5 Tips to Teach Kids to Save Money – With Free Printable Savings Tracker

Saving money and learning how to do so is one of the crucial aspects of building a financially secure future, and you know that. But let’s get this straight—a good number of us have learned this after a lot of trial and error. Traditional schooling systems don’t teach us a lot about financial planning, and that’s precisely why you, as a parent, need to step up and take matters into your hands.

Read on to discover 5 of the simplest actionable tips and tricks to teach your kids how to save money and manage it better.

5 Ways to Teach Kids to Save Money

This post contains affiliate links. We earn a small commission on the products purchased through these links at no additional cost to you.

Wants vs. Needs

Learning to differentiate between wants and needs is the first step towards teaching your child how to save money. Sit down with your little one and get him to understand the difference between things that would fall into ‘needs’ like food, clothing, etc., and things that would classify as ‘wants’ and something he could do without!

Help him understand that it is important to focus on getting the ‘needs’ first, and then set a certain amount to be spent into ‘wants.’

Start With a Piggy Bank

The easiest way to get your little one started onto saving money is to—you guessed it right—get a piggy bank. Have your kid put in spare change or any part of his allowance into it, and keep adding to it until there’s no room.

Set Savings Goals

Asking your little one to save without a goal in mind can be quite pointless, and that’s exactly why, setting a particular money goal in mind can drive him to actually put in the effort (and have an interest) in saving money. So maybe your little one’s been eyeing that $50 toy—ask him to save $10 every month from his allowance, or more, and save up money to buy the toy.

This way, he’ll learn how he can’t buy anything he sets his eyes on, and delayed gratification, of course!

Offer Incentives

Everyone loves incentives—right? And if you’re having trouble getting your kid to learn how to save, doing this might help. For instance, if you want your child to save up for that $200 gaming set, and if he’s not putting in any effort, you could offer him a bonus $25 from your end for hitting the $100 mark, and then another $25 for hitting the $200 mark—you get the drill.

Talk Money

Money talks don’t have to be taboo in your household. In fact, the key to raising a well-educated spender is to introduce money lessons at an early stage itself. You can do this through books and practical lessons. Have your little one sit down with you while you’re making money decisions at home- everything from buying groceries to paying the cable bills. There’s no better way than this to educate your child about budgeting.

Download Our Printable for Teaching Kids About Money

Our printable savings tracker is great for teaching kids to save money. It’s fun for them to color in when they’ve reached each dollar amount. We have a colored version and a version that your child can color in, depending on his or her preference. You can see them both below. Download the printable savings tracker by clicking HERE or on one of the pictures below. The PDF file includes both the color and black and white versions.

If you’ve enjoyed these tips for teaching kids to save and the printable savings tracker, we’d love for you to pin this post to share it! It’ll also help you find it later when you need a new copy.