I was asked a bunch of two-option questions in a podcast last week, including if I was a saver or a spender. “Saver,” I swiftly answered.

But if my children were asked, their accurate responses would be respectively “saver” and “spender”. Yep, I have one of each. As any parent knows, kids arrive hardwired for both a certain level of consumption and a particular ability to delay it.

Kids often come hardwired with a certain ability to save and to spend.Credit: Dionne Gain

But here’s the thing: if you can get them to understand and appreciate the value of compounding their cash, you’ll see their consumption go down, and their determination up. This is your script: “I know you want that [insert name of shiny/distracting consumable]. But did you know you could instead get free money?” Then, following the disinterested/disbelieving response:

“Well, you know that to get what you want, you need to save a little bit each week? Here’s the money magic: when you stash your cash, you make money on money you haven’t even saved.”

Which is when they’ll get super sceptical (a concept they should hang........

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