This Mom Is Teaching Her Young Kids Financial Literacy In A Fun, Age-Appropriate Way

Growing up, my parents taught me little to nothing about money or finances. And while I know they were just doing the best they can, their lack of education about spending, savings, and financial literacy really did me a disservice as an adult. It took me a long time to get financially healthy.

One mom, who had a similar upbringing as me, wants her kids to have all the knowledge and insight they can about money and finances.

“My kids are four and almost seven. These are their banks. They are just little envelopes,” Makenzie begins in her video, explaining how her allowances and “banks” work with her kids.

She explains that the envelopes have three categories: checking, savings, and bills.

“They have two bills that they have to pay each month. It's due on the last day of the month...” she explains, with the kids being charged $1 for food and $1 for housing. The money the kids pay towards “bills” just stays in their envelope.

Makenzie also has tracker sheets, one for their checking account and one for their saving, so the kids can see where their money is going.

When they get paid, the kids get a “statement” with their paycheck along with a chore chart so they can see how they make their money. She then explains how their chore chart works alongside their allowance.

“Each week they start off with five dollars, and for every chore they do not complete, it is minus 25 cents. The thought is, if you go to work, you get paid. If you don't go to work, you don't get paid. Therefore, if you don't do your chores, you're not getting paid,” she explained.

“Chores are not new, but this system is new. So I can't be too hard on them. She's seven. My son is four. Like they're just kids and I want them to have a healthy relationship with money because I know I don't have a healthy relationship with money because I was never taught how to manage it.”

After her videos went viral, several TikTok users shared their gratitude for Makenzie’s finance literary lesson, noting they wished they had something like that for themselves growing up. Others recalled their own parents doing this for them, sharing how much of a difference it made in adulthood.

“My mother taught me how to balance and keep a check register young, and I still do it 40 years later. This isn’t taught in schools anymore and should be. Fantastic job!!” one user wrote.

A 2018 University of Michigan study, co-authored by Michigan Ross Professor Scott Rick, found that children as young as five already had distinct emotional reactions to spending and saving money, and that these translated into actual, real-life spending behaviors. So, it’s important to lay that foundation early!