The True Value of Your Ang Pow

This post is contributed by Jacquelyn Sarah Wong from WParent.com – The Wise Parenting Guide.

The Chinese New Year is over and those who received lots of ang pows must be happy and grateful for the extra money in hand. So, what do you do with the ang pow money? Some people may choose to put them in their savings account and some may choose to use it to buy themselves a treat. How people decide to use the money actually reflects the value they place on the money. Using it conscientiously for a good purpose means placing a high value on it and vice-versa.

For those who treat it casually as in “Easy come, easy go”, may spend most of it as soon as they get the chance. I know of some people who like to change their hand phones very often and some like to go shopping so as not to miss out on the latest sales promotion. I fall into the opposite category of saving the money for a rainy day and this is the idea I am always enforcing to my own children.

Teach your children early

From the very beginning, my children have been taught to save their ang pow money into their savings account. They get to go to the bank and see their money being deposited. Later, they would see the increased in money as shown in their respective bank book. Over the years, they are able to see the money growing and they also learn that the bank pays them money (interest payment) to keep more money in the bank.

I believe that the parents have to keep track and control their children’s spending habit. It is the parent’s responsibility to put aside money for the children’s future. However, the children must learn to take some responsibility for their future savings as well. When parents start early to educate their children about money, it means that the children have already mastered this technique by the time they become adults.

I notice that my two older kids have different attitude towards money even though they were brought up in the same way and in the same environment. The older one is more protective about his money and tends to hoard it away. The younger one does not mind dipping into his piggy bank once in awhile to treat himself. Fortunately, he does it after asking for permission from his parents first. However, I believe that without any parental control or guidance, he would be spending his money more freely. Consequently, he would not learn from young how to control his spending and preserve his money.

A lot of parents assume that their children will pick up this skill as they grow up without the need for parental monitoring. Well, the truth is that the children will eventually pick up this skill but slowly and after many painful lessons or experience.

Therefore, teach your children the true value of the ang pows they received. If you teach them to spend, then they will spend but if you teach them to save, then they will save.