How to Help Kids Save for Something They Want

Short answer: Let your child choose one goal they really want, find the real price and work out together how many weeks it will take at what they can save each week. Put that money somewhere they can see it. Then check in every week: how close are they, and do they still want it? Changing their mind is allowed. Reaching the goal is what shows them saving works.

Telling a child that saving is important is abstract. Watching the thing they want move closer, week by week, is concrete.

Let your child choose the goal

The goal has to be theirs. If you pick something sensible for them, they're saving for your goal, and waiting for it won't mean much.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) suggests talking about goals that appeal to your child, such as a video game or a special activity, and encouraging reasonable goals. As children get older, they can take on longer-term goals.

A good first goal is:

• Something they can picture: a specific toy, game or outing.
• Something they'd enjoy, in their opinion, not yours.
• Reachable in weeks or months. A short wait that ends in success teaches more than a long one that fizzles.

Sometimes the goal will be bigger than you'd expect. At his first Monty O'Clock, my older son chose a LEGO Arctic Explorer set worth more than $200. I asked whether he was sure; it would take a long time. He was sure.

That choice made him think beyond his weekly allowance. He remembered money in his piggy bank, then money he'd earned helping with his grandmother's yard work. Those weren't separate piles of cash anymore. They were all part of his money, and they could all help.

Find the real price

Look up the price together, online or in the store, and write it down. Include the tax, so the goal matches what they'll pay at the checkout.

Then make the goal visible:

• Write it on the Save jar or on a sticky note beside it, with the price.
• Add a picture of the thing they want, drawn or printed.
• Keep one container per goal. FCAC suggests a separate container for each savings goal, so the money for one goal doesn't mix with the rest.

If the goal is a year or more away, or your child doesn't know yet what they're saving for, it's long-term saving. In our spend, save, give and grow guide, that's the Grow jar, and Save is for goals weeks or months away.

Work out the wait together

FCAC suggests having children figure out how much they need to save, and for how long, to reach their goal. This is where saving becomes real: the price turns into a number of weeks.

Say your child gets $7 a week and wants a $60 scooter. Ask them how much they want to put toward it each week. Then do the maths together:

• $2 a week: 30 weeks, more than half a year
• $4 a week: 15 weeks, about four months
• $6 a week: 10 weeks, but only $1 a week left for anything else

There's no right answer. More saving means a shorter wait and less to spend now. Let your child weigh that and choose. If you haven't settled on an allowance yet, see how much to give at each age.

When my older son reviewed his LEGO goal, Monty estimated it would take about 26 weeks at his saving rate. His reaction: "TWENTY-SIX WEEKS?! OH MY GOSH!" I asked if he still wanted it. "Oh yeah. It'll be worth it!" He was connecting how much he saved, how long it would take and how much he wanted it.

Check in on the goal every week

A goal works best with a weekly check-in, ideally when new money arrives. It only takes a minute or two:

• "How much did you add this week?"
• "How close are you now?"
• "How many weeks are left at this rate?"
• "Do you still want it?"

Let them see the progress for themselves. At one Monty O'Clock, my younger son saw how much closer his goal had moved and shouted, "YES!" He'd waited, he'd added more, and now he was closer. The progress was becoming its own reward.

When they change their mind

Children change their minds. A goal that felt urgent in July may not matter in October, and dropping it is a real decision too.

When your child wants to drop a goal, ask a few questions first:

• "What changed?"
• "Is there something else you want to save for instead?"
• "Is this about the goal, or about something you want right now?"

If they've truly moved on, let the goal go. The money they saved is still theirs. It can stay in Save for the next goal.

It's also fine to have no goal for a while. After my younger son reached his goal, I asked if there was something new he wanted to save for. His answer was simple: nothing yet. Kids don't need to invent something to buy just because money is there. Sometimes "I don't want anything enough right now" is a very good decision.

Protect the goal

The hardest moment for a goal is usually in a store, when something else is right in front of them.

On a trip to the grocery store, my older son asked if he had enough in his Spend Jar for a Hot Wheels car. He did. So I asked, "Is another car worth delaying your giving goal or your LEGO goal by a few dollars?" He looked through the cars, decided there wasn't one he wanted enough and walked away. I didn't tell him no. He decided no.

A few ways to protect a goal without taking the decision away:

• Name the trade-off. "You can buy it. It will move your goal back two weeks."
• Agree when money can leave Save. Many families only move money at the weekly check-in, not in the store. For more on that moment, see what to say when your child keeps asking to buy things.
• Let gifts help, if they choose. When my younger son found $20 tucked inside an old book, he chose to put $13 toward the toy he'd been saving for. That was enough to reach his goal.

You can always add a bonus to your child's goal when they hit a savings milestone, such as 25%, 50% or 75% of the way there. FCAC notes that children may be less likely to get discouraged if you help them reach a goal. Tell your child which milestones earn a bonus before they start, so it rewards their saving instead of replacing it.

Reaching the goal

When your child reaches the goal, make it a moment. Go and buy it with them, and let them pay, or hand over the money themselves.

Two days after my younger son reached his goal, he bought the toy. He was thrilled, and this purchase felt different. He'd chosen it, saved for it, watched it get closer and waited. Now "saving works" wasn't something Dad had told him. He had evidence.

A few weeks later, ask how it turned out: Was it worth it? has questions for after a purchase.

What to avoid

• Choosing the goal for them. A goal they didn't choose is a chore.
• Starting with a goal that's too far away. For a first goal, a few weeks to a few months is plenty.
• Rescuing the goal. If you top it up whenever they're impatient, the wait stops meaning anything.
• Treating a changed mind as failure. Dropping a goal they don't want anymore is a good decision.

Adapting it by grade

These are starting points, not developmental rules. Adjust them to your child.

• Kindergarten: a small goal, a few weeks away, with a picture on a clear jar. Count the coins together each week.
• Grades 1–2: colour in a chart or calendar box for each week. Ask, "How many weeks until you get there?"
• Grades 3–4: let them work out the weeks themselves: price, minus what they have, divided by what they save each week.
• Grades 5–6: try two goals at once, and let them decide which one gets more money each week.
• Grades 7–8: take on a bigger goal, months or a year away. Compare prices in different stores and online before they buy.

Practise it at Monty O'Clock

Monty gives a goal a weekly home. At Monty O'Clock, the two-minute weekly check-in, your child splits new money across their Spend, Save and Give jars, and money in Save goes toward their goals. Each goal shows how close it is.

If your child has a goal they're saving toward, or one that's fully funded, each Monty O'Clock also spotlights one; paused goals are skipped. If they added to it that week, Monty shows about how many more Monty O'Clocks it will take at that pace. While the goal is still in progress, Monty asks: Still want it? They can keep going or say they don't want it anymore. If they want to change the goal instead, Monty points them to the Goals page, where they can change it any time. If they drop it, the money set aside for it goes back into their jar, free for the next goal. Once a goal is fully funded, Monty celebrates it instead, and you mark it complete when you've bought it.

Monty is the record, not the bank. The money stays in your account, and you make the purchase. Monty keeps track of what your child has saved toward each goal. It doesn't hold money, issue a card or connect to your bank.

See how saving goals and progress work in Monty, read our first month with Monty, or see how Monty O'Clock works.

Start the Monty O'Clock Monthly Challenge: your first four Monty O'Clocks are free, with every feature and no credit card needed. After that, Monty is $10/month or $99/year, plus applicable tax. See pricing for details.