Have you set up a child’s Money Space savings account at Ent yet? Do it by August 31st, and you can get a free movie ticket to use on any movie at Cinemark theatre! Go here and here for information. Thanks to Ent Federal Credit Union for being our sponsor this month!
I’ve done a fair amount of teaching about money with our kids, and at seven, my oldest has started to grasp the concept of earning and saving up money for a particular item. But, we’re far from finished with the money learning.
Case in point: I realized recently that he doesn’t really understand how getting change at the store works. He wants to get change so badly that he’d be thrilled if he paid for a $5 item with a $20 bill and only got two $1 bills in change. He can work the math problem on paper, but I guess when it comes down to it, it’s still hard for him to understand that a single $20 bill is worth way more than ten $1 bills. Ten bills just looks like so much more than a single bill, no matter the denomination!
Another thing I realized recently was that it is really hard for a kid to understand why he should put money in a savings account if he never gets to take it out. It may make perfect sense to an adult (especially if you have a debit card, haha!) but it’s hard to convince a kid to take their hard-earned money to a big building and give it to a stranger, where (he thinks) he’ll never see it again.
So, recently my seven-year-old made his first withdrawal from his Money Space savings account at Ent. He took out a whole dollar and was so excited to be putting that in with his birthday money to buy a new Lego set. (I was happy to let him take out a dollar to illustrate this point – even though his deposits are usually in the less-than-a-dollar range – especially after he received a $25 one-time dividend from Ent in his account last December!)
Taking money out of a savings account is not something we’ll be doing regularly, but I think it’s a good idea to help kids see how a savings account works, and reassures them that they aren’t just throwing away money, which is what it must feel like to a kid!
Teaching your kids the rewards of saving money is one of the goals of Ent’s Money Space savings accounts for kids. Set one up for your kids before they go back to school and they’ll get a free movie ticket to use at Cinemark! Must set up account by August 31st; go here and here for information.
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Welcome to Springs Bargains, a service of our real estate business, Circa Real Estate Group! I’m Carrie, and since 2008 I’ve been sharing free and discounted ways to eat, play, and enjoy life in Colorado Springs.
