Emergency Fund: Keep-Safe Money

What your kid learns

• Surprises happen

  A cracked screen, a lost water bottle, a surprise trip fee. You can’t plan when surprises come. You can plan that they will.

• Without savings

  Without savings, you borrow or go without. Borrowing means future you pays it back, sometimes with extra.

• How big?

  Kids can aim for about a month of their own spending. Grown-ups aim for a few months of bills. Start small. Any amount helps.

• Separate, reachable, refilled

  Keep it apart from goal money, so you don’t spend it by accident. Keep it easy to reach. After you use it, refill it.

The story: Two cracked screens

Kayla pays for a phone repair from keep-safe money. Alex has to borrow and pay it back.

1. Helper: Kayla and Alex both dropped their phones this week. Both screens cracked.
2. Kayla: The repair costs $40. Good thing I have keep-safe money.
3. Alex: I don’t have any saved. I borrowed $40 from my grown-up.
4. Helper: Now Alex pays back $10 a week for 4 weeks. That’s less money for everything else.
5. Kayla: And I’ll refill my keep-safe money a little each week.
6. Helper: Surprises are certain. Keep-safe money keeps a bad day from becoming debt. Grown-ups call it an emergency fund.

The game: Life happens

Draw pretend surprise cards over a school term. Pay from keep-safe money (grown-ups call it an emergency fund) or borrow, then compare.

Games use pretend money and work with taps or a keyboard. Nothing is timed.

New words

keep-safe money

savings set aside just for surprises

Also called: emergency fund

unexpected expense

a cost you didn’t see coming

refill

putting money back after you use it

Questions at the end

• Which one is an emergency?
• Why should keep-safe money stay separate?
• You used your keep-safe money. What comes next?
• A $40 surprise. You can pay from savings or borrow. Why is savings better?
• About how much keep-safe money can a kid aim for?

Remember this

Surprises are certain. Save for them.

Talk about it

What’s a surprise cost a kid your age might face? How could you be ready for it?

Try it at home: Start keep-safe money

1. Pick a small amount to set aside for surprises.
2. Keep it apart from goal money, like in its own jar or envelope.
3. If you use it, refill it a little at a time.

No account needed. A jar or an envelope at home works. No money yet? Practice with coin circles cut from paper.

School standards

• Grades 6–8
• National Standards for Personal Financial Education: Saving