How Old Were You When You Started Saving Money?

Hong Kong
August 5, 2008 7:38am CST
Saw some commercials today that they have saving plans for kids (mostly the parents would be contributing the money in the kids' bank accounts). I started to wonder how old were you when you started saving money on your own? Would you save money for your kids in bank accounts of their names? I think I really start to save money around 3 years ago, I know it's a bit of a late start *laughs*, but it's better late than sorry I guess.
20 people like this
63 responses
@dopey22girl (3319)
• United States
5 Aug 08
Don't feel bad. I started saving when I was 17, and I am 19 now. I'm still in school and I have a job so I'm saving up as much as possible before I graduate from college. It's nice because I live with my parents so I don't have bills to pay, and I get along with them really well so it isn't a problem.
6 people like this
• Malaysia
5 Aug 08
I did try to save money when I was a child but money was always stolen so I gave up saving money until I had my own job. I will not put money for my son piggy bank unless he has done some household chores for me. He is 12 years old and has started saving his own money since he was 10 years old.
5 people like this
@balasri (26537)
• India
5 Aug 08
I will follow suit immediately though I may me older than you.
3 people like this
• United States
5 Aug 08
I have been saving since year 2000 I started living on my own then and knew I needed to be frugal with my money I opened a checking account. It was last year that I opened a savings account for me and one for my 9 yr. old son. He loves the fact I did this and he can have it when he turns 18. I think it is important to save for you never know when your going to ever need money to do things with or for emergency needs. I know I started off late but better late than never is what my mother always told me lol. :)
3 people like this
• Philippines
5 Aug 08
I started saving on my own when I was 8. I keep it in a cookie jar. Then I'll ask my mom to change my coins to bills. I was able to save a great sum of money. my mom knows where I put it and she knows I have savings. so one day, she asked me if she could borrow it. she told me she would go to the market and buy everything I want and that she would repay me. I was 8yrs old that time. until now (i'm 21) I still remember it, because she never returned it and she didnt buy what I want. about the saving accounts of kids. I'm still young so I dont think about it. But if I have kids, no I wont. I'll save it a bank account named after me, then give it to him when he is old enough.
• Isle Of Man
17 Aug 08
like most filipino kids i was never taught financial educationa t home or even in school... i remember having an account in the old banko filipino when they went kaput in the early 80's, i was very young then... then i tried again before i started highschool but failed miserably. in nov. of 2006 i started watching preacherinbluejeans.com, it's bo sanchez' online show that teaches about faith and money... i then started reading books of robert kiyosaki, larry gamboa, bo sanchez, trace trajano and many more financial gurus... but it's only now in january of this year that i could truly say that i am practicing what i've learned from these good people... i also log on to pinoymoneytalk.com, they've got a very good forum obviously about money, how to save and invest and things like that... when it finally dawned on me what to do and how... i so wanted to turn back time, i thought to myself i have wasted my first 5 yrs here in the UK, when money was good and i dont have much responsibility yet because i was single then...but of course it's impossible to turn back time so i thought even harder and told myself that applying what i know now would help me in my financial journey and in another 5 years atleast i wont be telling myself the same things again... i have got a 22 months old babyboy, i add a bit of money to his child benefit (just to make it a round figure)and i invest it in bonds... its direct debited from my account every month... i invest 10% of my net income monthly to the same company... we need to take charge of our finances we cant blame our parents for not teaching us because in reality they dont know them selves .... so dont leave it to chance...
• Philippines
5 Aug 08
when i was in the second grade i taught myself how to save money..even until now i still save my money... ^_^
5 people like this
@riyasam (16556)
• India
5 Aug 08
even i get fasinated by the plans.i tell my daughter to start saving from now.my oldest is 6year old now but i think i really started saving after marraige.
3 people like this
@sylvia13 (1850)
• Nelson Bay, Australia
20 Aug 08
My grandmother was a great believer in saving money and she always had a piggy bank for us, which we were encouraged to put money into. I think it is a great idea to put some money aside in an account for kids, as it shows you care and are doing something positive!
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
30 Sep 08
hi wonderice! a lot of parents want to be sure with their children's future so they start to save early. most of them gets educational plans that can support their children's schooling until college. i think that's wise. i started to save when i was in a grade school. but not really in a bank. i had my piggy bank then. and i didn't save a lot. only coins that i use to buy things like bread, candies, papers. ^__~ when i reached high school i started saving bigger money but still, in my piggy bank. i used it to buy sorts of stuffs like notebooks, stationaries, slum books, photo albums, etc. i'm the kind of person who doesn't like asking money from my mother. i prefer to save my allowance so i can buy whatever i wanted. ^__^ i had a bank account when i was in college. my mother used to send my allowance there. and that's when i learned to save money in a bank. but i still haven't save much because i sometimes spend it to buy something. ^__^
1 person likes this
@youless (112222)
• Guangzhou, China
5 Aug 08
I started to save money when I was about 10 years old. My parents taught me to save money. And since I didn't spend much and therefore I could save quite a lot. This is a good habit and I still keep it until today. After I have my own child, I start to save money for him. When he grows up a little, then I will teach him to save money by himself. I love China
2 people like this
@suruchi86 (1873)
• India
26 Jan 09
I'm so sorry for coming in so late. I really started saving, when I got my first job about 15 years ago.
@icegermany (2524)
• India
5 Aug 08
yes its important to save money for our childrens n secure their lives n also ours at the sametime. its different that when were childrens n saving our pocket money, was just not so important but that habit was important which may continue when we growup n earn money. i got married immediate after completion of my studies n hence never had a chance to do a job for long. i just manage to do a job for a few months. after my wedding i asked my husband to make our insurance in order to save money for us n also after my son was born we made an insurane for him so that it will be helpful for his studies n so on in whole its just a way to save money in order to secure ourselves
@diutay (1327)
• Philippines
5 Aug 08
I started saving when I was a kid of maybe 9 or 10 years old but then it was because of a school project. By the time I graduated in elementary, it was all gone. Then I started again when I started working but I can't save enough especially now that the prices of everything went up.
@dee751 (14)
• Indonesia
6 Aug 08
I started to save money when i was 9. I wasn't told to but my family economic condition wasn't so good that time so I tried to save some money to buy anything I wanted from clothes to books. When I could get part time jobs I saved money to pay my study. Saving money is a good thing to teach to our children to value money.
2 people like this
@misshoney (973)
• Philippines
6 Aug 08
hello wondericequeen :-) i just started saving i guess two years ago and it's definitely not too late yet. i started religiously saving a portion of my monthly salary. I try to save as much as i could and minimize spending...i automatically save almost 20 percent of my salary. now i have a time deposit account and one savings account which i update every month. i also have a joint account with my boyfriend. i wish to open another account for retirement fund. i love saving...it is not so diffcult..just a little discipline and knowlege in money management is all it takes.
1 person likes this
• Australia
6 Aug 08
I started saving when I began school. I don't know why, I've just always been a saver. All my birthday and christmas money would go straight in the bank, and I rarely pulled any money out of it. Because of this, by the time I was 22, I had a house, and have never had to rely on anyone, which is important to me.
1 person likes this
@gemini_rose (16264)
6 Aug 08
I have saved money on and off for years, unfortunately always spending it mainly because things were tight and I needed to use it. Recently we have become more stable financially and so I am able to put a bit away each month to save. Like you, a bit late but better late than never. However I started accounts for my children when each of them were born, I put little amounts away for them each week and over the years have seen their accounts grow to healthy amounts. Now they get quite a lot of interest each year too and so it is all worth while.
1 person likes this
@johnson3 (152)
• United States
6 Aug 08
I started saving money like 4 years ago. Growing up next to being on skid-roe! I just didn't have anyone to teach me until after I got married. After clashing with my husband on the way that I spend money, I finally learned how to save. I think that we have to teach our children how to save money so that they will carry it into adulthood. johnson3
• India
5 Aug 08
When i was studying 6th standard, i started saving money because of my then class teacher's advice to save money. Raja Franklin
@song8860 (115)
• China
6 Aug 08
hello,I come from china,I can help you to find many kinds of cheaper products from china,if you want to be a soho. my msn:song8860@126.com
1 person likes this