Learning to Save Money - A Newsletter for Parents of Fifth Grade Children

Encouraging Saving

There aren't any magic tricks for adults or children when it comes to savings. But there are some tips that might help you in encouraging saving by your child.

• Saving is easier if there is a goal. Help your child identify both a short-term goal (a new video) and a long-term goal (a new bike).
• Teach your child to pay himself or herself first. That means a certain amount out of the allowance, a gift, or any earnings goes directly into savings.
• Suggest your child give up one thing a week (candy bar) and save the money instead.
• Figure out where your child can keep his or her savings. Money for short-term goals might be put in a piggy bank or a jar.
• Help your child open a savings account at a financial institution to handle money for long-term goals. Teach your child about the concepts of interest, safety and risk.
• Allow your child to use his or her savings. Children will not be happy with saving simply for the act of saving. Once the child has enough money to buy an item set forth as either a short- or long-term goal, allow him or her to do so. This will be an incentive for the child to continue saving.

Saving as a Family

Identify something the family would like to save money to buy or do. Ask your child to be the timekeeper for a three-minute group brainstorm session on ways to save money. You can write ideas down on a piece of paper.

Begin the three minutes by saying: "Let's think of as many ideas as we can to help us save our money for _______________. For example, we can save all the money from pop cans we recycle."

Keeping an Expense Diary

Help your child write down all his or her expenses for one week. How much did the child spend? Save? Have the child figure out how much he or she spends each day and where the money goes. What could be limited or eliminated to save more? Having a diary will help the child track both spending and saving decisions.

Learning the Saving Language

See how many words about saving your child can find in the word search. The words go up and down and side to side.

Words to find:
goals
interest
bank
account
plan
habit
saving
money
deposit
risk
postpone
you

Prepared by Donna K. Donald, family life field specialist, and Vicki W. Sickels, former family support program associate, and edited by Laura Sternweis, communication specialist, Iowa State University Extension

....and justice for all The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Stanley R. Johnson, director, Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.

This newsletter is published for families with first grade children by Iowa State University Extension. For more information about parenting education, contact your local county extension office or access the Iowa State University Extension to Families website, www.extension.iastate.edu/families.