Kearley Shared Content: Helping You Promote Youth Savings Accounts
One of the best ways to put kids on a path to smart money management is to start them early with a savings account. Here are some tips you might be able to use for an upcoming newsletter or campaign effort to help you begin to communicate with your members about the importance of a Youth Savings account.
Tips For Saving Money: Kids Edition
Throughout our years spent in primary and secondary schools, we weren’t taught the importance of saving money – it’s a skill usually learned through trial and error as an adult. Many would hope to learn ways to avoid living paycheck to paycheck long before managing their money, specifically at a younger age. To help the next generation escape the trap of fiscal mismanagement, we’re here to help with ways to teach children the importance of saving from a young age.
Lead By Example
Simply put, you can’t teach what you don’t know. Educate yourself about good savings habits such as setting up an emergency fund or increasing contributions to your 401K. It’ll also help your child to see there are rewards for being fiscally responsible, like saving up for a new tv.
Incentives for Good Behavior
Show your young that saving money is good by rewarding them for good behavior. Giving them an allowance for good grades or doing their chores is one of the easiest ways to teach the value of hard work, and they’ll learn how to spend and save their money in the process.
Piggy Bank/Savings Jar
Your child wants that new toy after you’ve recently taken them to one of the greatest movies of all time (from Pixar Studios, of course). Teaching them to save money for the new toy by having them earn an allowance is a good start. For each bit they earn, have them store it in a piggy bank or savings jar. The more they’re rewarded for their excellent work, the quicker they’ll see their savings grow and buy that toy in no time!
Open a Savings Account
Once they’ve graduated from seeing their change pile up in a jar, let them watch the numbers increase on their personal savings account. By then, the physical understanding will remain in their minds, which calls for even more money handling lessons, such as using a bank card.
As a parent, teaching your children to build healthy savings habits at a young age prepares them to be successful when they become adults. And as a result, they’ll experience financial stress at a much lower level than those who didn’t learn. Good luck and happy saving!
Additional resources:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has several free, downloadable resources.
Money as you Grow: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/money-as-you-grow/
Kearley & Company is just a phone call, email, or text away. We assist organizations of all sizes by developing marketing and communications strategies that work. Our team can help bring new ideas to the table while helping ensure your plan is on track to deliver results. We’re here for you.