Teaching Kids To be Wise with Money |

I came across this awesome piggy bank today from Money Savvy Generation.

It is a great way for kids to learn about diving up their allowance/chore money into the different categories:Save, Spend, Donate and Invest.

Kids can watch as their money in each category adds up over time, they learn the valuable lesson of dividing their money, they learn about the satisfaction of donating money and over time they will see the impact of how their savings and investment grow to help them with their future goals.

For younger children books such as The Berenstain Bears' Dollars and Sense and The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money are great to read for them to learn about the value of money and the importance of managing money.

For children a little bit older Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr.: Teaching Kids About Money! is a great resource as well - helping train your kids to be "Tomorrow's Millionaires."

For homeschooling moms Brette McWhorter Sember's book The Everything Kids' Money Book: Earn it, save it, and watch it grow! looks like a great resource for the classroom teaching kids everything from banking accounts to ATMs to investment to how to make money. (Note: this is an American book so some things may be different and/or confusing for those working with CND money).

For older children I like Dave Ramsey's method of matching your children's savings up to a certain amount in order to encourage them to save and work hard to make more money towards a certain goal. So they may want to save up for a car - and you can offer to match them up to $5,000 for instance towards that goal.

Starting at a young age to teach children about the value of money and the importance of managing it wisely is vital to having an young adult and an adult that will function well when they are on their own.