When your children get gifts or cash, what do you do with it?
Im assuming that under the best circumstances, the money goes towards a large savings account for the children I suppose, esp if the amount is quite large–however do any of you parents, or know parents, who will spend it on themselves? Or spending it on bills and other household necessities? I understand that circumstances change and families end up in rough times…and need the money at the time, so they use it…however there are a few who take it and still dont care…
I remember when I was a kid, there were some aunties who would take their childrens’ gifts (money or otherwise) and give it away to other ppls children. (NOT charity/poor kids).
Anybody here have parents who did that, or any of you parents who do that to your kids?
Also, what if you KNOW the parents won’t be spending the money on the kids or put it towards savings, but you still feel obligated to give to them anyway…what do u do then?
I always try to teach Noor about saving money.
She gets an allowance and refuses to spend it so I suppose that she is learning something. And she does get her allowance deducted if she does not follow rules and/or do her chores.
Anyways....the money she receives as gifts has always been put away for her and I hope that she will continue this trend.
Do I give even if I know that the money will be used for something other than the child? Yes.
When I give a monetary gift it isn't my business what it is used for. I am giving to the child and trusting that the guardian of that child will put it to the best possible use. I cannot control what will happen but why should I want to? My intention is to give and that is done.
If I am very concerned that the child will not reap the benefits of that gift then I give savings bonds, gift certificates or an actual item.
heh so they hand the money strait to him and not to u then?
I think it depends sara. Like for example, when my family gives Eidhi, we give the money to the kids, regardless of their age. It would seem somewhat weird to hand money from one adult to the other. By giving it to the kids, it makes them a little happy (regardless of whether or not they know what they're getting :p)
For example, when Musa was younger and was given cash, I'd take it from him afterwards, and put it away. Now that he's older gotten smart, he won't let me touch the money:p He's got a little piggy bank at home he keeps it home, and store all his loose change and money in there :D
When your children get gifts or cash, what do you do with it?
Im assuming that under the best circumstances, the money goes towards a large savings account for the children I suppose, esp if the amount is quite large--however do any of you parents, or know parents, who will spend it on themselves? Or spending it on bills and other household necessities? I understand that circumstances change and families end up in rough times...and need the money at the time, so they use it....however there are a few who take it and still dont care...
I have a Punjabi-Sikh friend who has a 10-year old nephew. The family is by no means super-rich. But over the years the kid has gotten so much money as gifts (they've got a huge extended family) at birthdays and all of the other religious/celebratory occasions, and the parents have been diligent about saving it all for him, that the 10 year old kid now has a CD worth $100K.
You won't believe how quickly the money adds up and it's never too soon to save for your kid's education or future.
well on birthdays YES.everyone give him all the envalopes:smack: well for pocket money,he saves that.last time he had 400 $ and bought a wii of that .i am not saying that he does not saves ..he do ! but in the end he spends it,on something he wants.
i remember one time i got edhi when i was 10 and i was so overjoyed that i had $30 and my dad took it because he said i couldn't handle it; my mom insisted that i could but he wouldn't agree. anyway i still remember it and feel bad...that why he took my eid happiness away from me....even if i had squandered it, so what--it is my own money and let me learn how to use it. sometimes my dad even gave my edhi money to other kids...so it was like he had no out-of-pocket expense. anyway i think teaching kids about saving money can be done with their allowance, but sometimes it is ok to let kids enjoy the moment rather than always thinking in terms of $$$
Since I was the only child of my parents I also always used to get alot of money from my extended family. My parents saved it all for me and never touched I remember my dad buying dollars of that money in rupees and then he used to buy 50$ to 100$ every month and save it by my name. When I grew up and needed money for my mba my dad had enough to finance it.
I really like Muzna's way of teaching kids abt money I hope to do the same with my kids.
There's this guy here in the US with his own radio and tv talk show named Dave Ramsey, and his whole schtick is helping people to get out of and stay out of debt, and he often talks about training kids in how to handle money.
One of his suggestions that i really like is that whatever money your kids get, you sit with them and divide it into thirds: one third to spend as they wish, one third to save (in a high quality mutual fund, savings account, etc.), and one third to give to charity. So the child gets to enjoy spending some of the money but also learns the reward of giving and learns the value of saving/compounding returns/delaying gratification.
Hubby and I plan to use this system with our kids.