Pages

Monday, May 3, 2010

# 26 - PARENTING improvement - Teach Kids To Save Money

And Before You Teach, You Must D-I-Y !

Whatever we want other people to do, most of the times we MUST do it ourselves first !

So in our attempt to teach our kids to save money, we must first of all save money for them, since the day our children were born ! It doesn't have to be a lot.....a mere RM 1 per day would be sufficient. In fact, anybody and I mean ANYBODY (rich and poor) should be able to save at least RM 1 per day for the future of their children.

So, from the first day of your child for example,

On his/her 1st birthday, your contribution = RM 365.00
Money from friends/families (BabyGifts) = RM 320.00
Collection during Hari Raya open houses = RM 315.00
-------------------------
TOTAL = RM 1,000.00
==================

Therefore, after 1 year your baby should have at least RM 1k in his/her account. That's the ideal situation, for parents who are forward-looking and have the discipline to save RM 1/day for their children's future !

In my own case, I always had the vision to save certain amount of money for my children but never had the discipline to do it ! And most of the time I was just planning to save, but never did it !

The sad thing is I KNEW it was important to save for my children. And I KNEW a better way to save, better than putting away RM 1/day in a Tabung, but I didn't do it !

Why that happened? Partly because of life's dificulties and hardships (excuses!!!!)

And partly because I tried to do everything alone. I never get my wife and kids involved in what I was trying to do, thus it was doomed to fail since it first started. For example, I did try to save RM 1/day for my first kid, but it failed halfway. The monies never reached the bank !

So, after learning from all the mistakes and in the spirit of continuous improvement, it's time to make things right in this area of SAVINGS FOR THE FUTURE !

This time around :
i) I involve my wife and my kids - let the wife know and get the kids to start savings money in a nice Tabung (bought from the souvenir shop, i.e investment this is!)
ii) I took the kids along, together with their Tabungs, straight to the bank with what we have - and Maybank's Yippie is the answer
iii) And next week I'll start a new way to ensure their future (will talk about this later).

So, till next week...BYE !