The Savers

Allowance and kids is a hot topic for parents -- should they or shouldn't they have to earn it by doing chores.  In our house the boys are given a small allowance (1 quarter for each year they have survived) which is not based on chores.  Our hope is that they will learn how to save and spend wisely and responsibly.  There are chores that they are expected to do just because they are members of our family and we all have to work together to keep things in order  ... bla, bla, bla ... I could go on, but my goal is not to start a debate, only to explain a little bit how things run in our house.

For months now the boys have been using their piggy banks to save their money.  It gets counted frequently (which is a great math exercise), played with (which always includes the inevitable "that's my quarter!" argument), then returned to the piggy banks or wallets (they have a duel system).  They have decided that they are saving up for some HUGE Lego sets (Star Wars, of course -- is there anything else?), but they have quite a bit of saving to do.  So I suggested that they open a bank account, and with very little persuasion (thanks in part to the book we are reading -- thank you Laura Ingles Wilder!) they agreed.

We spent the morning talking about accounts and interest and saving with the help of a financial literacy site for kids by ING Direct (http://www.orangekids.com/).  It was a fun and easy way to learn about money, budgets, interest and investing.  Then we marched down to the bank to open accounts for the older two boys (Owen is still happily counting his pennies at home for now).  After many questions, signing their names a couple of times and the initial deposit (which will be matched by the bank -- thanks BMO!), they are now very proud banking customers.  I think they just like the shiny new cards!

Happy saving boys!