Even Money from the Tooth Fairy Can Be Saved

Pennsylvania CPA Journal

Hey

Kids! Money Doesn't Grow

on Trees

When is it too early to teach your childrengood money habits? According to the, it is never tooearly. Statistics show that the US savingsrate, less than 1%, is the lowest of allindustrialized nations, and many parentsaren't setting a good example for theirchildren. The JumpStart Coalition forPersonal Financial Literacy reports that thedirect buying power of the nation's childrenis expected to exceed $51.8 billionthis year. And the fastest growing groupdeclaring bankruptcy is young adults,aged 20 to 24. For those and manyother reasons, the PennsylvaniaInstitute of Certified PublicAccountants (PICPA) has developeda new brochure, , to help parentsteach their children how todevelop good financial habits.Targeting elementary school-agedchildren, the PICPA brochure offers easyways to save money, for example, savingany money received on birthdays or otheroccasions. It also teaches children to setgoals each week/month, putting aside acertain amount of money to save for a bigitem like a bike. Habits developed early onensure better financial responsibility lateron in life. A bad habit is hard to break—sois a good habit. To download a copy of thisfree brochure, go to www. picpa.org/financialliteracy/index.asp.