Many Americans may have grown up in homes where money wasn’t openly discussed. A recent survey conducted online by The Harris Poll found that 20% of baby boomer parents (ages 61 to 79) did not teach their children how to save money.
Today, however, more parents are making an effort to talk to their kids about this important life skill. The survey found that 93% of parents with children under 18 have taken steps to teach their kids about saving. Some of the common actions include encouraging children to set savings goals (45%) and opening savings accounts for them (41%).
If you’re a parent looking to help your children learn how to save money, here are a few ways to get started.
1. Set Children Up With a Simple Way to Save
The survey found that 41% of parents of kids under 18 opened a savings account for them to help teach the value of saving. Many also used visual tools — like piggy banks (38%) or digital apps (28%) — to help their children understand the basics.
For younger children, starting with a piggy bank or jar can work well. While they won’t earn interest from it, being able to see and handle cash helps them understand how money works and how to count it. Once they are a little older, you can move on to opening a savings account or using a banking app.
You can open a savings account for your child at any age, usually with you as the joint account holder. You will need your own photo ID and personal information, as well as your child’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number. You can choose either an online bank or a local bank branch. Keep in mind that some banks may require you to open the account in person. Look for an account that doesn’t charge monthly fees and offers a good interest rate.
Some banking apps are made for kids and come with features like savings goals, allowance tracking, educational games, and parental controls. However, some of these apps charge monthly fees or don’t pay interest. You’ll need to decide if the features are worth the cost.
2. Think About Giving Your Child an Allowance
According to the survey, 40% of parents of children under 18 give their kids an allowance to help teach them about saving. For school-age children, this can be a helpful learning tool. Whether or not the allowance is tied to chores, giving a small amount of money each week allows children to start learning how to balance saving, spending, and giving.
Nearly a third of parents in the survey (31%) said they require their children to save a portion of the money they receive. You can set your own rules for how much of their money your children should save, spend, or donate — or you can let them decide. Either way, use this as a chance to talk about how you make financial choices in your own life and how those decisions affect your family.
3. Share Your Own Financial Goals and Ask About Theirs
Only 37% of parents of minor children said they talked with their kids about the family’s finances as a way to teach them about money. While it’s important not to burden children with financial stress, you can still have age-appropriate conversations that help them understand saving.
For example, you could tell them about one of your own savings goals, like building an emergency fund, saving for a vacation, or setting aside money for retirement. Talk about what the goal is, why it matters to you, and how you’re working to reach it. Then ask your child what they would like to save for. Depending on their age, their goal could be to learn the value of coins and bills, save for a new toy or even for a car, or put some of their money aside for charity. After they pick a goal, talk about why it’s important to them and how they can reach it.
Let’s say your child wants to buy a toy that costs $30 and they get $5 per week in allowance. Their reason is that it looks like fun. You can help them plan to save for seven weeks to cover the price and the sales tax. This is also a good time to teach them how to calculate sales tax, depending on the rules in your state or local area.
The toy might turn out to be a great purchase they enjoy for a long time. Or, they may find they don’t like it as much as they thought. That brings us to one more useful way to teach kids about saving and spending.
Bonus: Let Kids Make Some Spending Mistakes
Kids often set short-term goals that are really about spending later, not saving long-term. As a parent, you may not always agree with how your children want to spend their money. But unless the item is not age-appropriate or unsafe, it might be wise to let them experience making a choice they later regret.
Most parents don’t want to see their kids unhappy. Still, learning through small mistakes — like buying a toy that breaks quickly or loses its appeal fast — helps children understand how to make smarter spending decisions in the future. It also gives you a chance to talk about how to think before buying something and, if needed, explain return policies.
A small mistake now won’t prevent all future poor choices, but it can help your child think more carefully when making purchases as an adult. These early lessons may reduce the chances of serious money regrets down the road, when the price tags are much higher.
Survey Details
This survey was done online in the U.S. by The Harris Poll from March 4 to 6, 2025. It included 2,046 adults age 18 and older, including 580 parents of children under 18. The results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, with a 95% confidence level. For full details on the method, including how the data was weighted and subgroup sizes, please refer to the complete methodology.
