What do you do with your children’s ang pow money every year? There’s no right or wrong to what we decide to do, it’s all a matter of what we feel is right.
In the early years, I hadn’t quite thought out what I wanted to do with the ang pow money.
During the full moon celebration, my one-month old received his first ang pows. I opened up a kiddie bank account and deposited the money there. Along with his Chinese New Year ang pows that followed after that.
It was only after some years that I decided to do more with it than just let it sit in the savings account.
First things first, it’s OK not to have the money channeled to our children as theirs. Especially when it comes to Chinese New Year ang pow money.
We have forked out a fair bit in giving out ang pow and what comes back to our children can rightly go back to offsetting what we have given away.
So if you do that, that’s quite the norm for many of us. For those who wish to keep these money aside, then here are some suggestions on what we can do.
10 Ideas On What To Do With Our Children’s Ang Pow Money
You can decide to do some or all of the suggested ideas, depending on how much ang pow money your children have collected and kept aside over the years.
If you are gamed, you can help to keep a record of how they’ve utilised their ang pow money, too.
Or better yet, teach them some simple book-keeping or budgeting that they can do by themselves.
- Save them in a separate bank account in the child’s name, or in fixed deposit for a little better rate.
- Invest them in an instrument of your choice in order to grow it at a higher interest (mutual funds, a blue-chip stock, REITs, etc.) Pick something safe and stable, and perhaps you can grow it as part of their future education fund.
- Teach your child the JARS money management system. I find this a very meaningful approach. This is a more well-rounded way to teach children about money.
- Pay for enrichment classes of their choice.
- Use it to contribute toward their medical coverage premium.
- Give them a periodic allowance if they are old enough to handle using money.
- Let them use the money for donation or charity drives. It’s a good way to let them contribute to a good cause and it’s part of their good upbringing and education to give.
- Allow them to use the money to buy gifts for loved ones’ birthdays or Christmas.
- Occasionally, allow them to use it to splurge on something they really want that you’re not willing to buy for them.
- If you have a teen, and he or she is a budding teen-entrepreneur, the ang pow money can be seed money or capital for the business venture. Teach them how to start their business right.
Teaching Children The Value Of Money
No matter what we decide to do with the children’s ang pow money, one thing that we need to teach them is the value of money. Financial education for children should start young and at home.
Teach them the various aspects of money — saving, spending, giving, growing, etc., according to your family’s values.
Also, look into how they think about and behave with regards to money. Some of us want instant gratification whilst others are better at handling delayed gratification when it comes to rewards.
This is one aspect that relates to how we spend or save money, too.
If you haven’t already started on financial education with your children, this season of Chinese New Year with all their ang pows would be a good place to start. 🙂
Here at Mamahood, we wish everyone a bright and cheerful celebration for the coming Chinese New Year!