One of the most important lessons a parent can teach their child is that of fiscal responsibility and how best to manage their money.  Even though Riley is still too young to fully understand what money is, Michael and I are already trying to teach her the concepts of saving what you earn and donating to others.

Honestly, saving my money was one of those lessons I didn't exactly learn at an early age and I suffered the consequences of my bad financial decisions for more years than I care to remember.  Before I married Michael, I was wracked with credit card debt and living paycheck to paycheck with absolutely no money in the bank.

Thankfully, my financial story turned out to have a happy ending and I learned my lesson well.  I want to make sure that Riley doesn't make the same mistakes I did and am grateful to learn of companies like PNC that are helping parents teach their children practical money management skills.  Keep reading to learn more!

PNC recognizes the value financial education brings to families to help them budget, save and plan for future needs and now they want to help teach young children these core values too.  In a new initiative in financial education for preschoolers and their families, PNC has created "'S' is for Savings", a children's savings account with online instruction that helps establish a foundation for financial education for all children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old.

This is a valuable tool to utilize with your children for a fun, friendly and free online learning experience.  Research shows that parents see a need to introduce financial education, but unfortunately, lack the tools and resources in order to do so.  I know that I definitely fall into this category, because although my intentions are good, I'm just not sure what to teach Riley or even how to get started.

If you open an "'S' is for Savings" account with PNC, you'll have access to an interactive web site which allows children to set goals and track their progress in an engaging, visual manner, complete with sound effects and animation.  What's more, children can easily see how much they have in their account and literally drag and drop their money into jars, which represent how they want to divide their money.

The really cool thing is that parents can use PNC's "auto save" feature to even deposit their child's weekly allowance directly into their account so that children can decide how to disburse their earnings each week.  I especially love how PNC has made their "'S' is for Savings" accounts so lucrative for children.  For instance, it only takes a $25 minimum balance to open an account and there are no service charges for account holders under 18 years old.  Your child will also start earning interest on all balances over $1.00.

Start your child's financial education off on the right foot and open up a "'S' is for Savings" account from PNC today!