One thing that I have never been good with is money
So much so that I now have none at all
I am almost 39 years old
I have no savings
No property
No assets at all
That is partly through choice
Because I do not trust myself with money
Though I think I would be much better now
Than I ever have been in my life
Because it is no longer about me
It is about the future
My children
My grandchildren
Making sure they are cared for
Making sure we can help them whenever they need
Thankfully David is incredibly good with money
And when our children are grown
And I begin to earn serious money again
It will be he who will remain in charge of the family finances
He who will keep account and control
And even if I had a glowing financial history
I think this is actually the way that he likes it
And it is the way that I like it too
Though my best friend has always said to me
Keep a bank account of your own
Put a little bit of money away each month
A financial safety net of your own
Just in case
Of course, being me I have not followed that advice
David and I do have separate accounts
He gives me money each month to make sure
The children are clothed and fed
And entertained
I do not keep any aside for myself
My parents helped me out of trouble a lot
In my younger years
And I will always be grateful that they did
But I also wish I had learned more about money
About spending and saving
Budgeting and borrowing
I wish we had more conversations about options
Ideas of how to make money last and grow
How to use it wisely
The very real consequences if you don’t
I think these are all things I had to find out on my own
David and his Dad have a very different relationship
Perhaps because he has never been a trouble
I do not know
But they talk about stocks and shares
ISAs and interest
Best case and worse case
Planning and forecasting
David will always talk through his plans and ideas with his Dad
In a way I want Esther, William and Bea to talk to us
To learn from us and with us
To feel able to argue with us and us with them
Without it being heated, horrid or hurtful
I think it is important to be able to have these conversations
To be able to offer advice
To accept that sometimes the advice may not be taken
But to know that we have tried
Esther and William are 5 this year
They currently have no concept of money at all
They know that you need money to buy things
But have no clue how much they can buy
And with what
They do not appreciate the difference between a penny and a pound
That is something that I want to change
Our children will get pocket money when they are older
My plan is to get the first year of school under our belts
And then begin to think about chores and payment
Pocket money
I want them to save money for an item they would like to buy
To do that they need to appreciate how much money things cost
At the moment I do all of our shopping online
I am thinking that I might start to do some shopping each weekend
In our local village shops
So Esther and William begin to see the exchange
Money for goods
Goods for money
And start to understand how buying and selling works
Time is passing so quickly
It will not be long before my tiny twosome
Are opening bank accounts of their own
And what then?
What advice will we offer them then?
What then will we want them to know about money?
Much the same as we will instill in them from the start I think
Spend your money wisely
Only buy things that you really want or need. Think carefully before you buy something. Look at different buying options. Make sure that what you buy is really worth the money that you spend.
Save for a rainy day
We never know what might happen in the future. It is good to have a pot of money put to one side for emergencies, for surprises. A safety net, redundancy. It is good to have it there.
Save for something special
If there is a larger item, a special item that you really want but cannot afford. Save up for it. Save as much as you can and then when you have the money buy the treasured item. You will feel proud and a real sense of achievement for doing that rather than getting into debt or asking someone else to buy it for you.
Keep your money safe
When our children start to have a little money of their own, I will also buy them each a wallet or purse. They already have money boxes where they keep any coins that they find lying around the house. From the beginning we will talk about where to keep money and when the time is right we will help them to choose an appropriate current account.
Think of ways to make and save money
There are always ways to save money. Join the library instead of buying new books. Grow fruits and vegetables to eat. Make up picnics instead of buying food out. Make cards and presents for family and friends instead of buying them.
There are ways to earn money when needed too. Wash the car, sort the washing, mow the lawn.
I think an understanding of the value of money is so important and perhaps harder than ever to achieve as we do so much online and with cards, children do not always see real money.
I am looking forward to the day that our children open bank accounts. I used to love watching my balance grow in my little red book. We lived in Germany and I would save and save all my weekend job wages so that I would lots of money to spend on return trips to the UK.
When our children open bank accounts we will make an occasion of it. We will go to the bank and deposit real money. We will mark the occasion with a budgeted for cake. We will encourage then to make regular deposits and then we will watch their balances grow and begin to talk to them about interest, about the bank paying them money for being good savers.
A rite of passage for any growing child.
What would your golden nugget of money advice be for your child as they open their first current account?
This post was written in collaboration with TSB