Between birthdays and holidays, it seems like there is always an occasion to buy a gift for a kid in your life. Planning ahead is the key to avoid giving gift cards or a toy that they will discard. Nothing against gift cards or toys if that is what the recipient wants but most cases, you could probably give a more intentional or thoughtful gift. Here are 5 awesome personal finance related gifts for kids.
Goalsetter
Goalsetter is a savings platform (FDIC Insured) where your kid can learn to save for things that matter to them. Or you can give a Goalcard – instead of a giftcard – to another lucky kid on a birthday or holiday and help them start saving toward something they care about.
Goalsetter gives the options to either “Start Saving” or to “Give a Gift”. You can sign up to start saving towards a goal for your child. Goals that jump out to me are: extracurricular activities, a bike, a computer, summer camp fees, high school graduation trip, college savings or college tuition/fees but a goal can be any goal you and your kid want to save for.
Once you finish setting up your kid’s account, you will get a personalized link to share with friends and family so they can give your child a GoalCard – real money to support real dreams.
If you choose “Give a Gift”, you can gift another kid a personalized GoalCard (even if they don’t have a Goalsetter account yet), to help them achieve one of their goals. Goalsetter is a great option over buying a plastic toy that will likely be tossed away in a month or two. Click here and here to learn more about Goalsetter.
Amina’s Bracelets: A kidpreneur story
What better gift to give than a book to inspire your child to become a kidprenuer. A kidprenuer is a kid that owns their own business. This book shows how Amina wanted a tablet but her parents wouldn’t buy it for her. Instead her parents empowered her to earn her own money to reach her goal. I think we can all agree that showing your child or any child that they have the ability to make their own money and have their own business is powerful. Consider giving this book as a gift to the special kid in your life. Consider purchasing “Amina’s Bracelets: A Kidpreneur Story” and learn more about the financial literacy company that created “Amina’s Bracelets: A Kidpreneur Story” here.
Moonjar Classic Moneybox: Save, Spend, Share
This twist on the classic piggybank grabbed my attention immediately. We all know that there are more steps to managing money than just earning it and spending it. Beyond earning and spending, you should also give. This moneybox separates the three areas: Save, Spend and Share/Give. If you are anything like me, you learned about money later in life and wish you learned it earlier. The Moonjar Classic Moneybox is a great gift to give to show a child how to divide money into those three areas. This gift will help the special child in your life learn about money.
Cash or Play Money
I think we can all agree that cash is still king. Eventhough it seems that we are moving away from using cash as often, cash is still being used and kids need to know how to count and handle cash and coins. If the child is too young to handle real cash then you can give them play money for them to get used to recognizing money and counting.
Communication
The gift of communication is priceless and can be combined with any of the gifts above. I urge parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or any financially empowered person to have a conversation with the children in their life to talk about money. Money is still such a taboo topic but if you know have learned something about money that would help someone else, especially a young person in your life then have that talk. On the flip side, if you have older kids or adult children but need to talk to them about the family finances like retirement, insurance, etc. then have that talk. Any day is a good day to talk about money.
Have you ever given a financial gift to a child? What financial gift do you wish you received as a child?
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