TPO - During Lunar New Year, children often receive lucky money from adults with good wishes for the new year. However, instructing children on what to do with that money is always a matter of concern for parents.
TPO - During Lunar New Year, children often receive lucky money from adults with good wishes for the new year. However, instructing children on what to do with that money is always a matter of concern for parents.
According to traditional customs, at the beginning of the new year, adults often give children lucky money envelopes to show their concern with wishes for luck, health, and good study. The amount of money children receive after each Tet holiday can range from a few hundred, a few million to tens of millions of dong. Each family has a different way of handling lucky money.
Ms. Dang Ngoc Mai, in Hai Ba Trung District (Hanoi) with 3 children, said that every year her family usually lets the children manage the lucky money they receive. The parents also do not care how much money their children receive.
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At the beginning of the new year, children often receive a sum of money as lucky money. |
“After Tet, the children put the money in their own wallets and spend it on personal things like buying more shoes, clothes or snacks. They are very happy and excited to have some money to spend on themselves. I also told my children that if they know how to save, that money can last a long time, but if they spend a lot, it will run out quickly,” said Ms. Mai.
Some parents also teach their children to divide the money into small amounts to spend on different purposes such as: personal expenses, buying birthday gifts for parents and relatives during the year; donating to support students in disadvantaged areas, spending on books, school supplies, etc.
Save and invest by buying gold
Meanwhile, some parents teach their children how to save and keep lucky money because for children, millions or tens of millions is a large amount of money.
Ms. Nguyen Ha Phuong, who has two children in grade 7 and grade 3 in Hanoi, said that since childhood, the amount of lucky money her children received during Tet usually fluctuated between 15-20 million VND. After Tet, their parents often put all that money in a piggy bank so that when they grew up, they would have their own money. After many years, the amount of money each child had increased quite a bit, Ms. Phuong collected it into a savings book but the interest earned was not worth much.
Last year, Ms. Phuong's two children's lucky money totaled 35 million VND. After summarizing, she discussed with her children about changing the direction of buying gold to save. With her children's consent, Ms. Ha Phuong added 4 million VND to have 39 million VND, enough to buy 6 taels of gold at 6.5 million VND/tael.
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Ms. Ha Phuong shows off the gold she bought for each child after Lunar New Year last year at the price of 6.5 million VND/tael. |
"And each child has 3 taels of gold, which their mother has registered and kept for them. By Tet this year, the selling price of gold rings was 9.55 million VND/tael. She explained to her children that if they had sold the gold last year, they could have made a profit of 15 million VND. The children were very surprised and excited because the lucky money had made money. Therefore, this year, even though the price of gold is higher, the children still continue to ask their mother to buy gold to continue saving," said Ms. Phuong.
Similar to Ms. Phuong, many parents believe that giving children a large amount of pocket money when they are still very young is a waste. Therefore, they teach their children how to save small amounts to have a large amount in the future.
After this year's Lunar New Year, some parents saved their children's lucky money and went to buy gold before the God of Fortune's day.
“Although the price of gold is very high, I only buy 1-2 taels for good luck and to save money for my children, so I don't have to worry or think too much,” said Ms. Thanh Dung, Ba Dinh District (Hanoi).
Teaching children to manage money
Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Education (VNU Hanoi) said that during Tet, children receive a certain amount of lucky money and taking this opportunity, parents need to teach their children about cultural behavior and how to manage that money.
First of all, parents must explain to children that money is very valuable, the result of hard work by adults. And why they spent the money to give to children. When receiving lucky money envelopes, children also need to show gratitude and send good wishes to the giver.
"With the large amount of lucky money that children receive after Tet, if parents give their children full authority to spend it too soon when they do not have the skills or understand the value of money, they may spend it indiscriminately on harmful things, affecting the children," Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thanh Nam.
Second, parents also need to discuss and guide their children in financial management by calculating the total lucky money, estimating necessary expenses in a year such as: Investment in education, savings, charity...
"Parents can even teach their children simple financial thinking by telling them to save money to earn more interest, buy gold... Then children will see that buying small things and spending lavishly will run out of money very quickly, but if invested, it will generate profit," said Mr. Nam.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/phu-huynh-day-con-dau-tu-thu-lai-tu-tien-li-xi-post1714190.tpo
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