A mum-of-two has revealed how she stashes away money that her children receive – including birthday gift cash.
But she insists they will thank her later in life.
Janice Curnew, 40, says that whenever her children receive money, she takes a chunk of it to put away – setting them up for a secure financial future.
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The teacher and her husband Dave, 43, from Cape Breton, NS, Canada put the cash into a savings account, which the kids can’t access, and claim the youngsters are “totally fine with it”.
But other people are not so impressed with the parents dubbed “villains”.
Janice shared her tactics to TikTok (@janicecurnew ) and users have praised the method, earning the viral video over 1.4m views and 106,000 likes.
“We had to learn about finances on our own, and we’re just trying to make good decisions for our children,” Janice told Need To Know.
“While also teaching them that we are doing these things so they won’t be stuck like we were when they’re young adults!
“Whatever money comes in to our home, whether it’s a gift, an unexpected windfall, or money earned from selling their old toys or clothes, some of that gets put into their savings account and some goes into their spending account.
“They can’t access their savings accounts for withdrawals.
“As our kids are too young for an actual income from working, we taught them that if it’s an allowance or a gift, whatever money comes to them is their ‘income’.
“And they should be doing that same savings off the top.”
Despite being strict on saving part of their kids’ money Janice and Dave give their daughters, Mariela aged eight and Lilliana, 12 , freedom to spend the remaining funds however they wish.
And they say it isn’t a strict, set amount each month.
“It’s not a set amount, because it depends on where the money comes from and how much it is.
“My daughter’s birthday was in February and $75 (£59) was put away into savings for her, which was about 15% of what she received as gifts.
“She sold some old toys on FB marketplace and earned $20 (£15)
“So $5(£3) went into her savings because it’s easier to deposit a $5 (£3) bill than $3, (£2) so that was 25% that was set aside.
“It really depends.
“We encourage them to make good choices and will discuss alternatives if we think they’re really going to regret what they’re buying.
“But, ultimately a lot of learning comes from impulse purchase regret too, so they can spend that money however they like.
“They’re totally fine with it, because all of their needs are taken care of by their parents, and honestly most of their wants are too!
“We never know what is going to happen tomorrow, so we feel that having a balance of planning for the future while also enjoying the present moment is key.”
Despite some praise for the mum-of-two for penny pinching, Janice says the reaction has been mixed.
She said: “Unless you’re in the 1%, there is a lot of emotion tied to finances, so just like anything money related, the reaction has been polarising.
“There will be some people who either think we’re total villains who are lying to our kids and spending all their money on drugs.
“Or that we’re financial geniuses whose kids are going to be millionaires because some of their birthday money is getting saved.
“Neither is true, we’re just two parents doing the best we can with the information we’ve learned along the way.
“The reaction from the vast majority who have seen our TikTok seems to agree with that.
“I’d say most people see it for what it is – parents doing the best we can with what we have!”
The comments reveal mostly praise for her forward thinking.
“I WISH my mom did this with me. I blew every dollar I ever made,” said one user.
Bre commented: “My mom did this and I had $21,000 for my first house by 23.”
Kitty quipped: “This is smart.”
“You’re teaching them budgeting, a valuable life skill. Just because they can spend it all now, they shouldn’t, they need to plan some for the future.” Laura praised.
Another impressed user noted: “That’s amazing.”
Janice added: “We are under no impression that we know everything.
“We do feel like this particular method is smart, but if anyone wants to teach us basic framework of larger scale investing we’re all ears.”
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