Giving the Gift of Saving
By: Nora Daniels, Financial Planning Assistant
My stepdaughter’s natural tendency is to spend money immediately. Normally, when she receives any money it is burning a hole in her pocket. Despite our best efforts over the years, she nearly always opts for immediate gratification over delayed. Everyone is different and it’s certainly had me trying to come up with creative solutions to teach her this.
Enter: her 13th birthday. We’d really love to instill in her the importance of saving for something in the future and she has always loved Jeeps. My husband and I gave her a gift that’s very different from gifts she’s received in the past. We agreed that all money she earns and decides to put directly in the bank to be saved for her eventual first car purchase will be matched dollar for dollar. Nothing gets her more excited than thinking about owning a Jeep and she’s already started to compare buying a new vehicle versus a used one, as well as come up with some entrepreneurial ideas on how she can have some spending money as well as saving money.
In reality, the gift I’m really hoping she receives is learning the value of saving and delayed gratification.
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