cash account for each of the older children and then paid their pocket money into that, to teach them to manage their money.  When they first got this money, it was invariably spent straight away and they then had to wait a month until the next payment went in.  We had to be very strong, but they soon learn't to budget and if they really wanted something - to save!!

To earn this money they have to do household chores, such as washing up and making their beds but we do offer bonuses for more tedious tasks such as washing the car and mowing the lawn.  In fact our neighbour will also pay them to mow her lawn too.

I am really proud of our 12 year old at them moment, as he has saved £200 towards a new laptop by not spending his birthday money and saving almost all of his monthly allowance.  We had just one slip when he just had to have those XBox points for some new maps *blank face*.  His target is to have enough to get one at Christmas time, and we have agreed that we will pay the remainder (up to our Christmas budget).

I am frustrated that they cannot get jobs (other than a paper round) before the age of 16, as I do think it really teaches a good work ethic and makes them really appreciate the value of money and sadly we cannot afford to give them much.

For the little ones, we teach the difference in coins and Isaac already knows to make sure he gets the gold one as it will buy him more.  At the grand old age of 4, he is motivated by things rather than money, so his reward chart is set up that he will get stickers for e.g. a dry bed / good behaviour and when he has enough of these stickers it means he has saved enough for a present (normally a Skylander).  If the present is worth more, he has to save more stickers.

The one thing we do do, is make sure any of their left over money isn't wasted and is put away in a savings to grow, especially when they are little and they don't really NEED anything.  It is really worth shopping around for an account with the best interest rates, and make sure you don't pay any tax on it!!

I still think they truly believe that money grows on trees though - does anyone know where I can buy one of these?