How to Teach Kids About Money - What Mommy Does (2024)

Here on WhatMommyDoes, I write quite often about personal finance from an adult perspective. How to save money for big purchases, how to meal plan on a budget, where to get printable coupons, how to make extra money on the side, how to invest your hard earned dollars…..

But one thing I haven’t covered much is TEACHINGKIDS ABOUT MONEY.

Now that my kids are getting older (they’re now 8, 6, and 4), I am thinking a lot about their future. I’m thinking about all the things I have to teach them in the short time I have them in my home, and it’s a daunting task!

Financial literacy is one my passions (I am a CPA, after all!) All throughout college my eyes were opened to just how little our children are exposed to number crunching and financial know-how while they are growing up.

Learning about things like how banks operate, how to open up and manage retirement accounts, and even simple things like how to budget for groceries weren’t things we learned as kids. We learned geography, algebra, how to diagram sentences, and even how to dissect a frog….but what about the money skills every single one of us needs to know to live our lives?

Where was that education?

I think we can do better for our children. All of us!

So I’m starting to take my “parenting financial journey” seriously….I’m carving a new path to financial knowledge for my children, and I’d love for you to join me on my journey to raising financially savvy kids!! 🙂

Excellent Book about Kids & Money

I am currently about half way through a book called The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money.

The book is quite excellent! It’s opening my eyes to the kinds of questions I can expect from each one of my kids, including “Are we rich?” and “Why don’t we have a nicer car like my friend does?” and what to say in those situations! I feel like I’m way more prepared for questions like these now. I highly recommend the book to any parent concerned about raising kids who understand money and know how to make financial decisions based on values.

I hope this page will become an ever growing resources of tools and tips for teaching kids about money.

Let’s start with some basic stuff – a book about teaching kids about money plus cute piggy banks!

Save / Spend / Give Piggy Banks

Piggy banks are a neat tool for teaching younger children about money in general.

Even to start with recognizing different coins and memorizing their values (we just went through this in Kindergarten this year with my middle child, so it’s fresh on my brain!).

I think the piggy banks with sections for saving, spending, donating, and investing are just the neatest things! Ireally love these two piggy bank styles:

ATM Piggy Banks

These types of piggy banks are a bit more detailed. It works like a for real ATM machine.

Your kid will have their own card, a pin number, and be able to see their total displayed. It also has a feature to set savings goals so they can see how much more money they need to accomplish it.

This is a very useful tool for money management. The coin reader makes it easier to use for younger kids while still teaching them finance management skills.

Up next:

• Best books to teach your kids about money
• How to answer the question “Are we poor?”
• A jingle to help littlekids remember how much coins are worth

I was just browsing around Amazon and found a lot more piggy banks for kids! There are just so many and they’re too cute!

More from WhatMommyDoes

• How to Raise Money Smart Kids