<prompt> Human: I wanted to ask the readers of rpersonalfinance to see what type of strategies you feel are best for starting my kids off on the right foot.I have a son and daughter both still under 12yo with some decent cash savings in their piggy banksapprox. 5k each I want to get them started on saving for life and I have heard many suggestions from leveraging the money with my own savings and dividing it up when they turn 18, to starting their own savings accounts to investing in mutual funds etc. I am at a loss for what to do and wondered if anyone has any good suggestions. We live in Canada and any input would be appreciated. Thank you.  <response>: Well, as a Canuck myself, heres how my parents did it. I think its more important to put kids in a pre-FI mindset rather than educate them to be sage investors while boring them to tears. Also, I think its crazy to give kids even 18 year olds lots of money and expect them to manage it with a sink or swim attitude. What we experience as children shapes us for the rest of our lives. Who are you kidding? That 5k or whatever will likely be spent backpacking through Asia, as well it should. That will get them started in life more than a mutual fund ever could AND itll teach them the value of a dollar. Money was never taboo. My father told me how much he made, and how much the car and house cost its amazing how far off kids are. If I asked what a mortgage was or how a credit card worked, he explained it as simply as possible. He was never condescending or told me I didnt need to worry about it. My parents explained how if we were careful, we could afford a lot of great stuff on a middle-class salary Disneyworld! OR we could blow it on every little frivolous thing we wanted at the moment and live our lives drowning in debt. My parents led by example: they didnt buy crap because they could; when my brother and I asked for crap, they were able to say no without being hypocrites. AFAIK, they never held credit card debt. That taught us self-restraint. My parents did not give me a regular allowance, but gave me small amounts of money to do reasonable things a kid would do, e.g., 10 for a movie in the 90s. I was always surprised how many of my friends were expected to pay for all their necessities e.g., clothes, school supplies and fees, transportation, etc. out of a fixed monthly allowance; as if a kid is capable of being responsible for all that! Those kids simply werent capable of managing their money and blew their money on frivolous crap; surprise, they still act like that! They would give my brother and I money for large tasks e.g., cleaning the garage, ugh; we saved that plus whatever surplus we had from our grants, which was not unsubstantial, because we got used to not buying little things all the time. They would give us opportunities to make money if we asked for them nice work, you got your kids to ask for chores.I should note maybe we were somewhat privileged growing up, but we were definitely not wealthy. tl;dr: FI attitude FI tactics. Lead by example. Demystify money. Dont expect kids to be adults with money; youre the parent, and its ultimately your money. Dont be stingy but learn to say no to frivolous requests. 