Property News · January 12, 2016

Yes we should teach our kids about money, but how exactly escapes me


Pocket money, savings, ponies, Muppets and nails – it’s a minefield, especially when your audience is clueless, says Zoe WilliamsI’m running a randomised controlled trial on pocket money with my own children: the oldest, eight, has the benefit of modern technology (more on this later), the youngest, six, relies on my remembering to pay her. In practice, this means the oldest gets £10 a month and the youngest gets nothing. After a period of accumulation the youngest vents her outrage and gets a lump sum. She immediately loses it. Our main hope is that she mislays it somewhere in the house where it can reenter the slipstream of the family’s economy.My findings are as follows: miniature bank accounts are brilliant, but not necessarily educational. I use Osper, which is an account for eight-pluses that comes with a card they can use in a cash machine or on the internet. I don’t know if you can stick it behind the bar because we haven’t tried it. I have a £10 monthly standing order and can add one-off amounts online. I can also invite other people to put money on it, which I never do, because it’s the financial equivalent of asking them to look at pictures of your child and wax lyrical about its cuteness. So far, Osper has taught the big ’un that money, with automating top-ups and nobody ever spending it, accumulates as effortlessly as wet leaves in a drain. It also taught him that getting money out of a cashpoint with his own pin is mind-bendingly exciting. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Yes we should teach our kids about money, but how exactly escapes me

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