Parents teach their children to 'invest' and earn interest from Lunar New Year lucky money.

TPO - During the Lunar New Year, children often receive a sum of money as a New Year's gift from adults, along with good wishes for the new year. However, guiding children on what to do with that money is always a concern for parents.

TPO - During the Lunar New Year, children often receive a sum of money as a New Year's gift from adults, along with good wishes for the new year. However, guiding children on what to do with that money is always a concern for parents.

According to tradition, at the beginning of the new year, adults often give children red envelopes (li xi) as a token of care and wishes for good luck, health, and academic success. The amount of money children receive after each Tet holiday can range from a few hundred thousand, a few million, or even tens of millions of dong. Each family has its own way of handling this New Year's money.

Ms. Dang Ngoc Mai, a resident of Hai Ba Trung district ( Hanoi ) with three children, said that every year her family lets the children manage their own Lunar New Year money. Parents don't really care how much money their children receive.

At the beginning of the new year, children are often given a sum of money as a New Year's gift.

“After Tet, the children put money into their own wallets and spent it on personal things like buying more shoes, clothes, or snacks. Having some money to spend on themselves made them very happy and excited. I also told them that if they were thrifty, that money could last a long time, but if they spent lavishly, it would run out quickly,” Ms. Mai said.

Some parents also teach their children to divide their money into smaller amounts for different purposes, such as: personal expenses, buying birthday gifts for parents and family members throughout the year; donating to support students in disadvantaged areas, and spending money on books and school supplies…

Save and invest by buying gold.

Meanwhile, some parents teach their children how to save and keep their Lunar New Year lucky money because, for children, millions or tens of millions of Vietnamese dong is a large sum of money.

Ms. Nguyen Ha Phuong, who has two children in grades 7 and 3 in Hanoi, said that since childhood, her children have received between 15 and 20 million VND in lucky money each Tet holiday. After Tet, their parents usually put all the money into piggy banks so that when they grow up, they will have a separate fund. After many years, the amount of money each child received has increased considerably, and Ms. Phuong has collected it into a savings account, but the interest earned is not significant.

Last year, Ms. Phuong's two children received a total of 35 million VND in Lunar New Year lucky money. After tallying it up, she discussed with her children the idea of ​​changing their focus to buying gold for savings. With her children's agreement, Ms. Ha Phuong added another 4 million VND, bringing the total to 39 million VND, enough to buy 6 taels of gold at 6.5 million VND per tael.

Ms. Ha Phuong proudly showed off the amount of gold she bought for each of her children after last year's Lunar New Year, at a price of 6.5 million VND per tael (approximately 37.5 grams).

"Each child received 3 taels of gold, registered in their mother's name and kept safe. This Lunar New Year, the selling price of gold rings was 9.55 million VND per tael. I explained to my children that if we sold the gold from last year, we could have made a profit of 15 million VND. The children were very surprised and excited because their New Year's lucky money had turned into money. Therefore, this year, even though the price of gold is higher, they still ask their mother to buy gold for them to continue accumulating," Ms. Phuong said.

Similar to Ms. Phuong, many parents believe that giving children a large sum of money to spend on themselves at such a young age is wasteful. Therefore, they teach their children how to save small amounts to accumulate a larger sum in the future.

After this year's Lunar New Year, some parents collected their children's New Year's lucky money to put into savings or buy gold before the God of Wealth's Day.

"Even though the price of gold is very high, I only bought 1-2 taels for good luck and to save money for my child, so I didn't worry or think too much about it," said Ms. Thanh Dung from Ba Dinh district (Hanoi).

Teaching children how to manage money.

Associate Professor Tran Thanh Nam – Vice Rector of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) believes that during Tet, children receive a certain amount of lucky money, and parents should take this opportunity to teach their children about proper etiquette and how to manage that money.

First, parents must explain to their children that money is very valuable, representing the hard work of adults. They should also explain why adults have used this money to give as New Year's gifts to their children. When receiving a red envelope, children should also show gratitude and send good wishes back to the giver.

"With the considerable amount of lucky money children receive after Tet, if parents give them complete control over how to spend it too early, before they have the skills and understanding of the value of money, they may spend it recklessly on harmful things, affecting the children," said Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thanh Nam.

Secondly, parents also need to discuss and guide their children in managing finances by calculating the total amount of Lunar New Year lucky money and budgeting for necessary expenses throughout the year, such as: money invested in education, savings, charity, etc.

"Parents can even teach their children simple financial thinking by telling them to save money to earn interest, buy gold, etc. Then children will see that buying trinkets and spending wastefully will quickly deplete their money, but if invested, it will generate profit," Mr. Nam said.

Ha Linh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/phu-huynh-day-con-dau-tu-thu-lai-tu-tien-li-xi-post1714190.tpo