A 2015 study surveyed Canadian citizens about their financial attitude during the months of June to September and found that a huge majority of people adopt carefree spending habits during the summer. A quick summary of the study stated that people are more willing to dish out for food and drinks while on vacation and that one in five Canadians are likely to book summer vacations using credit or going into debt.
We see the same trend here in the Philippines with flight promos and summer sales cleaning out our wallets. It is more apparent for parents as they spend heavily for their family trips. For parents who want to teach their kids the value of money, summer is the best time to start encouraging financial awareness.
“It is never too early to start teaching your kids about investing,” says Michelle Villanueva Head of Products and Marketing at Philam Asset Management, Inc. (PAMI) “If we follow the idea of starting small and thinking big we will find that in time our children will grow to become a more financially savvy generation. After all, we want to raise adults not kids.”
Villanueva explains that setting the stage with saving their allowances using the 50/20/30 rule, where you allocate 50% of your salary to essentials, 20% to your savings account, and 30% to your personal expenses, opens the doorway into investing. “Kids will find that their savings over a year, no matter how small, were a result of their efforts and choices. This is when parents should introduce the basic concepts of investing”.