Money Goals
A goal gives your saving a purpose.
From a want to a goal
Watching your progress
A physical savings jar lets you see exactly how much you have, how much you still need, and your progress toward the goal.
What makes a good goal?
A useful savings goal should be:
- Meaningful to you
- Specific — a real thing, with a real price
- Something you can actually work towards
- Realistic for your age
Waiting — and changing your mind
Knowing exactly what you're working towards can make the waiting easier. But sometimes you change your mind about what you want — and that's completely fine. You can pick a different goal, keep saving, or decide to spend some of it instead.
If you spend your savings on one goal, that same money won't be available for a different goal. That's a trade-off worth thinking about.
Leaving your savings alone can also help you reach a goal faster — see how our family uses interest to introduce the idea of compound growth.
Build your own goal
Help with realistic prices and the maths, but let your child own the goal — it should be genuinely theirs, not something you've chosen for them. Encouragement helps; constant pressure to save doesn't. The real learning happens through experience, not being told what to do.
Where to next
Every money choice means choosing one possibility over another. That's the idea behind trade-offs — up next.
Next lesson: Money Trade-offs
Every choice with money means giving something else up — here's why that's normal.