According to Edfundo’s CEO Simon Wing, a teacher-turned-entrepreneur and father of two
If the festive season looks set to make a hole in your bank balance, you’ll no doubt want January to be a month of strict budgeting and perhaps one of your New Year’s resolution contenders turns out to be more financial awareness.
But how about your kids’ financial awareness? How do you start raising this now? It’s highly likely that they will not be so much out of pocket over the festive season – if fact likely have more in their Piggy Bank from monetary gifts from relatives & friends, so it’s the perfect time to weigh in and help them spend wisely and put down some good money habits.
The Need of the Hour
Financial literacy among our young is a rare commodity – a persistent oversight from the norms of our own parental and educational legacy. Yet it’s one of the greatest tools people can have in their Life Navigation Success Kit. Why is it important? Because it helps us all make better informed decisions about how we spend, save, and manage our money. It makes us aware of the need to budget, manage personal debt, save, and invest for our own homes, our future families, and our retirement!
Financial literacy among kids and teens is now more important than ever because technology has brought in the digital era where innovations, global e-commerce connectivity and other major trends have given rise to a digital economy that our youngsters need to know how to navigate, or they could run into trouble, especially in the reality of a cashless society.
And when trouble comes, it doesn’t only mean financial trouble – it can also lead to mental health difficulties with worry resulting in lost sleep, in turn leading to poor eating habits, depression and increasing isolation. And yet it needn’t be that way if we just embrace the need for financial literacy and seek out help. It’s time we as parents, and our kids, become smarter money decision-makers.
Game On!
If you’re a parent wanting to educate your children about money, and turn learning into fun with engaging activities, here’s two suggestions:
- Shop in the ‘Needs vs Wants’ mode.
The ability to budget for necessities is a key component of financial literacy. There’s a need for children to understand the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’ when it comes to spending. As you shop together – physical instore or online – ask your kids:
“Is this essential?”
“Wouldn’t you rather save the money for something else?”
“OK it’s essential, but is it cheaper somewhere else?”
2. Initiate a ‘Family Savings Challenge’.
This requires everyone to be candid about how much they spend weekly or monthly and if they can reduce their spending. The one who saves the most wins but in reality, everyone’s a winner because they have actually examined their spending habits and realised where savings can be made.
Stepping Things Up in 2022
If you’ve decided to make helping your kids towards greater financial literacy, you too may need help. It’s out there. Log on now to Edfundo – The UAE’s first money management app built by teachers used by students. and Blue Tree | Teach Kids About Money (bluetreesavings.com) to discover more tips towards narrowing the financial literacy gap among our kids (parents may also learn a thing or two!), and make sure you read Will Rainey’s new book, Grandpa’s Fortune Fables.
Also join the over 1,000 people who have already signed up to our wait list and you could help us test our Edfundo app which is the world’s first money management app built for kids and teens by teachers – that’s myself and my co-founder Andrew www.edfundo.com
You’ll also be joining a community of like-minded, like-hearted people who have concerns about their kids’ money management skills just like you! And you know what they say: “A problem shared, is a problem halved!”
Stay in touch with Edfundo to be among the first to benefit from our UAE launch when our quick and super secure app will go live with simple yet powerful dashboards to track spending and saving. We hope to launch by the end of Q1 2022. It will get your kids and teens au fait with the digital economy, ensuring they won’t be left behind.
You’ll be able to:
- Set tasks or chores for your child to boost their earnings,
- Encourage them to save up for that something special by creating saving goals
- Use Edfundo to pay in-store or online with a pre-paid debit card, phone and watch using Apple Pay TM or Google Pay TM,
- Top up your child’s card in one click,
- Set spending rules,
- See exactly what your child spends and where,
- Decide where your child spends their funds,
- Receive real-time notifications of their spend and instantly block or unblock cards at any time.
So, if you’re serious about having a happy and prosperous New Year – join the Edfundo Squad now – it might just be the best decision you’ve made in 2021 for 2022 and beyond! Join Here!
