AD: Instilling good money habits into your kids when they are young

Making ends meet is one of the biggest challenges families face. Relatively few of us have much cash left at the end of the month. Yet, despite this, very few of us do much about teaching our children good money management habits, until they are teenagers. 

Why you need to start earlier

Waiting this long is, as it turns out, not a good idea. According to the latest research, children’s lifelong spending habits have formed by the time they are about 7 or 8. Not to mention the fact that teenagers are naturally more resistant to the lessons their parents are trying to teach them than younger children are. Here are some ways you can start the process of teaching them about money and how to handle it the right way.

Open a Junior ISA for them

As you can see from this website, if you live in the UK, you can open a special type of savings account for each of your children. Junior ISAs enable you to put aside money for their long-term financial future.

The money that you put into stocks and shares or cash ISAs cannot be accessed, by anyone, until your child reaches the age of 18. This means that it is safe from them and you. There is no way either of you can dip in and out of the pot. Not even in an emergency. So, you know for sure that when your child reaches 18, they will have the cash they need to pay for driving lessons, put a deposit down on a home or to be put towards the cost of going to university.

Teach them to save for the long-term

It is a great way to teach your child about the need to save for the long-term as well as the short-term. Plus, because they have some cash available, they are not likely to get into debt, which is something many very young adults end up doing. Those debts can leave them struggling financially, for many years.

Teach them to value and look after what they own

Teaching your children to value what they have is also important. If they break something, encourage them to repair it rather than automatically replacing it. This will also help them to improve their problem-solving skills and help to make them more dexterous.

Don’t let them simply throw things away

When your child is finished with an item, encourage them to recycle it in some way. This is good for the planet as well as a great way to teach your children the value of living frugally and being ready to help others by passing on what you no longer need.

If they would rather sell items on than give them away that is fine too. It will teach them how to be a good negotiator, avoid certain pitfalls and help to hone their sales skills. 

Sometimes it will be a challenge for them. But, as you can see from this article, there really is a way to reuse or sell on practically anything. On the rare occasion you cannot do this, someone else will take those items off your hands and do something with them.

This is a paid collaborative post.