February 28, 2025 • 6 mins
Is cash a good gift for children?
Personal wealth educator Lisa Dudson unwraps the idea with Jack Tame, and gives her tips on the best thing to teach our children about money.
LISTEN ABOVE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be Lisa Dudson is our personal finance experts. She's
with us this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Kilder Morning Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, our we man is only less than two weeks old,
so this isn't a huge issue for him just yet.
But this morning we're talking about giving cash to kids.
Is cash a good gift for children?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Look, I think it is if you attach a bit
of a lesson with it. I mean, research shows, you know,
this is an adults that if we spend cash, we
generally spend about twenty percent lesson if we put it
on plastick. Right, yeah, you on today's World Tap. So
I think you know, cash is quite good because here's
some substance to it, right yeah. And so then I
(00:50):
think if you're going to do that, then use the
opportunity to attach some learnings to us from quite a
young age. Yeah, Otherwise kids grow up learning that money
comes out of a machine in the wall.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, that's that's right. Do you know. I can remember
as a kid going and seeing my granddad and he
went to an ADM. I would have been about seven
or eight year years old and he went to an ATM
to get some cash out, and I remember he got
it out and I said how much money did you
get out? And he said, I got that fifty dollars
or whatever. And I said, why didn't you just get
out ten thousand dollars and he said, well, no, I
know that's not how it works. And I said, but
I said, no, no, go on, just just get it out,
(01:21):
just get it out. And I literally thought that the
cash was free, you know, I couldn't. I couldn't compute
that actually that was his bank account that he was
withdrawing from. And so I suppose the benefit of cash
is that it's an as a concept. It's often easier
for children to understand.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Right, yes, I think so, yeah, yeah, And I think
it needs to be age appropriate too, you know. I
guess as they get a little bit older, you know,
and I don't really know what that age might be.
It might even be as young as five or six.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah right, it's probably dependent on the kid.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. But I think it's
a wonderful thing to teach kids money from an early age,
because I tell you, as an a parent who goes,
I just want to make my life easy by giving
them what they want. Be hereful what you wish for,
because down the track you'll probably say the other side
of that. Right. Yeah, I had a lot of benefits
from putting a little bit of pain into a little
bit of effort into teaching them at a young age.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So what do you think are the lessons that we
can try and impart in those early stages.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, I think that some budgeting basics is quite a
good one. I really like the idea of the spend
saved give system that a lot of people talk about.
You know, it might be you know forty thirty, you
know thirty or you know, whatever decided is. So therefore,
you know, when they get some money, then they've got
a certain amount that they can go and do what
they want with a certain amount that they've got to
(02:34):
save for something you know, a bit bigger and something
that they put aside to help, you know, others in society.
So you know, it teaches budgeting, saving, delay, get gratification, generosity,
wonderful lessons.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
That's what my sister does with her kids, the spend save,
give and keeps them in different jars. So I think,
you know, say they get a dollar of reach or something. Then, Yeah,
it kind of teaches them some values around thinking about
their community and that kind of thing, as well as
the benefits of saving for a while. And it also
gives them an opportunity to go and recount every jar
from time to time, as they tend to do.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, because that's that that visual experience is I think wonderful.
Right when you get that visualness, I think you it's
it's more tangible and I think you learn better from it.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Other thing is that characters and gold setting, so sort
of actually sitting down and going okay, well what do
you want to spend your money on and going okay,
well you know what is it that you want? How
much you've got how many weeks do you need to
be you know, saving money for before you you know,
can actually buy that thing that you want to buy.
I think that's an awesome thing to do.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, and then alongside of that also encouraging them to
do jobs or projects that they can earn a little
bit of extra money from, you know, which is the
pocket money concept. Right, So then they learn that there's
you know, there's value in the money and they have
to do something together other than the magic machine in
the wall.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, So I've got mixed thoughts on pocket money as
a whole. So I've got some friends who I think
have gone a good way about it, so that their
thing is that by being a contributing member to the family,
you are expected to do some jobs around the house
just by being part of the family, and that you
will expect to get some a small amount of pocket
(04:17):
money as a result, because you know, the family income
is shared and the family jobs are shared. But that
if you do additional stuff, then there might be an
opportunity for some things. Or if you you know, go
and help out the neighbors or something like that, then
there might be an opportunity to do some additional things.
And I think that's a really good way to go
about it.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And I think that's that would probably might preferred thing
as well, because then you've got a balance and then
it's not like, well, I'm not going to make my
bed unless you give me some money. You know, you
don't want to get into that sort of situation. The
other thing that I really quite like that I've seen
number of friends to do is they say, did there
you know to be kids and you know, they need
to be a little bit older and say, Okay, we've
got fifty dollars to spend this weekend or a hundred
dollars to spend this weekend, whatever it is, and go
or even over the month and go right, you know,
(04:57):
you're in charge of it. Yeah, to sit down and
decide what we're going to do. So that might mean
that we go to the movies one weekend, but because
we spent most of the money that the need, we
ken we have to go to the take a picnic
and go to the park because we've run out of cash.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, that's that's that's amazing. I mean you've got to
have some confidence or you've got to be out.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, but if they blow it, they blow it right.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Sure, But then you've got to put your.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Foot down and say, well, you made the decision.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
For dinner family.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, but it's that choice consequence, and that's what I
a lot of dolts. Yeah, it's that critical thinking about
if you do this, then this then happens, right, and
that's what you want to have happened. So I think
that's a great thing to be doing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And that's a really good way to learn the lesson
quickly as well, I think, which is which is a
real upside. Yeah, and then.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They start learning too that they start looking for discounts
online or comparing activities costs. Again, a great thing for
down the track when you start, you know, doing a
smart shopping right. Yeah. The other thing I quite like
from a saving perspective or an investing perspective, and it's
probably because maybe a bit older, is to start introducing
matching contributions, so then they get to a certain goal
(06:06):
of saving, then you might chop it up.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Oh that's a good idea as well, to really incentivize that. Yeah,
and maybe even I mean it's almost like key we say,
but it's more than you get from compound interest necessarily,
but to try and really hammer home the benefit of saving,
that's a yeah, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And I love that for university fees and also home deposits,
Like parents are contributing a lot these dates to the kids'
home deposits, but I'm like, don't give it to them.
Match it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, that's a very very good piece of advice. Okay, Hey,
thank you so much, Lisa. Those are really good practical tips.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Something to be prepared for Jacks gulp.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think he's a little young to be deciding what
we'll be doing for fun next week. But yeah, we'll
see all right. Thanks Jack, That is Lisa does in
our personal finance expert tell you this much, we certainly
won't be sleeping
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For more From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be Lisa Dudson is our personal finance experts. She's
with us this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Kilder Morning Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, our we man is only less than two weeks old,
so this isn't a huge issue for him just yet.
But this morning we're talking about giving cash to kids.
Is cash a good gift for children?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Look, I think it is if you attach a bit
of a lesson with it. I mean, research shows, you know,
this is an adults that if we spend cash, we
generally spend about twenty percent lesson if we put it
on plastick. Right, yeah, you on today's World Tap. So
I think you know, cash is quite good because here's
some substance to it, right yeah. And so then I
(00:50):
think if you're going to do that, then use the
opportunity to attach some learnings to us from quite a
young age. Yeah, Otherwise kids grow up learning that money
comes out of a machine in the wall.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, that's that's right. Do you know. I can remember
as a kid going and seeing my granddad and he
went to an ADM. I would have been about seven
or eight year years old and he went to an ATM
to get some cash out, and I remember he got
it out and I said how much money did you
get out? And he said, I got that fifty dollars
or whatever. And I said, why didn't you just get
out ten thousand dollars and he said, well, no, I
know that's not how it works. And I said, but
I said, no, no, go on, just just get it out,
(01:21):
just get it out. And I literally thought that the
cash was free, you know, I couldn't. I couldn't compute
that actually that was his bank account that he was
withdrawing from. And so I suppose the benefit of cash
is that it's an as a concept. It's often easier
for children to understand.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Right, yes, I think so, yeah, yeah, And I think
it needs to be age appropriate too, you know. I
guess as they get a little bit older, you know,
and I don't really know what that age might be.
It might even be as young as five or six.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah right, it's probably dependent on the kid.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. But I think it's
a wonderful thing to teach kids money from an early age,
because I tell you, as an a parent who goes,
I just want to make my life easy by giving
them what they want. Be hereful what you wish for,
because down the track you'll probably say the other side
of that. Right. Yeah, I had a lot of benefits
from putting a little bit of pain into a little
bit of effort into teaching them at a young age.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So what do you think are the lessons that we
can try and impart in those early stages.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yes, I think that some budgeting basics is quite a
good one. I really like the idea of the spend
saved give system that a lot of people talk about.
You know, it might be you know forty thirty, you
know thirty or you know, whatever decided is. So therefore,
you know, when they get some money, then they've got
a certain amount that they can go and do what
they want with a certain amount that they've got to
(02:34):
save for something you know, a bit bigger and something
that they put aside to help, you know, others in society.
So you know, it teaches budgeting, saving, delay, get gratification, generosity,
wonderful lessons.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
That's what my sister does with her kids, the spend save,
give and keeps them in different jars. So I think,
you know, say they get a dollar of reach or something. Then, Yeah,
it kind of teaches them some values around thinking about
their community and that kind of thing, as well as
the benefits of saving for a while. And it also
gives them an opportunity to go and recount every jar
from time to time, as they tend to do.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, because that's that that visual experience is I think wonderful.
Right when you get that visualness, I think you it's
it's more tangible and I think you learn better from it.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Other thing is that characters and gold setting, so sort
of actually sitting down and going okay, well what do
you want to spend your money on and going okay,
well you know what is it that you want? How
much you've got how many weeks do you need to
be you know, saving money for before you you know,
can actually buy that thing that you want to buy.
I think that's an awesome thing to do.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, and then alongside of that also encouraging them to
do jobs or projects that they can earn a little
bit of extra money from, you know, which is the
pocket money concept. Right, So then they learn that there's
you know, there's value in the money and they have
to do something together other than the magic machine in
the wall.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, So I've got mixed thoughts on pocket money as
a whole. So I've got some friends who I think
have gone a good way about it, so that their
thing is that by being a contributing member to the family,
you are expected to do some jobs around the house
just by being part of the family, and that you
will expect to get some a small amount of pocket
(04:17):
money as a result, because you know, the family income
is shared and the family jobs are shared. But that
if you do additional stuff, then there might be an
opportunity for some things. Or if you you know, go
and help out the neighbors or something like that, then
there might be an opportunity to do some additional things.
And I think that's a really good way to go
about it.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And I think that's that would probably might preferred thing
as well, because then you've got a balance and then
it's not like, well, I'm not going to make my
bed unless you give me some money. You know, you
don't want to get into that sort of situation. The
other thing that I really quite like that I've seen
number of friends to do is they say, did there
you know to be kids and you know, they need
to be a little bit older and say, Okay, we've
got fifty dollars to spend this weekend or a hundred
dollars to spend this weekend, whatever it is, and go
or even over the month and go right, you know,
(04:57):
you're in charge of it. Yeah, to sit down and
decide what we're going to do. So that might mean
that we go to the movies one weekend, but because
we spent most of the money that the need, we
ken we have to go to the take a picnic
and go to the park because we've run out of cash.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, that's that's that's amazing. I mean you've got to
have some confidence or you've got to be out.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, but if they blow it, they blow it right.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Sure, But then you've got to put your.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Foot down and say, well, you made the decision.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
For dinner family.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, but it's that choice consequence, and that's what I
a lot of dolts. Yeah, it's that critical thinking about
if you do this, then this then happens, right, and
that's what you want to have happened. So I think
that's a great thing to be doing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And that's a really good way to learn the lesson
quickly as well, I think, which is which is a
real upside. Yeah, and then.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They start learning too that they start looking for discounts
online or comparing activities costs. Again, a great thing for
down the track when you start, you know, doing a
smart shopping right. Yeah. The other thing I quite like
from a saving perspective or an investing perspective, and it's
probably because maybe a bit older, is to start introducing
matching contributions, so then they get to a certain goal
(06:06):
of saving, then you might chop it up.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Oh that's a good idea as well, to really incentivize that. Yeah,
and maybe even I mean it's almost like key we say,
but it's more than you get from compound interest necessarily,
but to try and really hammer home the benefit of saving,
that's a yeah, that's a great.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And I love that for university fees and also home deposits,
Like parents are contributing a lot these dates to the kids'
home deposits, but I'm like, don't give it to them.
Match it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, that's a very very good piece of advice. Okay, Hey,
thank you so much, Lisa. Those are really good practical tips.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Something to be prepared for Jacks gulp.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I think he's a little young to be deciding what
we'll be doing for fun next week. But yeah, we'll
see all right. Thanks Jack, That is Lisa does in
our personal finance expert tell you this much, we certainly
won't be sleeping
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For more From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com