Pocketful of Dirhams: How to make your children financially savvy

Parents play a key role in shaping a child's attitudes towards money

Educating children about how to manage money is vital for their future. But with lessons in financial literacy sometimes on the more basic side, it falls to parents to pass on those early messages on effective financial behaviour.

A 2019 study by Visa found that 43 per cent of those polled in the UAE between the ages of 16 to 24 are not ready to manage their own money, while more than half believe schools do not prepare them enough.

Which is why parents play such an important role in shaping a child’s attitude towards money.

So how can parents introduce the concept of budgeting and saving to their children?

Host Alice Haine, the personal finance editor of The National, is joined by Ayesha Khan, The National's podcast producer, and Marilyn Pinto, the founder and managing director of the Kids Finance Initiative, which runs financial literacy boot camps for young children and teenagers.

She is also joined later in the show by Mika Coquia, a mother who changed how she educated her daughter about money after spoiling her as a young child.

Take a look at last week's episode for tips on how to reduce the cost of running a car