Several years back, my wife and I felt convicted about teaching our children to grow as godly stewards. We were giving them offering money on one Sunday morning. It felt wrong to train our children to be mere carriers during Sunday worship services. For years, my wife would give our children money that they were to place in the offering basket. But that was going to change.

Getting Started with Giving, Saving, and Spending

1. We stopped giving our kids allowances and they were paid at the end of each week for a few chores they performed. We wanted our children to learn that money was something they earned when they worked.

2. We had our children separate what they earned weekly into three envelopes. A giving envelope, a saving envelope, and a spending envelope. When we started, we just had them divide into thirds.

3. We had our children begin to give to God from what they earned each week during their Sunday services. This radically changed the way they related to money and God because now they were giving to God from what they earned. It became personal and meaningful.

4. We began talking to our children about saving goals like buying a cell phone when they enter middle school, buying a used car for high school, or saving up for college.

5. We started to talk to them about spending wisely on things they would enjoy.

Opening-Up a Savings Account

Once our children started saving, we decided to open up a savings account under each of their names. I took the liberty of opening up a savings account for each of them, and once they had their money ready, I took my children to the bank where I had them pick up a savings deposit slip, fill out their account number, and write out the total cash they were depositing. I explained each step they had to do.

I stood behind them as each waited on the line to make their first personal deposit. It was a special moment. I wanted them to get comfortable doing this. I wanted them to be intentional about this.

Recent Savings Deposit Conversation

A few weeks ago, I took my children to the bank as they were eager to make a deposit into their savings account. On the ride to the bank, they would talk about what kind of iPhone they could buy with their savings and whether they wanted to buy a new one or a good used one. They would talk about how many Play Stations they could buy with the money they had saved up. I would encourage them to buy a game console with their spending money but my boys would say that they are fine just playing with the IPad.

After depositing their $75 and $100, they looked at their savings account and literally pointed out a penny or two they had earned in interest. That’s when I started to talk with them about interest rates and value and limits of saving in a bank account.

We talked about the inflation rate, and I pointed out that every year they left money in the bank’s savings account, the actual value was going down because they were nowhere close to earning 3% interest rate, a general rate of inflation. That’s when I began telling them that we don’t put money in the bank for long-term goals of investing, but short-term goals of saving and spending, generally no more than 3-5 year goals.

My Roth IRA Conversation

Then we talked about Roth IRA, the power of compound interest, and the rule of 72. That’s right. I talked to my 12 and 10-year-olds about compound interest, the power of starting early and the power of contributing consistently.

My kids know that they will have this option. Either we will match up to $5000 if they choose to buy a used car with their savings in high school, or we will put a one-time deposit of $5500 into Roth IRA account the first year they start working after college. I showed them the numbers. One time deposit of $5500 at age 22, invested in a good low-cost index fund at 8% return, at age 65 would end up around $150K with interest. And if they kept contributing $5500 each year, they would have about $2.2 million at age 65. That’s if they just invested in a Roth IRA!

The important thing is that we talk about money with our children, teaching them the basic biblical principles of spending less than we earn, saving for future, giving generously, remembering that we are temporary managers of God’s resources. And if we are faithful with little, God will reward us to manage more for God’s Kingdom.

If you have children or are interacting with children frequently, what money lessons are you teaching by example and with conversations?

Ready to Start?

Are you ready to get started? Contact me at paul@jangfinancial.com if you want to help disciple your congregation as God-honoring stewards from a biblical perspective, or if you yourself want to grow as a steward seeking to practically manage the finances better to hear from our Lord upon his return, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

Questions to Ponder:

1. What are you implicitly and/or explicitly teaching your children about money?

2. What is Jesus Christ, as your Savior and Lord, speaking to you right now? How do you need to grow and mature as God’s steward so that you can train future stewards?

Paul Jang

Pastor | Personal Financial Coach to Individuals & Financial Stewardship Ministry Consultant for Churches

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