Our children are beginning to grow up without the concept of physical money in a wallet from https://www.amazon.com/Blocking-Leather-Wallets-Black-Brown/dp/B07C37TGQH. Think about it – what do you use to pay for your weekly grocery shopping? Cash or plastic {credit, debit or savings}? How do you pay for online shopping purchases? When are our children exposed to coins and notes?
The Commonwealth bank’s new survey shows that our cashless society is having a huge impact on children’s understanding of money.

Less than one in ten parents (8 per cent) feels their child fully understands the value of digital money.

Although parents are spending an average of $170 on digital purchases for their kids a year, 53 per cent don’t involve their kids in these purchases. This has resulted in more than one in three kids (35 per cent) not knowing how digital purchases are paid for.

You only have to look at how many children purchase things on digital devices {through games} and run up massive bills for their parents {without their parents knowing}, to know that our society has an issue here.

I loved school banking. I loved collecting $2 to pop into my Dollarmite savings book each week and taking it to school with me. I loved flicking through the pages and seeing my savings grow.

Now I know that not all children love saving, and some just want to withdraw the cash to use at the school canteen. But at least this was a way in which the bank was helping us {as children} understand about money.

Fast-forward almost 25 years and Commonwealth Bank is set to invest $50 million over three years to expand financial education programs such as an online business degree.

One million kids have already booked a StartSmart workshop, with the program set to double its reach by 2016.

I think this is a great, innovative idea and I’m glad that this is something that my children will have access to.