Teach Children to Save

Financial well-being requires us to focus on both short- and long-term financial goals. Saving for your children’s future needs and teaching them how to save is a key ingredient in this planning.

The Parent’s Role

Many parents ask when they should start saving for their children, how much should they save, and when they should teach them about saving. My response is always, “It’s never too early to start saving for your child—contribute what you can each month no matter how insignificant you may feel the amount is. Getting into the habit of saving is a great success regardless, and it sets a great example for your children.”

The Child’s Role

First United Bank participates in many activities that teach and encourage children to save. This year, many locations gave groups of children a gold coin and read stories about saving. Each child learned that while the gold dollar could be spent right away, they could also save their money to purchase bigger items such as a bicycle or electronic device later. By showing the children that one dollar could eventually add up to one hundred dollars, they all instantly started talking about what they wanted to save up for and buy. Helping children think long term can generate great ideas and goals.

Get Creative on How to Save

My husband and I have a 2-year-old son for whom we started saving as soon as he was born. As a mother, full-time student, and part-time worker, saving for our boy can be hard, so we have to get creative. My husband and I start the week off with a set amount of cash, and by the end of the week, we both accumulate enough change to give our son. Involving him in our saving process will be beneficial in the long term and in the short term; it is something he looks forward to each week. My son is thrilled when I hand him his change, and he can put the coins in his own piggy bank.

If you are someone who does not like to carry cash, you can still use this same idea but simply transfer money online. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I check our accounts and zero out the change by transferring the money into my son’s account. You can easily do this with our banking phone app anytime, anywhere.

Teaching your children to save is a very valuable lesson. Acting upon your teaching personally demonstrates how to save to your children while building their savings for their future. If you are encouraged to start saving for your children soon, you might consider celebrating "National Teach Children to Save Day" by opening a savings account, which falls on April 27, 2023.

To learn more about setting up a savings account for your child, visit our Savings Accounts page.