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My Mum used to say “Aaah they know the price of everything but the value of nothing!” and I think she had a point !
I’m always fascinated by all areas of raising happy, confident children so I read with interest this article about Seb’s story from Goldstar Savings Bank which is a new website and app that’s all about teaching and practising the important core financial life skills that will help your child start forming good habits early on.
I know my own children have learnt their money habits and mindset from my way of talking about money, handling money, spending and saving money as we are all important role models for our own children !
In this unique app your kids can set up a savings goal and break it down into small manageable tasks and activities that you can set a monetary value against. Using the ‘Star Bank’ they can then explore and experiment with lots of different ideas and strategies to complete the tasks over a set time that you both agree on.
As the tasks are completed, your child earns Gold Stars to fill up their ‘Star Bank’, and when all the tasks are complete the goal is earned and it’s time to celebrate!
If you think it’s a good idea to teach your children the value of money and would like to raise financially savvy & confident kids check out Seb’s Story and start teaching your kids the value of money and the important habits of saving early on.
http://www.goldstarsavingsbank.com/sebs-story
Seb really wants a new bike. He’s outgrowing his current bike, and although Seb’s Mum and Dad will have to save for the bike, cycling is something that the whole family enjoys regularly. However, rather than buying it for him as a gift, they want to take this opportunity to teach Seb about the process of saving money. So, they will help Seb buy it for himself using Goldstar Savings Bank.
After discussing the situation Seb is extremely motivated and excited by the challenge. He can’t wait to start! To show their commitment, Dad goes to the app’s website www.GoldstarSavingsBank.com and prints off a contract that they can all sign, which Seb then puts up on his wall.
To start, they sit down and load the app onto their iPad and set up the goal of buying the bike, adding a photo of the bike and setting a realistic time scale to earn it. Mum asks Seb what he can do to earn enough Gold Stars to buy the bike. They start talking about helping around the house, schoolwork and something new, like learning to play tennis. Seb is excited by the idea of learning tennis, and making a contribution around the house. They decide on a list of tasks, and Mum sets up 2 tasks to be done after school each day, and then 3 over the weekend.
Mum keeps the tasks interesting so they’re not seen as chores and directs them in proportion to the skills that she wants him to learn. She particularly wants him to learn some organisational skills and takes one of the suggestions from the website and incorporates ‘Tidying his Bedroom’ into his task list.
As each task is set up on the app, it is assigned a monetary value. Once all the tasks are set up, Seb and his Mum work through the list and schedule the tasks on the app’s planner, making sure that the weekly monetary target will be met. The stars have different values and are assigned to different task groups, so they both have to work out how the total can be met. There’s lots of different ways to meet the target and Seb and his Mum can play around with the app to agree upon his strategy. With that done, Seb gets started!
As Seb completes his tasks he goes to Mum or Dad to turn the Task Stars into Gold Stars. He’s building up his Star Bank nicely. Each week, Seb looks back to see how many stars he’s earned and what he did for them. As he reviews his Gold Stars, he takes photos and logs them into the GSB journal. Mum has said that he should tell Granddad and Grandma all about how he earned his bike!
As the weeks go by, Seb keeps track of where he’s up to by looking at the statement on GSB, which tells him how far he has got to go. The meter is showing that 65% is complete. He’s now a ‘Star Task Conqueror’. As well, Mum decided that as Seb hits each new saver level, she would cook him his favourite tea for achieving it!
Unfortunately, Seb is ill one weekend and can’t go and play tennis to earn his star. He’s disappointed as a Gold Star is missing, but Seb goes back into GSB, and with his Mum they re-schedule the tasks to make up for it. Different strategies are applied, tried and tested in GSB and a solution is agreed. The tasks are re-scheduled and the goal is back on!
Six weeks in and Seb has completed all the tasks and the app tells him that he can now go and buy his bike! He is so excited. The app gives him the option to go straight to the GSB’s partner stores to buy his well-earned reward and he has printed off his certificate from the Goldstar Savings Bank website. As promised, by completing all the tasks, he’s now put his order in for the bike! It arrives tomorrow.
By achieving his goal, Seb has gained a lot of confidence in his abilities. Along the way, he has learnt some valuable life skills such as financial, organisational, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills amongst others. He’s learned and practiced these skills that will help him become a confident, independent and successful young adult.
To watch the video and to find out more go to http://www.goldstarsavingsbank.com/
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