AN ORIGINAL BORING MONEY GUY SERIES
RAISE THEM READY · A FAMILY MONEY HOW TO
How to incentivise your child to save and invest.
The benefit of investing is often years away. What if a parent could give it a little immediate reward too?
One standalone How To. Start with the parent briefing, or jump straight to the activity. There is no required order.
FOR PARENTS · THE BRIEFING
Make the reward feel real now.
A child might understand compound growth and still reasonably prefer spending their £20 today. The Parent Match adds something immediate to a distant goal.
THE PARENT BRIEFING
A reward in twenty years isn't much of a reward today.
Imagine your child has £20 and wants to spend it. Telling them it'll be worth more in decades might be true in an illustrative investment scenario, but it isn't especially exciting right now. A Parent Match makes the decision feel rewarding today.
Now £24 has been put aside, rather than £20. They didn't have to wait years to see why the decision might feel worthwhile. The £4 is your contribution, not investment growth.
Why this might work
People tend to value something available now more strongly than an uncertain reward in the distant future. A modest match brings part of the benefit into the present. Over time, repetition can help establish a habit of putting something aside.
But the match must support a choice—not replace it. Your child should be allowed to choose £0. They might have something meaningful they want to buy. Saving and spending are both decisions worth learning about.
“If you saved £10, and I added £2, would that change what you'd choose to do?”
Ask first. Then show the example, rather than announcing a family rule out of nowhere.
“I can match 20%, up to £10 per month.”
The cap protects the parent's budget. You can use 10%, a flat £1, or no match at all. Never promise a reward you couldn't afford to continue.
“We're putting a little into a worldwide fund each month. Think of buying something we already wanted when it's on sale: if the fund price is lower this month, the same contribution buys more units. We don't know exactly when prices will go up again, but we're building a long-term holding in lots of businesses, not betting everything on one.”
A falling price does not make every investment a bargain. This example concerns a broadly diversified fund held for a long-term goal. Don't promise a child gains by a particular date.
Five decisions to agree before starting
- Save or invest? Money for a near-term goal can go into accessible savings. For a goal years or decades away, a low-cost, globally diversified share fund introduces ownership of many businesses and the potential for long-term growth. Investing smaller amounts regularly can build a lasting habit—even as market prices rise and fall.
- What's the matching rule? Explain the percentage, maximum match, and when the parent adds it. Test an example together.
- What happens if they take money out? Agree a fair rule in advance. If you want a longer-term habit, you might say that withdrawing ends the matching arrangement. Avoid punishing a child for a genuine emergency.
- Is there an extra year-end bonus? Completely optional. Keep it simple, affordable, and separate from any investment return.
- Who controls the money? Make the arrangement age-appropriate and explain where the savings or investment actually lives. A tracker is just a planning tool.
If you offer a 20% match, that is a contribution from the parent, not a 20% investment return. A match can help a child get into the habit of setting money aside. For a long-term goal, putting those contributions into a low-cost global share fund offers the opportunity to own many businesses and participate in their growth over time. Prices will fluctuate, so we teach patience and consistent contributions—not a promise about what the balance will be next year. A Parent Match can also work with cash savings when that suits the goal better.
Invest £20, start with £20 invested.
Invest £20 and a parent adds £4 immediately.
Why might this help? We tend to value rewards we can experience now over rewards much further away. This is sometimes called temporal discounting. A small match makes the decision feel rewarding today while encouraging a repeatable habit.
It doesn't guarantee that investing will grow, or that a child will keep choosing to invest. It's an optional family incentive and should fit the parent's budget.
Ready to make it real? You have the context. Now let them predict what happens before you explain the answer.
Try it together ↓TRY THIS WITH THEM
Build your own Parent Match.
Start with the article's suggested deal: 20% extra, capped at £10 from the parent per month. Adjust it to suit the family.
YOUR PARENT MATCH
You choose. The match adds a little reward now.
Ask them, don't direct them.
“If you had £100 available, how much would you choose to invest if I added 20%, up to £10 each month?”
They can choose £0. That's part of the lesson. The aim is practising decisions, not practising following instructions.
Agree clear boundaries. In the original Parent Match proposal, if they withdraw, the match ends. That avoids the simple loop of investing £50, collecting £10, then withdrawing £60. It is a family agreement, not a rule imposed by a financial provider.
NOW MAKE IT STICK
The 12-month Parent Match Tracker.
See what they've chosen to contribute, what the parent has offered to add, and the year-end bonus they'd earn by keeping to the agreed rules.
Try the calculator above together. If it sparks a conversation and they want to continue, the tracker below can help you agree a longer-term plan. You can skip it entirely.
Open the optional 12-month family tracker and bonus examples
For families who want to keep going: record choices, explore a possible year-end bonus and print your own tracker. Nothing here moves or invests real money.
Your family's practice tracker
Start with example contributions, then replace them with your own. Figures are recorded on this device, not moved between accounts.
| Month | Child puts aside | Parent adds | Total added |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 2 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 3 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 4 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 5 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 6 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 7 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 8 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 9 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 10 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 11 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| 12 | £ | £0.00 | £0.00 |
Your optional year-end bonus grows with the contributions you record.
How does the annual bonus add up?
Switch between small pocket-money amounts and larger contributions. The bonus is based on the child's annual contributions, not predicted investment growth.
| Child contributes monthly | Across 12 months | Year-end bonus |
|---|
The habit comes after the incentive.
Monthly matching makes the choice feel worthwhile now. The optional year-end bonus gives patience a finish line that feels manageable: twelve months rather than decades.
Matches and bonuses are hypothetical family arrangements, not guaranteed investment returns. The tracker does not track actual account balances, gains, losses or withdrawals. Only promise amounts you can afford and use age-appropriate options. If a child needs the money soon, accessible savings may make more sense than investing.
You can use the interactive tracker here or download either of the original, printable Boring Money Guy worksheets: