Learning to save by starting young

Savings schemes for children in my past
I recall during the good old days of the late 1970s and early 1980s when I was still in primary school, the then Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) had the squirrel savers scheme. This was a scheme where school children could purchase stamps from the teacher, paste them on colour savings sheets issued by POSB and that was how we learned to save money by buying stamps and pasting on it. Of course, at that time I was too young to really appreciate that this was about savings. All I remember is that it was quite fun to paste the stamps since the money came from our parents anyway! :)

Another scheme I remember vividly was by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). SCB had piggy banks made of heavy metal and secured by a key that only the bank could open. Hence, the piggy bank allowed me to save my coins from my allowance and once in a while my parents would bring me to SCB where the coins could be deposited into my account. I recall the use of snow white characters in my SCB passbook then but I cannot find the old passbook anymore to verify if my memory serves me correctly!

How do we teach our children to save early in life?
These two examples show us how even back then, banks had innovative ways to help parents inculcate in children the habit of saving. How can you then now use some of these methods to teach your own children or nephews and nieces?

First of all, you should make sure you yourself are setting a good example to your children by saving! Then you have the moral authority to tell them that they should be saving their surplus allowances! :-) I am not sure if POSB/DBS still has the squirrel savers equivalent, but you can definitely start out by making sure your child has a piggy bank or a container where he or she can put his spare coins and notes from his allowance savings.

Encourage him/her to save and bring him to the bank when you want to make deposits into your child's account. Nowdays, I noted that POSB provides machines that accept coin deposits. So you can consider making it a fun family activity by involving your child in depositing the coins and to see his balance grow. He may be too young to appreciate it but he will start to associate putting money in the bank as a good thing as he/she had a good time with daddy/mommy when he went to the bank to "play" the deposit game.

You can also celebrate with your child with a simple meal outside or an ice-cream treat after each deposit, to further reinforce the good vibes your child gets from saving money! :-)

Some of you may have even more innovative ways of inculcating the savings habit among your own children. Do share as we go along this journey for our children's benefit to grow up, kidsRich!