Teaching Kids to Save During National Kids Savings Month

Recently we were at the store and Maggie wanted to buy a toy. I said “no” and she kept asking. I said “well maybe we can add it to your Christmas list”. She’s smart enough to know that there’s a long way to go until Christmas, and wasn’t letting up on really wanting the toy. Next I said “well do you have any money to buy the toy? That costs a lot of money”. She looked at me, pulled an old hotel key card from her coat pocket and said “I’ll just pay with this, like you always do”. Yikes, I decided it was time to teach her about money and savings. April is National Kids Savings Month, so it was perfect timing.

I realized she had never been inside a bank. With 3 kids in tow, I only visit the drive up ATM and the bank’s drive through window. I started to explain to her what a bank is and she replied “I’ve been to a bank. We went to one to get money for London. They have money in there you can use for New Jersey too?” This “savings explanation” was going to be trickier than I thought. I decided we’d head to the professionals.

Maggie and I made a trip, just us, on a Saturday morning to Boiling Springs Bank. They have a great kids’ savings program called the Bucks Program. The program is geared towards teaching children under 18 the value of savings. The bank visit was wonderful. Everyone at Boiling Springs was eager to greet Maggie and teach her about the bank. The highlight for her was the coin counting machine. She now wants to save up coins just so she can dump them into the “big money counter”. The bank was not only good at explaining the Bucks Program Maggie, but they also made a point to show her the bank and how it works.

Here’s some of the details we learned about the Boiling Springs Bucks Program:

– $10 bonus is deposited into account if account is opened with $10 or more

– Account available to youths under the age of 18.

– Interest earned monthly on all account balances.

– Boiling Springs Savings Bank is Member FDIC

Here’s a cute video for kids about savings:

They also have cute activity books for teaching kids about savings:

Maggie was thrilled when she was handed her big green “$10 certificate” from the bank. She is really excited about saving and wants to first buy a Paw Patrol toy and then a trip to Paris. You can visit the Boiling Springs website to find a bank near you. #TeachKidsToSave

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