Spend. Save. Invest. Give.

When you are married to a finance man, you know money is going to be watched VERY CLOSELY.  Investing is an absolute and it doesn't matter if you have it, you do not need to always spend it.  I mean, who doesn't open a 529 account immediately after getting married for the future child that will not come into the picture for another three years?  Don't get me wrong.  This is a good thing because, if you haven't noticed from my shopping posts, I am potentially a big spender.  Saver and spender.  It works.

Anyway, now that my Oldest is 7, my husband has been looking for ways to teach him the value of a dollar and that it is important to think of others, save and invest.  This is a lot of information for a 7 year old to digest and for a while, he was just not getting it.  Over the holidays I came across this piggy bank that seemed to be the answer.

Money Scholar Baseball Glove Piggy Bank

Jesus gave this to him for Christmas (we thought the message would be stronger...Jesus outweighs parents), telling him that it is important to always think of others and donate some of your money to those in need.  This thing has worked like a charm.  Now that he can visually see four slots, any time he receives money, he decides how much is going to go into each slot.  It is a rule that something always goes into "GIVE".  After that, he needs to decide to "INVEST" or "SAVE".  Then, whatever is left goes into "SPEND".  The best part about this is that most of the time, he never puts anything into the "SPEND" slot.  I am hoping that by continuously using this, he will make a habit in life of always saving and giving before he spends.

These piggy banks come in an array of girl and boy designs and I have seen them in Nordstrom and on Amazon.  I think this one is really cute for a little girl.

Money Scholar Bug Purse Piggy Bank

What about you?  Do you have any tricks to teaching your child how to understand the value of money?