Tips for Managing Your Kids’ Budget

While adults have had their lives to learn how to manage money, most kids haven’t had that advantage. Even if saving up sounds like a very adult concept, it’s never bad to teach your kids the first steps they’ll need to take to they know how to manage their money. Simple lessons are best at the beginning, and here are some ideas for what you should do.

Teenagers can have a summer job as a source of income, but younger kids won’t unless you decide to give them an allowance. You can choose to give them allowance for when they do chores, so they get an idea of working for money is like, or you can give it freely so that they’ll have some money to manage. The choice is yours.

Giving your kids money is a great start, but they have to decide how they’ll spend it. That is when you begin helping them with that saving money is and how to do. While they can’t buy a 25$ toy in one week with their 5$ allowance, you can help them save some money each week so they can reach that amount. Try to help them by having some of the money be for spending, and some of it for saving, but always remember they’re the ones who decide how it’s used (you can learn more at: thefashionablehousewife.com/07/2018/how-go-henry-can-help-you-track-your-kids-finances/).

Sometimes it’s important to teach that most things cost something. If they want something, you can go ahead and remind them of how much money they’ll have to spend on it, and decide whether it’s worth it or not. This is the perfect moment for them to prioritize what they want or want they need because there won’t always be enough money for everything they want.

Yet, most adults always try to shop smart. You sometimes buy generic products at the supermarket to save money, and that is something you should help your kid learn about as well. If they want a toy, have them look around to find which website has it cheaper. You can also try to teach them about sales and coupons, which might be cumbersome for them to remember, but will help them stretch their money a bit.

Lastly, don’t forget that they should be the ones making the decisions, and the mistakes that will eventually happen to everyone. Don’t stop trying to give advice, but remember to not cross the line between friendly advice to pushing your kid to do what you think about. Now is the perfect moment for them to make the mistakes and learn from them, not later.