This second installment of the best of savewithspp.com focuses on some of my favourite summer blogs.

By late August, the “getting out of school for the summer” euphoria has worn off and both kids and their parents are looking for inexpensive things to do.  Summer activities for kids on a budget has lots of great ideas from a community parks tour to an all day pajama party to backyard camping.

Staying on budget can be a challenge at any time of year. But when souvenirs and snacks beckon on vacation or the hotel you booked ends up being much more than you expected, your bottom line may suffer an unexpected hit.

A 2016 study from BMO  reports that as temperatures soar so does our spending, and while many don’t feel guilty about enjoying the season, half (52%) admit that their summer habits have negative long-term effects on their savings.

Back to school shopping: A teachable moment was posted in 2013. It highlights that getting ready for the new school term is an ideal time for you to help your child learn the difference between “needs” and “wants.” It is also an opportunity to teach them basic financial literacy skills like budgeting and managing their money.

In September of the same year we featured Your kid’s allowance: Financial Literacy 101.  According to The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, exactly what you need to teach kids about money depends on the ages of the children. We include their suggestions on what financial lessons are appropriate for different age groups.

And finally, How Not To Move Back In With Your Parents reviews Rob Carrick’s book written in 2014. But the message still holds true. I said it then and I’ll say it again now. Every new parent should get a copy when they leave the hospital with their precious bundle of joy and beginning at a young age children should be taught the basic principles of financial literacy outlined in the book.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

By Sheryl Smolkin

As a card-carrying member of the sandwich generation, I can attest to the fact that financially literate children are one of the best investments you can make in a comfortable retirement.

If you are lucky, your kids will help to take care of you and your money when age or infirmity makes it difficult for you to manage on your own.

Yet an August 2013 ING survey revealed that although kids 11 to 14 generally rate Mom and Dad as good financial role models, many want their parents to better educate them about the following financial issues:

• 38%: How bank and credit cards work
• 36%: What things cost and why
• 27%: How to save their money
• 26%: How to manage their money.

Exactly what you need to teach kids about money depends on the ages of the children. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada offers the following suggestions on what financial lessons are appropriate for different age groups:

Ages 4 to 8:

• Understand that people have a limited amount of money to spend.
• Use money to buy basic goods and services for simple transactions.
• Divide allowances or other money received among the financial goals of saving, spending and sharing.
• Understand that there are choices when it comes to money, and that money spent on one thing means that there is less money available for something else.

Ages 9 to 14:

• Recognize the difference between needs and wants.
• Understand the importance of saving a portion (for example, 10%) of all money received and the value of an emergency fund.
• Create a savings plan for short-term and long-term financial goals.
• Identify regular family financial commitments and know that families use household income to meet those commitments.
• Create a simple budget for an activity or event.

Ages 15 to 18:

• Understand the pros and cons of different payment options such as cash, debit cards and credit cards.
• Understand different kinds of investments (GICs, stocks, bonds and mutual funds).
• Understand the time-value of money (for example, past, present and future worth of money) and opportunity costs.
• Understand the concept of “living within your means” and why it is important.

I think much of what my offspring learned about budgeting and saving came through osmosis and the school of hard knocks. But my husband and I did one thing that helped our children understand the value of a dollar at a young age.

Paying them weekly allowances was a real nuisance because I never had the right change. It was also very tempting to withhold the money for minor misdemeanours which did little to promote family harmony.

So we started giving them monthly cheques instead. We opened accounts for them at the Royal Bank because they had a low-fee ATM in the convenience store at the end of our street. The kids also got their own bank cards so they could easily make deposits and withdrawals.

The deal was that they had to pay with their own money for specific things like movies, school lunches and bus fare (in the case of my daughter who was older).

I knew it was working the day my son – who was 10 or 11 at the time – missed the school bus for the second or third time. Instead of expecting me or his Dad to bail him out, he called a taxi and had the driver stop by the ATM on the way so he could take out enough money to pay the fare.

I can’t remember if he gave the driver a tip, I guess that was a story for another day.

Do you have tips for parents about kids’ allowances?  Share your tips with us at http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card. And remember to put a dollar in the retirement savings jar every time you use one of our money-saving ideas.

If you would like to send us other money saving ideas, here are the themes for the next three weeks:

19-Sept	Extracurricular activities	How many and how much?
26-Sept	Employee benefits	Getting value for your employee benefits
06-Oct	Seniors	Colleges, universities offer free tuition for seniors