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Onus on parents to teach personal finance in My Money Week

Written By:
Guest Author
Posted:
08/06/2020
Updated:
08/06/2020

Guest Author:
Emma Lunn

Home-schooling parents have been urged to incorporate personal finance lessons into lessons during My Money Week.

My Money Week runs from 8 to 12 June and aims to help children and young people gain skills, knowledge and confidence in money matters.

Resources are normally available to schools from April but this year a “Home Learning Guide” has been included to support parents educating their children at home.

Emma-Lou Montgomery, associate director at Fidelity International, says: “Over the last couple of months, parents have become adept at wearing lots of hats in one place – be it juggling remote work and domestic responsibilities or balancing childcare and home schooling.

“To help, initiatives like My Money Week have adapted their resources to include a Home Learning Guide for parents to add in some basic financial education to the ‘school’ day.  Helping your children with a basic grasp of financial concepts will not only equip them with an essential life skill – dealing with money is part and parcel of being adult – but it can also help bolster their knowledge and confidence in money matters for when life resumes normality.”

Here are five ways you can teach your children about money:

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Teach them about saving versus spending

Opening a savings account is a great way to introduce kids to saving and explain concepts such as interest and compound interest, and saving up for expensive purchases.

Parents can open a Junior ISA for their child and explain how it works.

Talk about budgeting

Teaching your child about the importance of budgeting is essential to help them become financially capable adults.

There are various budgeting techniques such as tracking income and outgoings, or making a list of regular expenses. Older children could be encouraged to split their pocket money between various hobbies and interests.

Get them involved

Parents can also get their children involved in some of the financial decisions at home such as online grocery shopping or comparing energy providers and tariffs.

Introduce investing

Older children can be taught about the pros and cons of investing – the current stock market turmoil is the perfect example of how markets can go up and down with share prices influenced by world events

Set an example

Never underestimate the effect your own money habits – good or bad – will have on your children later on. Children start adopting money habits at just seven-years-old, so make sure they understand why we sometimes save and other times we spend.

You can find out more about My Money Week at https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/