Why do children need to save? - Page 2

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by eirual 

Another question: will you influence how it's spent??

If I had come into $3,000 at age 18 I probably would have spent it on lifestyle while in university (probably would have drank most of it). I would hate to see that savings just get squandered. So would you/will you try to be sure it's used responsibly??

Well, its technically my DS money now.  He has full access to his accounts.  They are custodial accounts because he is a minor but with the debit cards, online access and whatnot, he can get 'his money', and do as he pleases.  Yes he is 12 years old.  He technically can order from amazon, or any other place he so wishes, he can go a store and buy what he likes right now.  I don't keep track of his bank card.  That is his responsibility.  He can to an ATM and get cash if he so wishes.  So 'coming into money' at age 18 isn't a concern.  The child I have is focused on Math and Science and wants to go to University for a career.  Thats not to say at some point a social life wont become important but he understands consequences at this point.

As for influencing how the money is spent.  Nope, DS has his money.  No one gets to influence how I spend my money.  I grew up in a very controlling house, and money was controlled.  If DS wants to buy something, or blow his entire balance than he can learn from that experience.  Better to learn at age 12 or 18 than at 30 or 45 .

[jeslynn]

Our son gets $1 a week if he does all of his chores. He's 6 years old. We were just talking about this the other day about why he's saving. He really wanted to spend his tooth fairy money on some toy at Dollar General and I said "Is this toy more important than having your own car when you're 16? Or going to England one day?" He put the toy right back. 

[SunRise]

My 10 year old now gets the concept, but when he was younger, it was too abstract...save for what... long term? a house? a car? college? none of that was interesting or made sense; that's adult stuff not kid stuff. 

I give him 11 dollars pocket money / mth (he is instructed to save 10%- which is why I give 11, 1 for savings 10 for pocket money) and he gets chunks from his dad every 6mths or so (50 dollars) and grandparent (For big chunks, he puts 50% into college fund).

Now he has a decent padded (for his age) savings fund which we now call the college fund. He wants to go and this makes sense.

His other fund he draws from for bowling or spending money.  He doesnt spend much so this fund is worth about the same as his college fund.

Often he doesn't have his wallet on him to make spontaneous purchases (gum, whatever) which  makes me think, 10 yrs is too young to really have the responsibility to remember (or bother with) cash in pocket for these kinds of purchases OR it will teach that spontaneous purchases dont happen, so a planned trip to the store for candy is what we do.

[its_betty]

My son is 13. Right now he is saving up for a new BMX bike. That's a pretty big goal (since he wants an expensive one) so he has spent some money on video games over the past 6 months, but mostly it's gone in the bank for the bike. (Shh, don't tell him but his parents and grandparents will be adding to the bike fund for Christmas.)

He started getting a decent allowance when he was 8 and wanted a good skateboard. It took a couple of months to save up for it. Over the years he has also bought himself a Nintendo DS (plus games), an iPod Touch, various other video games, lego sets, game cards (Pokemon first, then Magic the Gathering) and other things that he would not have had otherwise.

Currently he gets $10/week.

If he gets a summer or after-school job while in high school, we'll encourage him to save for college expenses.

[incorrigible]

My kids have never had an allowence, nor been paid for meeting their household resposibilities. They have always had to earn their money. Ds is very industrious and a hard worker and was making like $100 per week by the time he was 7 - 8. Now, at 14, he has a "regular" job as a dishwasher at a local diner, and still babysits and does odd jobs too. Dd is 11 and is only beginning to have enough of a desire for any things or experiences that she's really willing to do anything to earn them. *eyeroll* 

A minimum of 20% of anything they make or are gifted goes into a savings jar (we've also had issues with xh stealing from them. Sometimes we put their money in MY account and set up a shared google spreadsheet for record keeping, but mostly they keep jars)

Ds has paid for his entire scouting experience, including multiple camps most summers. He has always spent a lot of his money on friends and charities. He took a group of his friends to the movies last weekend. The other kids will do things for him sometimes, but even though their families are better off than ours...none of his friends have the kind of pocket money he does. He also anonymously covered the fees for a boy in one of his classes to join a sports team because his family couldn't afford it. No one but the school administration knows about that. He's saving for a car, and also to take CNA classes. He's attending high school part time, but doing a self paced independent study program to graduate early. He wants to become a CNA after graduation (maybe as soon as late 2013). We told him we'd pay for the courses, but he really wants to pay for it himself. It's how he is.

Dd recently volunteered 24 hours of dismantling computers to earn herself a personal computer. It took months, and had a profound effect on her attitude about working. She's now starting to look for ways to earn her own money more seriously. 

I absolutely influence how they spend their money, but don't control it. I give my opinion, and sometimes they agree or are swayed by my logic...and sometimes they just blow their money on candy or silly things because they want to. Their call.

[ilovemygirl]

My child is only five. We don't do allowance. We do have an account that money anyone gives her goes into. We also give her all our loose change at the end of the day. It ends up being two or three hundred a year. That goes into the account as well.

I'm hoping she will use that money towards something she really needs/wants when she is older. Like a car or expenses for college or an amazing trip we can't afford to send her on. I feel like it's too early for me to say whether or not I will control it when she becomes 18. It seems so far from now. For right now, if she wants something very badly we do determine if it's appropriate or not and if it's affordable enough we get it for her. It doesn't come out of her saved money. 

[monkeyscience]

Our LO is 3.5 months, so I'm answering for my own childhood. I got a savings account when I was about 12, so I could save more of my babysitting money. I wanted to save for a car, but I never had nearly enough for that. I spent a lot of money on books when I was a kid, and a little on other things. When I was 17, I had about $1000 saved, and I "blew" it all on a trip to Space Camp - something I really wanted that my parents would not have paid for. (My dad did pay for the airfare to get me there.) I had actually gone previously on a scholarship, so it was my second trip. Whether or not it was worth it, I don't know. But it made me feel both rich and poor to know I could pay for my week at Space Camp - rich because I could do it, and poor because it took almost everything I had! I do think experiences like that are good for kids to save for.

[alaskanmomma]

We invest 50% of their PFD's in a college savings account(it's free money we get from the state of AK yearly from the oil companies, if we were in a better financial situation it would be 100% saved, but alas..), and then any birthday money, loose change they get, etc. I encourage them to put in their piggy bank and they can use it when we go on vacation on things they want(if they want a candybar when we already have snacks at the hotel or a little knick knack that isn't something I'd spend money on, etc.)... I don't make them save their money for any of their needs, though or anything way off in the future like a car or moving out haha