How to teach kids about money

Kids start learning about money from a very young age, just by watching you.  

As a parent or carer, you play the biggest role in shaping how they’ll manage money when they grow up. Teaching them early helps them: 

• understand how money works 
• make smart choices about spending and saving 
• build confidence and independence. 

The good news? You don’t need to be a financial expert. You just need to talk about money in simple ways and make it part of everyday life. 

Before teaching kids, take a moment to reflect: 

• Did your parents teach you about money?  
• What smart habits did you learn from them?  
• What unhelpful habits did you pick up?  

Knowing this helps you understand what to pass on and what to change.

The more you talk about money with your child, the more confident they’ll become.  

Kids who learn to talk about money early are more likely to handle it well later in life.

All children are different, but there are some developmental milestones that can help guide what to teach them.

Our guide Learning about money by age shows what to teach at each stage, from pre-school to pre-teen, with tips matched to their age and understanding.

When a child becomes a teenager, their aspirations will be bigger – and more costly. From thinking about what they wear to wanting the freedom that comes from learning to drive, this is an age when money really starts to matter to them.

You can help them become money-savvy adults in three main ways:

1. giving them financial responsibility
2. setting the right example
3. helping them manage their first wage.

Try some of the following activities and use them to spark conversations.

• Take them shopping and explain your choices.
• Compare prices together.

Activity: Let them pay, whether that’s handing over money, checking change, tapping your card, phone, or smartwatch, or reviewing receipts. 

• Give them a piggy bank or wallet for coins and notes, and show them how to check a balance on a banking app or prepaid card.  
• Talk about keeping money safe in their pocket, in a bank account, or behind a password. 

Activity: Build piles of 1p coins next to bigger coins to show value differences, then compare with amounts shown on a digital balance.

• Give them a set amount for the day’s activities either in cash or loaded onto a card. 
• Let them pay for things and see the money (or balance) go down. 

Activity: Plan a lunchbox shop within a budget and let them choose using prices on shelf labels or in an online shop.

• Start small, maybe weekly. 
• Let them earn extra by helping around the house. 
• Encourage saving for bigger things, whether in a jar or a savings app. 

Activity: As they get older, give them responsibility for buying certain things like clothes or toiletries, and help them track both cash and card spending. 

• Show them your balance before and after shopping, both on receipts and in your bank app. 
• Explain how digital spending works and that it’s still real money. 
• Our guide Explaining digital money to children is packed with practical tips.

Activity: Use games with tokens, in-app currencies, or a phone allowance to teach budgeting.

• Help them plan a day out and stick to a spending plan, factoring in both cash and card payments. 
• Encourage them to think about full costs (food, travel, extras). 

Tip: Break a monthly allowance into weekly chunks to make it last longer, whether that’s dividing coins into envelopes or setting weekly spending limits on a card. 

Let kids make small mistakes with money while the stakes are low. The earlier they learn, the more confident and capable they’ll be when it really counts.