At what age can kids start saving money?

As soon as they get pocket money, usually around five or six. Start with a short, concrete goal so the wait is only a week or two. Younger kids cannot picture saving for months, so keep the target close at first and stretch it as they get older.

How do I motivate my child to save?

Attach the saving to something they actually want. A named goal, like $40 for a specific toy, motivates far better than a vague instruction to save. ASIC's Moneysmart suggests reminding kids about that goal when they are tempted by an impulse buy.

What is the spend, save and give method?

You split money into three parts every time it comes in: one to spend now, one to save toward a goal, and one to give. It is one of the most effective tools for young Australian kids because the saving portion makes putting money aside a habit rather than an afterthought.

How to Teach Kids to Save Money: An Australian Guide

Handing a kid pocket money is the easy part. Getting any of it to survive past Saturday is the challenge. Saving does not come naturally to most children, or most adults, so it has to be taught, and it teaches best through habit rather than lectures. Here is what has worked for our four, backed by the guidance we trust.

Start with a goal they can actually picture

Telling a child to “save” is abstract and goes nowhere. Telling them they are saving for a specific thing they want gives the money a point. ASIC’s Moneysmart recommends helping kids set a savings goal, break it into weekly amounts, and track it, and it offers a savings goal calculator that works out how much longer a goal takes if they spend some today.

Keep the first goal small. A five-year-old cannot hold a three-month target in their head, so a $10 goal they reach in a fortnight teaches the lesson better than a $100 one they abandon. Stretch the timeframe as they get older and their patience grows.

Split the money the moment it arrives

The classic tool for young kids is three jars: spend, save and give. Every time money comes in, it gets divided across the three. Savings.com.au describes the spend, save and give split as one of the most effective ways to build the habit, because saving happens automatically at the start rather than being whatever is left over at the end.

The order matters. If saving is what is left after spending, nothing is ever left. If a set portion goes to savings before any spending, saving becomes the default rather than the exception.

Make the balance visible

Kids save more when they can see the number climbing toward the goal. A savings chart on the fridge, a jar they can watch fill, or a running balance on a screen all do the same job: they turn an abstract idea into something concrete and a little bit motivating. Raising Children Network suggests tracking progress so reaching the goal comes with a genuine sense of pride.

Let them feel the wait

The point of saving is delayed gratification, and that only lands if you let the delay happen. If you top up the gap every time they fall short, or buy the thing anyway, the lesson evaporates. Moneysmart’s advice to remind kids about their goal when an impulse buy tempts them works because the choice is theirs to sit with. Letting a child spend their savings on something they later regret is also a lesson, and a cheap one to learn at eight rather than twenty-eight.

A note on paying interest

Some parents add a small “interest” top-up on whatever a child has saved by month end, to make the idea of savings growing tangible. It is optional, but even a few cents in the dollar can turn saving from a chore into something that visibly rewards patience. Keep it simple enough that they can understand why the number went up.

Where a tracker helps

Jars and fridge charts work until the money goes digital or the week gets away from you. Then the goal, the balance and the pocket money end up scattered across your head, a notebook and a banking app.

That is part of why we built Quiddo, and the savings side follows the habits above closely:

A named goal with a target and a picture. Each child creates a goal, sets the amount they are saving for, adds a photo of the actual thing, and Quiddo shows how much is in and how much is left. The abstract idea of saving becomes a specific picture with a number under it.
Auto-fund puts the money aside first. You can switch a goal to auto-fund. When pocket money or a task reward lands, Quiddo moves a share straight into the child’s goals before any of it can be spent, spreading it across several goals if they are saving for more than one. That is the spend-save split from earlier, done automatically instead of relying on willpower.
The child confirms the goal when they reach it. Once a goal is fully funded, the kid marks it reached themselves, so the payoff for the wait is theirs.

Spending is logged separately, because you pay with your own card, so a child’s savings only ever climb toward the target. No debit card to lose, no bank to sign up to. If you have already sorted the how much and the chores, this is the piece that keeps the saving going.