I don’t have to tell you that financial independence and capability is vitally important to your child’s future happiness and success. You already know this. But sometimes this whole money thing can just feel a bit overwhelming and before we know it, our little darlings will be learning about money from their mates and credit card companies.
Research (and more importantly our own experiences) tell us that money savvy adults are not only better equipped, more confident and able to deal with the curveballs and obstacles that come their way. But they will usually have some sort of savings to help pull them through the tough time.
Creating and nurturing a saving mindset and habit in our children from very young will lay an incredibly solid foundation for them. The experts often tell us that it is not so much about how much we earn but more about how much we save.
Before we crack into Money Mindful Ant’s Top 3 Saving Tips, remember to sign up HERE to receive your MUM’S GUIDE TO A GROWTH AND ABUNDANCE MONEY MINDSET and your FREE FORTNIGHTLY MONEY MINDSET ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CHILD.
Ant’s first tip is to PAY YOURSELF FIRST which simply means that SAVING is your first expense in your budget. The universal saving mindset and habit seems to be ‘let’s pay for our lives and save if there’s anything left over’. Who are we kidding – there’s never anything ‘left over’. If we whip that around and make our children’s saving mindset and habit ‘let’s save first and then pay for our lives with what’s left over’, chances are they won’t be spending time in the company of the powerful debt monster.
Money Mindful Ant’s second tip is ‘CASH RULES’. Showing our children not to buy luxury items on credit (and that includes credit cards) will set them up for wealth creation and not debt creation. They will be watching how we do it, so let’s make our every financial decision count as an excellent lesson in saving up to buy luxury items in cash and not on credit.
Ant’s third tip is to have a daily GRATITUDE PRACTICE
The positive benefits of practicing gratitude are well documented. Studies show that when we pay attention to the good things in our lives, the more goodness we will notice and therefore cultivate. We can teach children about the ripple effect of their thoughts and explain each of us possess the choice to focus on things that make us feel angry and sad or calm and happy.
Encourage your child to firstly NOTICE, then NAME, and finally express WHY they are grateful for a particular thing. For example, a child may say: “I am grateful for my dog because we love each other. We have fun together by cuddling and she is soft and warm”.
Strengthen this simple gratitude practice by encouraging your child to write down their thoughts (perhaps in a journal) or say them out loud in the present moment.
A saving mindset and habit is worth a fortune for our children, our families and ourselves. We are so worth every effort and cent. Laying this powerful foundation for our children makes it possible for them to create an amazing and abundant life.
If you havn’t already signed up to receive your FREE FORTNIGHTLY MONEY MINDSET ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CHILD you can do so RIGHT HERE.