Wouldn’t it be amazing if saving for kids (YOUR kids) was second nature? Let me show you how to get there.

Have you ever noticed that, aside from that 10% or so of kids who seem to have been born with a money-hoarding mentality, saving for kids is about as “second nature” as driving a car for the first time?

I want to tell you not to worry, because savings can eventually become second nature, especially with the tips I’m about to share below.

Tip #1: Designate a Savings Space

If you set up the expectation that there should be some savings, chances are better that it will actually happen. So, set up some savings space for your child, whether that be in a jar, cool piggy banks, at a bank (here's one of the best accounts to start for a child), or anywhere in-between.

Tip #2: Let them Name their Savings Space

The easiest way to get a child to care about saving money is by getting down to a savings goal for something they want to be/do/have. I talk about that much more in depth here. Once they have that savings goal narrowed down?

Psst: Here’s a 1-page guide you can go through with your child to narrow down all the things they want to do/be/have to the one with the quickest win to start their target savings journey.

Then you want to encourage them to name their savings space something fun having to do with it. You could put a label on the outside of a mason jar, or add a nickname to their savings account online to do this.

Tip #3: Set Up a Consistent Kid Money System

Let me ask you something. So, your boss gives you a $1000 check this week. And two weeks ago? It was $2600. And then two weeks from now rolls around. Guess what? You get nothing.

You’re probably feeling kind of flabbergasted, right? Worse yet, since you don’t have consistency in what you’ll be receiving, you can’t really plan for anything, you’re putting out fires, and you don’t trust that the money is coming so you aren’t putting anything into savings knowing that more will be coming soon.

Your Kid Money System matters, and if it’s not consistent, then your child probably won’t save money. Your child needs to know when they’ll be receiving money and how much they’ll be receiving, in order to plan ahead for spending (which really means, in order for them to feel like they can actually save money and even create a savings goal, instead of spending all of it today).

Pssst…Not sure how your Kid Money System stacks up? Click the image below to download a free Kid Money System Scoresheet.

Not only does your Kid Money System need to be consistent, but it also needs to have clear money boundaries and responsibilities outlined so that your child understands WHAT they are responsible for and what you are responsible for paying.

Because let’s be honest: if you thought YOUR Mom was paying for your new sneakers, would you save a penny for them? Heck, no! I sure wouldn’t (Mom, if you’re out there, I’d like the Nikes).

So, you're teaching kids to save money…and it's just not happening. But do you know why, exactly? Because figuring that out can show you the specific thing(s) to work on to move them forward.

Sooooo, your kid’s not saving money. In fact, they’re spending it faster than bubble gum companies can restock the checkout shelf (or at least it feels like that).

And you’re starting to wonder if this handing-over-money-to-your-child thing is just another way your hard-earned money has found a reason to exit your OWN savings.

I mean, how the heck are you supposed to teach kids money management or how to teach your child the value of money when they see it as a free-for-all?

Hi, I’m Amanda L. Grossman from MoneyProdigy.com where I’m teaching kids aged 8-13 how to save money through educational adventures like the Mt. Everest Money Simulation.

Today I’d like to talk to you about how to dig deeper into the age-old problem of a kid who spends their money.

ALL of their money.

I’m going to give you a rundown of 9 different reasons for why your kid might not be saving their money, so that you can do some digging and get to the bottom of the behavior.

After all, every kid is different, right? Awareness first, then you can redirect the ship!

Reason #1: They Don’t Have a Savings Goal.

The best, smallest action step you can take to get your children to care about saving money (or money in general) is by asking them to set a savings goal.

You can talk them through the entire goal setting for kids process here, but in a nutshell:

• Ask them what they would like to be/do/have outside of what you guys provide for them.
• Walk them through prioritizing all their funny, lovely ideas down to just the ONE that makes sense for right now (hint: that’s usually the quickest win, as kids are not at the stage where they can happily live out pleasure sacrifices for long).
• Ask them if they know how they can be/do/have that.
• Help them research and price the cost of their savings goal.
• Help them come up with a savings plan for how to actually get there.

Bonus: have them write their savings goal down. According to this study, 68% of kids with a written down savings goal track their spending. And tracking your spending? That’s just a hop + skip away from saving enough money to get what they want.

Reason #2: They Don’t Believe It’ll Ever Happen.

Do you know how hard it is to believe that something you’ve never seen successfully occur, will actually work out? If your child has never seen the other end of a savings goal, then they may not believe – especially come week 3 of setting aside money they could be using to buy more Pokémon cards – that it will ever actually happen.

This is why it’s so important, at this stage in the game, to help them prioritize the savings goal that is the quickest win. Today, choose a savings goal that will take them 2 weeks or two-allowance/chore commission cycles to accomplish.

And next year? They’ll be more able to tackle one that’s a few months out.

Reason #3: There Aren’t Clear Money Expectations Lined Up.

If your child thinks you might end up buying them what they want to be/do/have, then there’s no real reason for them to start saving money towards it, right?

Once you learn what your child would like, you need to set up clear expectations for them with who is going to pay for it. Are you going to pay for part of it? Or is the whole responsibility theirs? Can they ask for it at a holiday/birthday occasion?

In the future, you can help clarify things by categorizing what is their responsibility versus what is yours, such as your teenager taking over all responsibility to pay for their weekend hangout with friends, or your 8-year old taking over responsibility to pay for any candy they happen to put in the cart at the grocery store.

Reason #4: They Haven’t Witnessed Good Saving Behavior.  

Don’t beat yourself up for this one – I sure as heck am not. But it IS a reason for why your child may not be saving their own money. Have they witnessed good savings behavior from you or your spouse? Do they know what saving money is?

This would be a great time to open up the savings conversation and show your kids what you guys are saving for, the sacrifices you’ve made, and how great it is when you actually get what you want. Teaching children to save money doesn't have to be hard when you can model it yourself.

Reason #5: They Don’t Earn Enough Money Beyond Paying for Responsibilities.

Have you laid out money responsibilities for your child to pay for…that very closely exactly aligns with how much money you’re giving them? If that’s the case, then they certainly won’t be able to stockpile any (though you could challenge them to become creative in how they buy what they need, such as use a coupon, or buy in bulk and dole it out in the same amount they would have used anyway, etc.).

What would happen if you increased the amount of money that you gave them, or took away one money responsibility that they need to pay with it? Who knows – but teaching your child to save money might be on the other side of that.

Reason #6: They Have a Weak Instant Gratification Muscle.

Hint: Most kids have this one. Especially if you're teaching preschoolers about money. 

It turns out many of us aren’t born with the strong ability to look instant gratification in the face and turn a cheek.

But you know what? You can actually stretch and grow your kiddo’s instant gratification muscle. Check out my post all about how your child can learn to grow their instant gratification muscle.

Reason #7: They Have No Incentive to Do So.

If we’re going to be honest with ourselves, then most of us can say we need an incentive to actually do something.

Does your child have any sort of incentive to save their money? Incentives could be:

• Matching contribution from you guys.
• Interest earned in their savings account.
• Having had success meeting a savings goal before and getting to buy that sweet thing they wanted to do/be/have.

Hint: this is why the fed raises/lowers interest rates. They want to bait us all to either spend more money/take out more loans, or to stop spending so much money/save more of it.

Lots more about this in my freebie: 57 Action Steps to Get Your Kiddo to Save Money Money Today.

Reason #8: They Don’t Have a Physical Space to Save their Money.

Does your child have a physical separation between money they’re going to save, and money they’re going to spend?

This could look like:

• A mason jar for savings.
• A compartmentalized piggy bank.
• A wallet with one slot to spend, the other to not spend today (though this is very short-term if it’s as accessible as reaching into a different slot).
• A savings account.

Reason #9: They Don’t Understand the Value of the Money They’ve been Given or Earned.

Your kiddo might not actually get the awesomeness of the money they’re given or that they've earned. Because they might not understand that a little bit of money, set aside for a period of time, adds up to a lot of money.

Like today, they might look at their allowance as candy money. But you need them to see that, given time to accumulate from week to week, it’s actually skateboard money, or video game money, or rock-climbing camp money.

Pssst: Check out this article on how to get them to understand the value of their money. 

Oh, the power they have in their hands! If they can only realize that it just takes time and some restraint.

There you go. Now you want to assess where your own child is getting hung up on – or the MULTIPLE places they’re getting hung up (more likely) – so that you can work on getting rid of those specific road blocks to saving money.

Goal setting for kids – especially goals around money – needs to have these steps built in for when they lose interest and belief that they’ll actually ever get there.

So, your kiddo has declared a savings goal they’re going to save up for…and gave up on it after only a week (again)?

It happens.

Heck, it even happens to adults (anyone notice the difference in gym traffic February 1^st versus January 1^st? Same concept).

Right out the gate, goal setting for kids is exciting. Maybe it’s thrilling, slightly intimidating, but makes you feel important enough to announce it to everyone.

Then when the going gets tough – your kiddo sees something else they’d like, or they stop believing they’ll ever actually reach the more expensive goal and so opt for the instant gratification purchase instead – the goal just kind of fades away.

Let’s discuss strategies for getting your child to re-kickstart that savings goal of theirs, even after they’ve lost interest and moved onto the next thing (a really important step in the goal setting for kids arena).

Jump Starter #1: Have the “People Make it on the Second-Go-Round” Talk

Chances are, if you point out the fact that your child has given up on their savings goal so soon, it’ll probably make them a bit bummed (if they’re not kicking themselves about it already).

SO, now’s the PERFECT time to introduce a pep-talk with concrete examples of really popular inventions/events/goal-setting where the original person had failed to create on their first try, that we all take for granted today.

A few come to mind for me:

• Walt Disney: The man behind Mickey Mouse was actually fired from a newspaper once because he was thought to not have enough imagination and not enough good ideas. Go figure? Thank goodness that he kept going, as we would have all missed out on Disney World, The Little Mermaid (my personal favorite), and all things cartoons.
• J.K. Rowling: Her goal was to get her Harry Potter series of books published. And yet, she was rejected by 12 different publishers first.
• Jim Carrey: He knew he wanted to be a comedian since before 10. At 15, he took the stage for his first routine ever…and completely bombed it. But he kept going!

Jump Starter #2: Break the Original Goal Down into Pre-Chosen Rewards

Goal setting for kids 101: Your child has got to BELIEVE that they can actually reach their savings goal. Otherwise? Well…they’ll give up again.

Adults do it all the time when setting a goal! Like…:

• I can’t actually save up for a trip to Paris, so instead I’ll use the money I have saved up for a beach weekend getaway.
• Paying off all our debt is impossible to do, so instead of throwing any extra money towards it, I’ll let it get eaten by our checking account gremlin.
• I feel really crummy about not getting what I really want, so I’ll spend $9.42 on my Starbucks order.

This go-round, help them break the goal down into tinier chunks with rewards at the end of each.

It’s like building a personal board game of rewards!

So, for example: a purchase goal that will take $52 can be broken down into three $17 chunks. Each time your child achieves a $17 increase in their savings, they can reward themselves – with your blessing – by:

• Having a friend sleepover.
• Getting to choose what’s for dinner (Mama’s homemade cooking!).
• Getting to choose the movie for family movie night.

Jump Starter #3: Introduce a “Surprise” Money Incentive

This time ‘round when goal setting for kids, keep them motivated for longer by introducing a surprise money incentive from the Bank of Mom & Dad.

Choose a random week (perhaps when they seem a little eager to give up…like week 2), and tell them that all money that hits their savings account for their goal by Friday is going to be doubled by you guys!

Goal setting for kids is really about stretching and growing their instant gratification muscle. And it's hard to do. You've now got 3 smart strategies for getting your child to follow through with their goals. Which are you most excited to try?

Saving for kids comes a lot easier (adults, too) if they use this one, weird trick I'm about to show you.

There is power in naming something.

Naming something gives it a purpose. A place to focus an intention.

Savings accounts are no different when it comes to both needing a name and an actual purpose (which go hand-in-hand, by the way).

When a savings account lies around, unnamed, it’s this sort of blob.

Sure, it can grow. Sure, you can use it for goals as they come and go. But without naming it something that aligns with its purpose, the time it’ll take you to get to whatever goals you have will take longer – no matter if you’re a child or an adult.

Clarity is powerful, after all.

Leave an un-intentioned amount of money aside for too long, and suddenly it becomes the perfect amount to spend on a new video game, or absorbs a convenience-store candy section addiction.

Account money gremlins are a real thing, my friend. Whether you've got a kid savings plan or an adult one!

How to Guide Your Kiddo through the Savings Account Naming Process

I hope I’ve convinced you that that this naming thing? Is sort of a big deal. Getting your child to do it early means you’re setting them up for more savings success for the rest of their lives.

So, let’s get started with this mini-savings action step that makes saving for kids much easier.

Step #1: Set Up Somewhere for your Kid(dos)’ Money to Grow

The first step, of course, is for them to have an actual place to accumulate their money.

• Don’t have a savings account open for them yet? I’ve got you covered with how to open your baby’s first savings account (whether they’re still a baby or waaaaayyyy past the pacifier stage. No judgment here!).
• Not ready to do that? Then you’ll want to use a piggy bank of some sort. Here are 21 particularly cool piggy banks for your kid(dos).

Step #2: Help Your Child Identify their Savings Goals

Sit down with your child and ask them what their goals are for their money.

What do they want to buy soon? What do they want to buy later?

Hint: they might not know how to prioritize now rather than later at this point in their lives, and that’s where you can help them.

Your idea for the purpose of their savings account is probably going to be quite different from your child's. After all, you've been in this thing called the “real world” for quite some time now. You aren't wet behind the ears, and you know that life takes money.

So your ideas may be things they'll need to purchase in their teen and early adult lives, such as their first car, textbooks for college, college in general, etc.

Their savings goals? Well they might be a bit different than yours. More tangible and instant gratification-y like vacation spending money for the summer or a new video game that's due to hit the markets next month.

So, it’s best to find some sort of compromise. And if you’re just teaching your child how to save money as well as goal setting in general? Well then you should probably stick with a short-term goal until they grow their instant gratification muscle a bit.

Remember, you can build up to the long-term goals over time.

Step #3: Rename their Account or Piggy Bank with something Cool 

Once they’ve gotten clear on what they want to save for in the short-term (remember, start short, then go long), it’s time to come up with a cool name they can associate with the goal.

This name is one that gets them excited, and can pull them back into the process once they’ve lost interest in savings.

Here are some savings goal ideas, with a spiced-up version on the right side:

• First Car Fund = Sweet Sixteen Freedom
• Vacation Spending Money = Boardwalk Money (fill in wherever you’re going)
• Textbooks = Astronaut textbooks (whatever career they’re interested in right now)
• Video Game = Pokémon Ultra Sun Release
• Toy = Stuffed Flamingo

How to Physically Name Your Savings Space with this Goal

How you physically add a name to your savings space (either savings account or jar) depends on where it is.

If you've got an actual savings account, then find it below + click for nicknaming instructions:

• Chase
• TD Bank
• Wells Fargo
• USAA
• Bank of America (look at the lower right-hand sidebar for where to go after you sign in)
• SunTrust

For us, I have my two-year-old’s savings account at CapitalOne360. At their bank, you can change the “nickname” of each savings account you own.

Here’s how I do this:

Step #1: Sign into the account.

Step #2: Click on the account you want to change the name to.

Step #3: Click “Add a Nickname.”

Step #4: Type in the nickname + click “save.”

Then if I want to change the nickname? I can do so at any time by clicking on the account that I want to change, and then clicking “Account Details.” There’s an option next to the “Account Nickname” to “Change Nickname.”

If you are using a piggy bank of some sort? Then you’ll want to write the new nickname down on a piece of paper and tape it to the bank. You can let your kids write the name + decorate the label however they’d like using crayons, colored pencils, glitter – the works! Whatever gets them excited about their new name + corresponding goal.

You + your child may not have considered the power behind naming savings accounts by the goal that you're trying to meet before. But I hope you’ll trust me on this one and take the time to not only set up a space for savings, but then name it based on either a short or long-term savings goal.