Helping kids Get Money Smart Today Sets Them up For Tomorrow

17 May 2017

Cradle to Grave - Helping kids Get Money Smart Today Sets Them up For Tomorrow

With more and more of our financial transactions happening in the virtual world, how do we make financial nous a reality?

For many of us, our first experience of working for financial reward was wobbling those baby teeth to make sure the Tooth Fairy left the required gold coin payment for the effort. As children, our urge to spend or save is a very instinctive one, with our recent gains going straight to the diary or the piggy bank. So how do we start to mould our attitude to money at young age, empowering us to make better financial decisions throughout our lives?

Jose George, Canstar general manager says:

“OECD, recently said that the youth today exhibit lower levels of financial awareness than previous generations yet, post GFC the financial environment we live in is far more layered and complex than ever before. Couple this with our desire to access everything in our lives, including money, in an instant, and the need for financial awareness becomes crucial if we are to make responsible life shaping financial decisions.

“It is commonly acknowledged that children are better at learning new skills and behaviours, so it makes sense to target younger generations, in order to grow more financially savvy adults. In addition children tend to share their new found knowledge with parents and whanau, financial awareness ascend the generations.”

Making Finance Fun

At home, simple steps can have a massive impact.

George continues:

“It’s much easier then we think to give children financial insights. We deal with money every day and simply including the kids in the weekly shop, giving them money to buy the milk at the dairy or reminding them that turning on a light costs money, can instil a sense of worth and value.

“Recent Canstar research has highlighted some comprehensive financial education initiatives happening in schools too, but it’s invaluable to have this backed up at home.”

Classroom Cashiers

The importance of financial education is recognised at a global scale with the International Survey of Financial Literacy Competencies report 2016, recommending that it was included in the school curriculum.

As part of Canstar’s latest junior and youth banking research, we recognised the providers who offer accounts for children and work in collaboration with schools to provide financial education.

Providing more bang for the junior banking buck

For the second consecutive year, ASB’s junior banking stood out from the crowd to be awarded the Canstar’s 2017 Junior Banking Award.

As well as offering Clever Kash, and the Savings Plus account ASB’s real junior banking value is in their comprehensive school banking and educational programme.

With 11 account managers supporting 729 participating primary and intermediate schools (roughly 35% of the applicable schools in New Zealand), ASB incentivise positive money and savings habits with weekly money collections and awards certificates to regular savers. In addition, a dedicated website containing financial literacy tools, support on recognising risk and setting goals, as well as a series of annual educational seminars, reinforce their Get Wise philosophy.

Making Millennials moneywise

Financial education is difficult at the best of times, but targeting and engaging tweenies and teenagers take a special kind of skill.

For the second year running, Canstar has award the Youth Banking Award to Westpac for its innovative approach to money management with the up-and-coming generation.

Their Electronic Account is essentially fee free to under 18s and students and mobile apps such as the Canstar award winning Cash Nav, online, ATM and over the counter banking also makes this a very easy account to manage.

Their education programme includes both secondary and primary schools with money workshops extended to include getting a job, insurance and Kiwisaver. In addition a dedicated website includes gems such as ‘Zombie Cash-tastrophe’ alongside more traditional calculators and online tutorials. Questions can also be asked via dedicated twitter and Facebook accounts.

For further information, please visit the Canstar website.

ENDS

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