What would you say to your 15 year old self about money?

Morning all
Today I'm going to talk to my 15 year old self, it's needed to be fair as I was stupid back then, while I'm happy how my life's panned out so far I'll admit that openly but looking back at when I landed my first job I should have done so many things differently.

Meet me. A fresh faced (hahah) 15 year old at school in 1998-9, back in the days when prepaid phones were in their infancy and made today's megaphones look tiny in comparison, life was pretty easy and the worst we had to worry about was getting back and forth from school and getting accepted to college if our grades were ok. But over the course of that fateful year I was given a valuable life lesson by my old man, "if you want something, go out an earn it!" Looking back now it was a subtle kick up the behind, despite the fact I'd already landed myself a weekend job.

The work was good if you ignore the odd child that liked to puke you really could call it being paid to play. All the team were fantastic, even the somewhat misunderstood owner. 7 days later the fateful day came I had been longing for, my first wage slip with cash nestled inside it. Happiness was soon to become the accounts department lady's visit on a Friday and here's where I stop the story to talk to 15 year old me as it's here where things get stupid, seriously stupid!

PAUL, STOP RIGHT THERE!

Money is good, cool, and awesome to spend but darker times are coming. and within a few weeks of being 16 you'll be spending £40-60 a week on credit for your two phones, wasting money on anything you can and not keeping any money back for essentials like travel, clothes, course books or emergencies, trust me there are quite a few to come. Forget the rainy day saving think saving for survival here.

Please leave college early and get walking around the town and sign up for a decent savings account, research what would be beneficial for you and understand the differences of spending and saving money and what the benefits with your new account can give you while saving for that rainy day come zombie apocalypse.
I say this to you now as things will get worse and shortly after your 19'th birthday you'll be made homeless and you'll need every penny you can get your hands on. But I promise your future landlords are lovely, but for the love of spaghetti cat tidy your room the weekend you go away with the eastern region millennium volunteers, you filthy pig!

I'll leave my message to me with emphasis on doing better with money with a spoiler and some advice for 15 year old me. Life gets tough but becomes awesome - the three kids in my top bar are yours!
And the advice is - Don't go in the hay-barn with a certain lady - you'll get a new nickname from your friends otherwise!
All the best! - Me.

If you could go back to your 15 year old self what would you say to you? Let us know in the comments.
Paul

Discloslure - this post was created by me in collaboration with Santander

Childrens savings fun with Pigby and Friends

More images from the day are on my Flickr 

Heya everyone!
A few weeks ago me and Vee took a trip to London to learn about banks and savings and to help Natwest and Britmums tell the world how children see banks, savings and money and what their thoughts were on essential questions like what is a bank, what does a bank look like and who looks after your money inside a bank. This was filmed by an amazing film crew and here's how it came out. So, so proud of Vee!

VoxPops by NatWest are a short series of videos where children are asked about money and finances to tie in with the bank's aim of both teaching more children to save money and to bring back saving ideas with Natwest's new First Account by going back to the old school to bring an entirely new generation of savers the epitome of awesome with Pigby, the latest NatWest Piggybank.

I hear you people. I know your casting you're minds back around 30 years ago now to remember the Piggybanks from NatWest. They were something special indeed, I remember getting upset Mum or Dad wouldn't get me one. 

Image credit - PiggybankPage.co.uk 

For the more nostalgic people who read my blog I'm going to disappoint you, the Westminster Piggy family are not being bought back,
But this time NatWest made the epic decision to ask children in 2012 to help design the piggybank in the competition 'Pigs By Kids'. After 2000 designs and 25,000 votes from around the UK. Finally the winning design by 13 year old Kwamina was chosen, then to the Aardman animation studio, the creators of Wallace and Gromit and her design soon came to life and was called Pigby. However that's not where it stops. Pigby decided to bring his friends to the party too. If you look at the video below you'll see what I mean.

Pigby and Friends are par of NatWest's new First Saver accounts, accounts designed for children aged three and upwards. In an 80's throwback they utilise the Pigby bank as an incentive for your children to learn how to save money. That way the kids can have money saved for the moment they want Dinosaurs, cheesy pop music the band's hoodie or even a games console.
On top of this Natwest with Aardman have created an interactive smartphone app to help children learn about saving money and have fun at the same time (of course parent's load it onto your phones for the kids but I bet it'll be fun! Kids get permission before installing or going online!) And for those who prefer their children not to pinch your smartphone there is also a Pigby's savings zone web portal too which comes in your child's welcome pack

I dropped Natwest a line and Aardman Animations to get their thoughts on Pigby and the first saver account and they said the following

David Crawford, Head of Savings at NatWest, says:
“Many parents may fondly remember the NatWest pigs from their childhood, and we hope this new generation of pigs can help teach children that saving can be fun as well as beneficial in later life. 

“By working with Aardman, who already excite and inspire children across the world with their animation, we’ve created a more modern set of characters to teach kids about the benefits of saving to buy the things they want.”

Heather Wright, Executive Producer at Aardman Animations adds:

“We have had a huge amount of fun developing these characters, especially Pigby, who although he is the youngest of the group and wants to be just like them in terms of their activities and escapades, is the one they all rely on when it comes to planning ahead!” 

Personally I think this is a great way to help children save money. They see more and more toys and gadgets on television they want and to give them a way to save money to get that one thing they want will be a great incentive for them to look after it and be proud they've bought and saved for it with their own money from their bank account.

The NatWest First Saver account is open to children under 16 and they’ll earn 1% on balances under £25,000 and 0.5% for balances over this amount. It’s an instant access account which means that savings are not locked in – helping children to balance saving versus spending.

For more information on Pigby and the Natwest First saver account please click here or pop into your local branch and get the kids saving.

Do you encourage the children to save money if so tell me how the kids save their pennies?
Paul

Disclosure: This post was written in association with Natwest and Britmums.