By Mzukona Mantshontsho
It is important for parents to teach their children about saving and to encourage a savings culture as early as possible.
Instilling saving habits from an early age will serve children well for the future.
Although tricky – the idea of ‘putting money away to pay for something or even save for a goal whether big or small’ can be tough for an eight-year-old to understand – with a little help, and some fun games and tools, they can be well on their way to saving.
I am happy to take this opportunity for our learners and young people in Financial Literacy.
I am keen to be part of the team to empower our young people on Financial Literacy starting in Cosmo City, where I live, and surrounding areas that are keen.
Money is one of the most consequential parts of our lives, yet it is still one of the most awkward conversation topics for people to have.
Financial literacy is one of three pillars of focus, and yet when we take financial literacy programs to schools to teach children there is still significant level of reticence from parents and educators.
Teaching them about money will make them money minded, I’ve been told by a parent on more than one occasion.
How do we change mindsets about the perceptions of money?
We need to start talking about it early.
We need to discuss it openly. Personal finance and business finance are things every learner and young person should understand very well as they cut across every aspect of our lives.
From simple concepts, such as earning, saving, spending and even donating to more sophisticated concepts such as taxation, investments, banking, budgeting, fraud and the dreaded debt, the more we know, the better we do.
Unfortunately, these are concepts that most people understand after very costly mistakes both at a micro and at macro levels.
People, institutions and even governments have been crippled because they simply didn’t understand the consequences of these concepts.
