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Article by Alex Rayner

Get the kids saving for Christmas

Getting a Christmas budget together and saving for it in advance can feel daunting, but children might find it a bit easier with a bit of help from Rooster Money.

It can be hard to convince school-age children that using their hard-earned pocket money to buy presents is as much fun as tearing off the wrapping paper themselves. Even if you can get kids to purchase gifts for their family or friends they may still require a little help when it comes to saving up for them. That’s where Rooster Money comes in! We’ve got plenty of features and tips which should help your children save up for their Christmas spending.

🍯 Get them saving early with the use of Pots

The best way to conquer Christmas spending is to start saving for it early in the year. Ask your child to write down a list of who they have to get presents for this year, and how much they want to spend on each person. This will give them a better understanding of just how much they need to save before they begin.

Your child can create a pot to start setting some money aside for Christmas gifts, or if they have specific gifts in mind, they might create pots for each one. To add a new pot in the app, just tap the + Add Pot button on your child’s dashboard or learn more here.

REMEMBER: Your child can only have 5 Pots on their dashboard at any given time. To hide pots from the dashboard, just tap the edit button within the Pot to see the option, or go to ‘Customise dashboard’ in their menu. Learn more here.

By creating and using their pots with Rooster Money, children can develop a better understanding of setting aside and saving money – not just for Christmas, but for other bigger things they might want to buy for themselves in the future.

💸 Automatically set aside money for their different pots

To make saving a little bit easier, you can choose to split your children’s pocket money into the Pots that they’ve added, and choose what percentage goes to which Pots when pocket money gets delivered. This way you’ll ensure they are working towards reaching their saving goals or building up a nice fund for their Christmas spending!

To set a Split Allowance for your child (or update their existing splits):

  1. Go to your child's dashboard
  2. Tap on Split Allowance
  3. Adjust the % split between all of your child's Pots

REMEMBER: Split Allowance requires your child to have an automatic allowance set. You can set your child a regular allowance from their settings. Learn how here.

Splitting allowance between pots is another way that Rooster Money can help children understand that budgeting is important, and we can’t just spend our money on toys or sweets!

🔣 Set an interest rate

You can encourage your child to save, by adding a little bit extra to the amount they put away by setting a parent-paid interest rate for their Pot. Choose what percentage your child can earn for money held in their pot, and it gets paid out on the first of each month. Interest rates are a premium feature unlocked with a Rooster Card subscription. If you already have a Card subscription, you will be asked if you’d like to add an interest rate when creating a Pot. Alternatively, you can apply an interest rate to the Pot from its Pot settings. Just follow the steps here:

  1. Navigate to the Pot you'd like to add interest for
  2. Click on the Edit icon in the top right
  3. Tap on the Interest Rate field
  4. Enter and Save the interest amount you want to set

With interest rates, kids can better see the benefits of saving as they watch their money grow. Starting a thisearly can teach them that their money will grow if they are patient and keep some safely aside. Also, with interest rates going up , you might want to implement an increased interest rate to your kids’ pots now, to better reflect the real world.

🔐 Take a bit of control

If you’re worried about them blowing their money before Christmas you can lock their Pot, to prevent your child from removing money from the Pot. Parents will always have that access.
You can also choose whether or not your child can edit the Pot. For example, you might want to stop your child from changing the Goal Pot’s target. By enabling this option, they can’t make changes. These settings can be enabled by tapping the Edit icon in the Pot.

❌ Watch that Christmas list

Lots of kids look forward to the festive season for months, and many make long and elaborate gift lists. These can sometimes get out-of-hand, and may not even reflect the kind of things they will actually want to own by next Christmas. It’s better to manage expectations now, rather than deal with disappointment on Christmas morning. Read more about managing wishlist expectations here.

🛍️ Keep Christmas shopping fun

Once the money’s saved, if children find the process of present buying fun, they might find it easier to save for Christmas next year. Rather than buy everything online, or at your usual supermarket, why not take them for a weekend visit to your nearest town or city? Christmas markets are a fun way to buy gifts, and plenty of department stores and shopping centres lay on great displays. You might not get the biggest bargains, but you may well end up making gift-giving a more rewarding experience for these younger, first-time shoppers.

We’ve got more Christmas tips including our how-to guide to gifting a Rooster Card this Christmas, and step-by-step tips on gifting money effectively at Christmas.

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