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MONEY SMART KIDS
Piggy Banks for Managing Money
by Janet Bodnar

I've heard of a kids' piggy bank with separate compartments for things like spending, saving and giving. Can you help me find one?

I'd be delighted. You can choose among several such banks, each with its own unique twist. Here's the lineup -- plus a few other resources that will help your kids learn to save and manage their money:

• Moonjar moneybox ($6.95). These colorful, collapsible cardboard boxes come in three sections, one each for spending, saving and sharing. Each kit includes a guide for using the boxes and a passbook for recording transactions.



• Money Savvy Pig ($14.99). From Money Savvy Generation, this translucent polystyrene pig is available in six colors and has four compartments: save, spend, donate and invest. Also available for $2.50: a Money Savvy Pig coloring and activity book.



• My Giving Bank ($19.99). From the late Larry Burkett's Money Matters for Kids ministry, this clear plastic bank focuses on finances from a Christian perspective. The bank's three compartments, for saving, spending and giving, are in the form of a bank, a store and church. Includes Bible-based financial information for kids.



• Money Mama Piggy Bank. Money Mama comes with three little piggy banks, one each for giving, saving and investing (the rest goes into big mama for spending). The china bank costs $34.95 alone, or $49.95 as a package with the picture bookMoney Mama & the Three Little Pigs by Lori Mackey.



• Kidsca$h ($12.95). A basic spiral-bound ledger in which kids can keep daily and monthly records of how much cash they get (from allowance, found money, gifts, earnings), what they spend it on, and how much they save.



• ParentBanc ($9.99). With this checkbook (which I use with my kids), you record your child's allowance as a deposit in the check register. When the kids need money, they write a check -- which you cash -- and subtract the amount from their balance. Saving isn't required, but I pay interest on any amount left in the account at the end of each month.

To encourage young kids to stash their cash in the first place, read It's a Habit, Sammy Rabbit! by Sam X. Renick ($8.95). The book is the first in a series of adventures in which Sammy Rabbit learns the value of saving.