Editorial: Saving money serves me well

Learning to save from a young age is important.

There are countless lessons I'm grateful my parents taught me. One of those is the importance of saving.

In the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend reporter Dawn Picken explored what parents can and should be doing to make sure their kids are money-wise.

As a kid my brother and I earned pocket money doing jobs for our parents. We would clean the boat or go to work with Dad and spend the day tidying up the building site.

A couple of times a year we would get to sort through all the scrap metal Dad collected from work and take it to the scrap yard. We got to keep whatever they were paying for the metals.

I remember the first big thing I bought with my savings - a scooter. I was so excited to be able to buy exactly the one I wanted and pay for it myself.

It is a habit which has stuck with me.

I was a saver all through high school and university and still am.

My friends sometimes gave me a hard time because I was always the one advocating for the cheap option. But it paid off.

They spent their money on clothes and buying food at the tuck shop while I saved. That saving meant I had enough money to spend a semester studying abroad during my last year of university. It was well worth it.

Even now I'm known as the tight one at work. I bring my lunch to work every day and try to spend as little as possible on our weekly groceries.

It's a habit which continues to serve me well now as my husband and I search for our first home.

In Saturday's story Mark Lister, of Craig's Investment Partners, said parents needed to teach their kids to spend less than they earned, never borrow money to buy depreciating assets and to start saving or investing as early as possible.

Being encouraged to save to buy the things they want but do not need teaches kids the value of money and will serve them well when they go off to university and have to get by on a student allowance. It will give them a better chance of buying their first home in an increasingly competitive market.

It's sensible advice - not just for kids. It's done me well so far. Thanks Mum and Dad.