[Julie Vazquez]

It's important for children to budget and save their money for things they want. Do you let your kids have control over their own money? Or do you just hand it out whenever it's necessary?

[Tiera]

We let the Kiddos control their money. I do give them different choices. I explain to them that I would be fun to buy this cheap toy...but if they save their money for awhile they could buy a better toy! ☺

[misslovemyfamily]

what's a good age to start instilling in your child the importance to saving money? My son is 4 and I feel like if i try to explain it to him now he wont really understand what I'm talking about. I don't know guess I could underestimating my child ability to understand the importance of saving.

[Tricia Meyer]

misslovemyfamily, on 04 November 2010 - 09:45 AM, said:

what's a good age to start instilling in your child the importance to saving money? My son is 4 and I feel like if i try to explain it to him now he wont really understand what I'm talking about. I don't know guess I could underestimating my child ability to understand the importance of saving.

I don't think that you can start too young! Even if you only start with something as simple as a piggy bank and putting into it the spare change that you find here and there. It will start to become fun for him to find the change and put it into the bank. Then you can talk about what you are going to do with money in the bank once it gets "big." For that age, maybe set a goal of a small toy or book to save up for? Then you can open it up once a month or so and count it together until you reach your goal. It's great not only to learn about saving but also to learn about counting money, which he will start doing in school soon.

[Katy]

Right now my husband and I are the ones who control our children's money, but they are only 1 and 3 years old. My 3 year old has two piggy banks and every time he finds spare change or is given money he instantly puts it into his bank. He does this on his own, we never have to ask him to do it. Every so often we empty his banks and deposit them into his savings account. All of this applies to my daughter as well, but she is less involved in the process because of her age, lol. My son has recently started pointing out toys that he wants, so I think after the holidays we may being to teach him about saving for a certain goal.

[jaylensmom]

I control my son's money who is 5 years old. He has a piggy bank and once it's full I take it to the bank and deposit it into his account. He does get money from family members that he keeps in his wallet for him to do whatever he wants but I have to approve it first. He is at a stage where he thinks he can get just about anything with the money in his wallet. I'm constantly explaining that it's not that simple.

[late 20's]

My son who is 11 yrs. old controls his money. He saves for a toy. He also has a piggy bank in which he saves all the change left over from everyday spending. He then go to the local supermarket and deposit the coins in the coin deposit in which he can obtain the dollar amount. When my son was 7 yrs. old, he had always contribute to his toy. I would pay half of the toy + tax. He know pays for all the toy. We are in the process of estimating (over) the tax as he purchases his toy!!!

[smartstep]

My son is five and controls his own money, and has been since he was 3 1/2. The key for this working for us is that we are always talking to him about expenses, what he really wants, how long to save, etc. We figure it is better for him to learn money lessons now rather than when he is 25. Cheaper for him to learn about wasting money when he is looking at $20 items vs $2,000!