Kids, stop stashing your cash and put it in a bank

MyBnk, which carried out the survey, trains kids aged between 11 and 18 to run their own saving and lending schemes in London schools. It therefore helps our kids understand how banking works and what to do with your money.

Education, education, education

Introducing the concept of managing and dealing with money at an early stage has to be a good thing. I’d like to think that my kids will grow up understanding the value of saving and will have a sensible attitude towards borrowing.

The likes of the Personal Finance Education Group do good work in equipping young people with skills and knowledge in financial matters, but should we go further and make personal finance education a central part of the national curriculum?

The challenges facing today’s kids are even more testing than in the past with those going on to further education likely to build up huge levels of debt. There has to be more that we can do to give them a helping hand.

Children’s accounts aren’t very tempting

It’s obviously not a good thing that 72% of kids are leaving their saved cash in piggy banks or hidden under the mattress. As well as the security issues, there’s the fact that these savers are losing out on potential interest.

That said, when we looked at children’s accounts in August 2011 we found that half of easy-access children’s accounts on the market pay less than 1%. Many accounts pay an even more paltry rate of 0.1%. Is it any wonder that kids aren’t bothering to use these high street accounts and are instead keeping their money stashed at home?

Questions for children, parents and providers

The survey from MyBnK, therefore, raises two key questions about young people and their money. Namely:

• Is it important that our 11 to 18-year-olds get into the savings habit and learn about personal finance at an early stage?
• And should financial providers make more of an effort to create better products to inspire our children to save?