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Teaching Financial Literacy to Kids – 5 Tips for Parents

Teaching Financial Literacy to Kids – 5 Tips for Parents

Jenius Bank Team
Updated 12/1/2025
• Originally Published 1/11/2024
Financial WellnessLifestyle
Mom and son high fiving.
Teach kids about money early on may set them up for future success. Many parents aim to prepare their children with a strong foundation in financial literacy. This involves teaching not only appropriate terminology but also imparting values and habits that may help them achieve future financial stability. Let’s review why financial literacy is important for kids of all ages and how you could help your own children eventually become financially literate adults.

Key Takeaways

  • Teaching your child financial literacy from an early age may demystify money and help them make smarter financial decisions as they age.
  • Tailoring your lessons to your child’s age may help them understand what you’re teaching them and ensure that the lessons you impart stick.
  • Modeling good financial behaviors and discussing money openly as a family could help your child understand how the concepts you teach work in the real world.

What Is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is understanding how to use essential financial tools and skills to manage money in a sustainable and beneficial way. The core concepts of financial literacy involve factors like:
  • Building a budget
  • Managing money
  • Learning about investing
  • Implementing investment strategies
  • Building savings
Mastering these skills could help everyone, regardless of age, better understand their financial situation and make changes to ensure they’re meeting their short and long-term financial goals.

Why Should You Teach Kids About Finances?

Money is not everything in life, but it is necessary to sustain you and your family and provide the lifestyle you desire. Your ability to feel secure, achieve your goals, and even have fun are largely reliant on money. And if you manage (and grow) it well, it could lead to greater peace of mind and the ability for you to enrich your life.As you raise your children, you have the opportunity to teach them financial literacy skills and potentially set them up for even greater financial success than you have achieved. No doubt you want that for them.Many states have begun to introduce a financial literacy curriculum to high-school education. This is promising progress. But according to Julie Guntrip, Head of Financial Wellness at Jenius Bank, kids need modeling at home too. “Financial education is a lifelong journey that goes beyond one class in school. While school may teach children vocabulary and basic money concepts, you as a parent are in a much better position to help them build strong money values and routines.”

Five Tips for Teaching Your Kids About Money

Here are five tips to help you help your child on their financial literacy journey.

1 - Tailor Your Teaching to Your Child’s Age

Kids in different age groups have different concerns and may benefit from different types of lessons. For example, say you’re teaching a child under the age of seven about money. You may want to focus on smaller concepts like identifying bills and coins or asking them to help you find sale items at the store. These concepts may instill good shopping habits and help them understand how to save money on necessities. But if you have a teenager, you may want to focus on more complex concepts like how to create a budget, especially if they’re getting their first job.

2 - Cultivate a Money Mindset

Creating a money mindset doesn’t mean you need to encourage your kids to obsess over every penny spent and every dime saved. It means building an awareness of how finances influence their daily lives and how they could be money smart.From an early age, teach your children about earning, saving, and donating money. You can start by giving them a small allowance in exchange for them keeping up with their assigned chores. Or you could help them decide how to spend their birthday or holiday money. You may encourage them to donate some of their savings to charity and support causes and organizations that matter to them. The key here is to help your kids understand that money is a tool and help them identify the difference between wants and needs from an early age. This may help instill the importance of responsible spending.You may want to have conversations about the family’s finances and involve your children as appropriate. For example, if your car needs work, talk to them about how much the repairs may cost, why they’re necessary, and what that means for the rest of your budget for the month.

3 - Discuss Financial Concepts Regularly

When it comes to making smart money moves, there are five principles of financial literacy that people should follow: earn, save and invest, protect, spend, and borrow. As your children get older, introduce them to these principles as you encounter them in your daily life. Discuss how you and the rest of your family earn money. Talk about how you build a budget based on what you earn. Explain how you set money aside, how you decide how much to save, and how that money earns interest. Explain how credit and debit cards work. Talk to your kids about debt and what it means to borrow money as you make purchases. Honesty and a dose of age-appropriate reality may help kids understand the importance of money management. Of course, you may want to filter what you share about financial worries to spare your kids the stress—a focus on education helps here.

4 - Help Set up Accounts

Early money experiences for kids usually involve cash. But don’t underestimate the importance of exposing them to real-live banking interactions too. The act of helping them set up accounts and/or participate in account management are important hands-on moments. Here are a few educational opportunities.
  • A high-yield savings account provides the chance to see the impact of earned interest on their balance.
  • A college savings account is also a great way to help you help them with future education expenses.
  • A checking account for their first paying job; be sure to guide them as they get hands-on experience managing that hard-earned money.
Note that most banks require individuals under 18 to have an adult on the account as well, so you’ll want to review the fine print before deciding on the right account for your situation and theirs.

5 - Encourage Saving and Wealth Growth

The more involved you get your kids in their personal finances, the more they’re able to learn. If you know they want a specific toy or larger purchase, encourage them to set saving goals so they can buy that item themselves.Break these goals into smaller steps so your child can monitor their progress. For example, say they’re trying to save $100 for a new video game. That $100 mark is the end goal, but you could set milestones along the way. Celebrate with your child when they save their first $5 or $10. Consider matching their savings up to a certain amount when they hit $20 or whatever milestone you deem appropriate. This may help keep your child motivated and encourage them to save more.As your child grows older, you might expand that conversation into a discussion about the types of savings accounts they could have. For example, you could explain how setting up an emergency fund may help them keep their budgets intact if anything happens. You may also want to explain the benefits of setting up rainy day funds or splurge funds to cover expenses that aren’t true emergencies. This may help to set them up for success as they grow older and may make it easier for them to make smarter financial decisions.

Final Thoughts

Teaching your child financial literacy is one of the greatest gifts you could give them. The sooner you start, the more well-equipped they may be to make smart financial decisions for the rest of their life.