A new breed of junior goalsetters becomes financial winners

JACK Howell, 14, has dreams of becoming a Paralympian and is embracing new technologies to get on top of his finances and fund his journey.

SETTING financial goals is a powerful tool to motivate people to save money, and shouldn’t be limited to just adults.

Children can gain huge benefits from setting and achieving money goals, financial specialists say, as small successes snowball into bigger and better things.

CRISIS: Lack of savings puts Aussies on the brink

Jack Howell, 14, is among the breed of young goal-setters, using technology to help manage his pocket money and save for items as he pursues an elite para-triathlon career and dreams of becoming a Paralympian.

Jack, who was born with only one hand, uses prepaid card and financial education app Spriggy to set targets — with images of his goals loaded into the app — to save for triathlon equipment such as wetsuits and bikes.

Jack Howell, 14, aims to become a Paralympian and sets goals to pay for his journey.

“Usually every kid, when they get their pocket money, they go nuts and spend it at the school canteen,” Jack said. Having an image of the goal stopped young savers from losing interest, he said.

Jack’s mother Therese said her daughter Alyssa, 11, was also using the app to save and set financial goals.

“The kids have a good understanding of what it feels like to have a goal, save for it and achieve it,” Mrs Howell said.

Spriggy co-founder Mario Hasanakos said children could start setting financial goals “as soon as they can count”.

Goals could be as simple as a small toy that only required a couple of weeks of saving, he said. “The experience of being successful drives kids to try again, then they take on a little more difficulty and a higher goal.”

MORTGAGES: Aussies cutting it fine with their finances

Mr Hasanakos said it was a good idea to divert some pocket money each week towards a specific savings goal. “Once they take ownership of the choices they make, they can thrive.”

Moneysmart.gov.au says there are several approaches to financial goal setting for children, including:

• Creating charts that track savings;

• Splitting pocket money into jars for saving, spending and donating;

• Drawing up a budget and deciding together how pocket money will be split.

“It’s never too early to talk to your children about money including spending, saving, budgeting and goal setting,” said MoneySmart senior executive leader Laura Higgins.

“Talking about the family budget is a great way to help kids understand the balance between needs and wants, and how we save money for holidays and special occasions,” she said.