Saving for the future is essential for building financial security, independence, and resilience.
If you think about the major milestones in your life so far, such as buying a house or getting married, saving probably played an important role in helping you achieve these goals.
Yet, new research from Hodge Bank has revealed that a worrying number of young adults aren’t saving enough to cover surprise costs, such as car or home repairs. A survey of 1000 people found that 38.7% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 26.4% of 25- to 34-year-olds say they would need to borrow money from a friend or family member to pay a £500 unexpected cost.
If you want your children and grandchildren to grow into financially responsible adults who build rewarding lives, read on to learn how to teach them the value of saving.
Explain the benefits of regular saving
Most people value their autonomy and independence – that’s why nobody likes being told what to do. So, if you insist that your child or grandchild must save a percentage of their money each week or month, there’s a good chance they’ll instinctively resist.
On the other hand, explaining the benefits of saving to the young people in your family and leaving them to make their own choices could be highly motivating.
You might want to emphasise how regular saving could:
- Give them the ability to cope with emergencies and unexpected costs
- Allow them the freedom to enjoy life without worrying about money
- Help them achieve important goals, such as buying their first car
- Help them to avoid debt and the stress this can often trigger.
Try to give specific and relatable examples that are meaningful to your child or grandchild. For example, you could do some simple calculations to show how saving an affordable amount each month for one year might allow them to fund their gap year travel plans.
Role model positive savings habits
Children learn many of their attitudes and behaviours by observing and imitating others. So, as a parent or grandparent, you could be a powerful role model for good savings habits.
Even if you feel uncomfortable talking about money with your family, try to communicate openly about financial matters. Teenagers could also learn a lot about the value of saving by seeing you work hard for what you want, being disciplined with your spending, and budgeting with care.
Encourage them to set specific savings goals
Having specific and achievable savings goals in mind is essential for:
- Guiding spending decisions
- Providing a sense of purpose and motivation
- Reducing uncertainty, procrastination, and stress
- Breaking big aspirations down into achievable milestones
- Building confidence, self-discipline and a sense of achievement
- Deciding how much to save each month to reach a target within the desired timeline.
Encourage your child or grandchild to set short-, medium-, and long-term goals so there’s always a reward not too far away. This could prevent them from losing interest and help them develop a consistent savings habit.
Support them in creating and tracking a budget
Teaching young people to monitor and control their spending is a key part of an effective saving strategy. Only by practising self-discipline and embracing delayed gratification can teenagers develop a consistent savings habit.
Fortunately, there are lots of budgeting mobile apps (free and paid) to help young people track their income and expenditures.
You could also encourage them to start earning money, either within or outside the home. This might help them to learn the value of money, potentially reducing the risk of overspending and motivating them to save.
Open a children’s savings account
Opening a bank account for your child or grandchild could encourage them to save regularly and allow them to watch their money grow. Moreover, setting up automated payments to these accounts could help them prioritise saving each month – rather than saving as an afterthought.
You can usually open a savings account for a child once they turn 11 years old, although eligibility rules vary. Additionally, some providers will require a guardian aged 18 or over to open the account.
It’s worth shopping around for an account that meets your needs.
You could also open a Junior ISA, which lets your child or grandchild save or invest up to £9,000 free from Income and Capital Gains Tax in the 2025/26 tax year.
Get in touch
If you’d like to encourage the young people in your family to engage with their finances and build a regular saving habit, we can help. Our team of experts can support you and your family with all your financial planning needs.
To learn more about how we can help, please email hello@sovereign-ifa.co.uk or call us on 01454 416653.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
Approved by Best Practice IFA Group Ltd on 23/9/25