Savings is the first pillar of money management that we introduced to our kids. Keeping something safe for a long time is pretty easy to grasp at a very young age. Kids seem to keep all sorts of things forever: the white rock, the grey rock, the brown leaf. Being a saver, I think of savings as being put away for larger, infrequent planned expenses (a house, car, wedding, business). Of course, in a pinch, I've pulled savings out for unexpected things (say, a surgery to save my life), but generally speaking, I want my kids to think of their savings as intentional money we don't use regularly.
At three years old, Santa brought a Triceratops Bank! Amazon has tons of banks that are near impossible to physically pull money out which helps with the philosophy that savings money we don't use unless we've been thoughtful and planned. On a broader scale, maybe that means dropping money into Triceratops until you're 16 and need a car. More practically, maybe at 8, he'll want a Sega (do they still make those???). We'll work through how to use savings over the years but for now, we talk about how to physically save and practice the skill and discipline of keeping that savings.
Each week, we save one of our five $1 on payday, so 20%. Immediately, upon receipt, $1 goes into Triceratops. Ideally, this helps instill that saving is a priority and obligatory. You can't spend what you don't have, and you don't have what's stuck inside a Triceratops. What animal bank would your littles love?
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