At age 10, Ashley Ritters is well on the way to learning how to
manage her money. The fourth grader who attends Jackson Elementary
School in Morgan Hill puts money from her weekly allowance
– as well as birthday and Christmas cash – in a savings account
her mother set up for her at a local Bank of the West branch.
At age 10, Ashley Ritters is well on the way to learning how to manage her money.
The fourth grader who attends Jackson Elementary School in Morgan Hill puts money from her weekly allowance – as well as birthday and Christmas cash – in a savings account her mother set up for her at a local Bank of the West branch.
“I feel good that my money is in a place where someone can’t take it,”Ashley says. “I’m actually trying to save my money for college.”
Her mom saw the need to teach Ashley the value of money about two years ago.
“Every time we’d go shopping or to the store, she would ask me to buy things,” Janet Itterly, her mother, said. “And I thought it was time she learned the value of a dollar.”
The two set up a financial system in which Ashley does various chores during the week and Itterly pays her an allowance based on job performance. Each week, Ashley makes between $8 and $10 from her household duties such as watering plants and feeding her pets.
“The tough part was trying to decide the monetary value for the jobs,” Itterly said.
Over time, they worked out a system in which Ashley keeps track of her chores by filling out a chart on a whiteboard.
The system isn’t just teaching Ashley skills in spending and saving money. She’s also developing responsibility and discipline too, Itterly said.
Recently, Ashley went on a shopping trip with her grandmother to Morgan Hill’s Mervyn’s store. She spent $32.89 of her allowance money on shorts and a tank top and feels proud she bought the clothes with money she earned herself. She also bought a school supply box for $1, but regrets the purchase because she doesn’t think she’ll use it.
“I felt like I spent too much money on it, and I should have saved the money to buy something more practical,” Ashley explained.
Money-management requires making choices, Ashley is learning. On trips to the supermarket, her mom often encourages her to make decisions between similar products based on their purchase value.
And Itterly also teaches Ashley about budgeting money for monthly household expenses such as the electric and telephone bills.
“We talk about the lights in the house and PG&E,” she says. “She’s learning to help reduce the energy costs.”
Ashley is also learning about how money affects relationships. She made a decision not to loan her school chums money if they ask. She doesn’t want such financial deals possibly ruining her friendships.
“I just don’t like to loan my money,” she said firmly. “I would say ‘no’ even if they ask me…. It’s kind of rude anyway.”
For kids like Ashley, learning how to manage money is an important step toward their future happiness, says Barmka Koroman, senior customer service officer at Gilroy’s South Valley National Bank. Many adults never learned how to spend and save
money wisely, and are now dealing with the stress of financial burdens such as credit card debt, she said.
And it’s never to early to start by opening up a savings account for a child, she said.
“There’s no real age requirement,” Koroman said. “The parents can open an account as soon as the child is born.”
The usual sum to open an account for a child is $50, but sometimes South Valley National Bank will start the child with a zero balance so long as the parents have some kind of automatic transfer, she said.
And she encourages parents to bring their kids to the bank and show them how to do banking chores such as filling in deposit slips.
“It makes a big difference,” she said about starting kids off early in responsible money management. “Once they get involved they learn (financial) skills that last a lifetime.”
