By Sylvain Bouffard
How do you teach children to save when their savings tool is an anemic checking account? You have to bet on something else.
My son was nine years old when we convinced him to put the few Christmas presents he had received in a savings account. The sum wasn’t extravagant, but we were happy to instill in it the notion of saving: putting money aside to be able to use it later – ideally after enjoying a little growth…
Two years later: a letter from the bank was waiting for us at home. Addressed to my son, it informed him that after two years of inactivity, the account had entered a “dormant” state and that it would be necessary to go to a branch to reactivate it. In a way, it was good news: son hadn’t dipped into his savings. I showed him my pride: “Do you remember the bank account we opened for you? Congratulations, you’ve been saving your money for two years! »
The problem arose in the following sentence: “Thanks to your patience, you were able to make… over two years enough interest to buy you… a Bazooka eraser!”
My son looked at me in amazement, “What is that gum?! and disappointment.
Normal. I told him that the reward he got for not buying the electronic thing he was dreaming of was next to nothing. Was it worth it?
