Teaching Neo to Save: The Coin Bank

Growing up in a family that is neither rich nor poor – but has only what we need has taught me to save.  I grew up not having the latest toy nor the most fashionable outfit.  This has taught me the value of money and thus is what I want to teach my son.

Teaching a little boy of age 2 years to save is not difficult.  Because at this early age, you don’t have to teach him the value of money (he won’t understand it even if I try), all you have to do is teach him to save.  This is my opinion alone, if you teach your kid that money can buy a lot of things, the tendencies are, he won’t be after the things alone, he will be after the money. 

We started teaching Neo how to save by going back to the basics: his own coin bank.  Every time we have a five or ten peso coin, we give it to Neo so he will put it in his coin bank.  He will count (not by fives or tens but by 1,2,3s) whenever he puts his coin.  Every time he puts a coin, we will ask him what he will buy with his coin bank money.  His answers vary depending on what he fancies during the time of questioning.

We helped him through: ESTABLISHING A GOAL.  We always asked Neo what will he buy with the money in his coin bank.  He answers differently.  But we always ensure that he knows that because he saves he can get something from it.

After months of saving, Neo opened his coin bank last Christmas – and all his 5-peso and 10-peso coins combined amounted to Php2,220! J  We already bought Neo lots of toys for Christmas, so we didn’t buy something with his coin bank money.  We instead put it in his bank account.