How soon is too soon to teach your child about saving money? -

I am a seventeen year old college student. For my entire life, I have been relatively good with money. Now, I have made some unwise spending decisions, but in general I hate to spend my money. When I was five years old, I wanted the Fisher Price Dream Dollhouse. It was about $100, and my parents told me that if I wanted it I needed to save up the money to buy it. I never actually earned a real quot;allowance,quot; but I was able to earn money by doing extra chores. I saved my Birthday and Christmas money towards the dollhouse; instead of getting Slurpees at 7-11 I would ask for that money towards my dollhouse. Eventually, I did have enough money to pay for the dollhouse (I asked for accessories for my Birthday). Do you think that was a wise decision on my parent s part to make me save up for a dollhouse at such a young age? Do you think there is any positive or negative to the situation? Thank you,|::::|Anytime children recieve money at any age, they should learn about the options to save for the future. Too many too often learn to ask for handouts and you have to buy me this and that cause everyone else has one. This is what led to the buy now pay later money problems that have build up over the last 45 years.|::::|Well I don t feel you should make do chores for money that s not really the way it works. I get my 6 and 7 year Old to do 2 small chores (I mean not hard some stuff that is a bit interesting) it teaches them to be responsible parents. For their allowance they get 5 dollars a week if they want to do extra chores I give them some more money especially if they are saving. I started giving my son allowance at age 6 and told him about saving money and that s when allowance started. If they are saving and they do something special I add money. On good report cards and occasions of course I pay for it. And if they like say not fighting for 2 weeks I might them a small gift hope my advice works!|::::|In my opinion i would never do that to my kids at 5 i would wait untill they are atleast 8 or 9 before i said if you want something save your money. my son is almost two and i already started teaching him about saving money, but not in a mean way, all the change we get from one day we give to him and he goes and puts it in his piggy bank. But in my way of parenting no, i wouldnt do that to my chidlren, i think there is a time when they need to learn but as for 5 years old they need to just be kids. thats what being young is all about.|::::|Well I was 13 when my parents taught me to save money to buy things.My experience at 5 I didn t understand what save money was. I m not saying your way wrong but in my experience I m glad I waited till I was 13. Parents raise there children different so I don t think there a wrong way to do that.|::::|My daughter is two and since we started potty training her a little before that we found she was interested in money so as a reward for going to the bathroom we would give her our left over change. she has a piggy bank and loves to put the money in herself and then shake it to see how much she has. i think this is a good age to start. you make it fun and they learn at the same time. sometimes if she wants something we will get out a dollar and go to the store so she can pick something out. she also has a bank account which for being two and having the amount she does already is really going to add up. I don t think there s really anything negative about the situation. maybe you shouldnt buy big things at that age but small things are okay.|::::|It s never too early to teach a child how to earn, save and spend. This way the child learns what to expect if they want to buy something and begins to develop good quot;money managementquot; habits. I think your parents did the right thing and you re asking an intelligent question, because you knew to think about it.|::::|Ir s never too early. Whoy would any decent parent just hand everything over.....that s setting a child up for failure in my opinion. As for the dollhouse thing, I don t know Personally I d have gone 50% on that one. My 4 year old has sat with me while doing the household budget since she was born....I m not shy/reserved about finances at all. I feel kids deserve to now where the $ goes. It only seems to be a problem for people that make a lot of money, or people that blow what little money they make. Being the quot;in-betweenquot; of that, we think it s best to be upfront about it all. The will learn from our wise (and ignorant choices). In the end we just hope they will be somewhat comparable to how we are with money, if they are then they should be alright once adults.