gr8savers is a website created by the Credit Union for 7-12 year olds.
Its a place for you to get information about the credit union, how to save with the credit union and to get content, such as games, downloads, saving tips, money information, competitons, and credit union events for schools.
Click on the links on the left hand side of the screen to find your way around.
GR8 Savers Week:
Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald TD and former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner have joined the Irish League of Credit Unions to launch its annual GR8 Savers Week. The campaign aims to highlight the need to provide children with a healthy attitude to money and savings and underline the important role that parents can play in assisting children to develop a savings habit.
GR8 Savers Week is an annual undertaking by the Irish League of Credit Unions. As part of the campaign, a range of activities will take place in credit unions and schools around the country including open days, schools visits, treasure hunts and more, all in an effort to educate younger children on the benefits of saving. The 2011 GR8 Savers week will run from the 9th – 15th May.
As part of the campaign, the ILCU also undertook a study that looks specifically at savings trends in parents with younger children and the costs associated with communion and confirmation. The results of the research are outlined below.
Speaking at the Launch of GR8 Savers Week, Irish League of Credit Unions CEO, Kieron Brennan said: “Given the harsh economic reality facing many Irish families today, there has never been a more important time to focus on providing a financial education to our young people. A healthy attitude towards money is crucial to ensure that children don’t develop bad habits when it comes to money management. Studies have shown that the development of a savings habit at a young age results in that healthy attitude to money staying with the person through to adult life”.
Speaking about the initiative, Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children said: ” In these difficult times it is vitally important that we teach our children about how to manage their money so that they may develop strong saving habits, learn how to make smart purchases and learn why they can't immediately get everything they want. By teaching the value of saving for the future, we may be able to put the next generation on the road to financial security. It is great to see a nationwide, fun initiative like GR8 Saver being run – now more so than ever.”
Commenting on the GR8 Savers Initiative, Packie Bonner said: “I’m delighted to lend my support to this initiative. Now more than ever, we need to encourage our children to put a little aside on a regular basis and to develop a healthy attitude towards money.”
A study (**the full results of which are attached) undertaken by IREACH Market Research on behalf of the Irish League of Credit Unions looked at the savings habits of Irish children in 2011:
Overall, 55% of parents of children under 18 give their children pocket money with 72% of parents saying they give their children aged 16-18 years old pocket money each week.
Those aged 16-18 receive on average the largest amount of pocket money per week €15.37. Children aged 5 - 8 receive the least amount of money getting on average €6.15.
The study shows that 68% of parents state that their children spend all or most of their pocket money. 30% of children save most of their pocket money with a mere 2% saving all.
The credit union has emerged as the most popular place for children to save their pocket money, with 45% of parents stating that their children save with their local credit union.
This was followed by Piggy Banks (used by 22% of children) and other financial institutions (16%).
The importance of providing financial education to children is underlined, with 70% of parents rating this as being of utmost importance. 80% of respondents believe that encouragement from parents is the best way of getting children to save with 64% stating that helping children to set savings goals is important in helping children to save.
Half of parents (50%) identified that rewarding children for saving or providing incentives to save as important in encouraging the savings habit, while 26% believe teaching children about interest rates will encourage them to save.
Just 41% of parents surveyed received an education on money when they were young, with half of parents (50%) stating their children are more informed about savings and money than they were at their age (just 8% believing their children are less informed).
39% of parents stated that their child is saving for a particular purpose. Of these respondents, 41% of parents stated that their children are saving for a holiday/ day out.
The next most popular items are Sports and Hobbies (19%), Computer or Laptop (19%) and Books (19%). 15% of parents stated that their children are saving money for mobile phone/ mobile phone credit.
Communion / Confirmation
As communion and confirmation season begins, the ILCU study found that the average amount of money received by a child for communion is €471, while the average amount received for a child making his/ her confirmation is €455.
Parents found that clothes are the biggest cost associated with communion, while food and drink are the biggest costs associated with a confirmation.
64% of parents whose children received their communion in the past 3 years found that clothes were the biggest cost as opposed to 54% of parents of children who received their confirmation. This may be due to the fact that children may wear their uniforms for their confirmation. However, for both communion and confirmation buying clothes new is the most popular option.
Entertainment costs are also a lot higher for parents of children who receive their communion
In relation to funding the costs of communion and confirmation, 21% of respondents stated that they use credit cards to cover some of the costs of communion, with 15% using this method to finance confirmation costs.
An even more worrying result is that almost one in 8 (12%) families finance at least part of the costs of communion via moneylenders, with the percentage using moneylenders to help to finance the costs of confirmation dropping to one in 25 (4%) families for confirmation.
Most parents encouraged their children to save most of the money given to them for their communion or confirmation. Those making their confirmation were more likely to be encouraged to save than those receiving their communion.
THE SURVEY
The survey was conducted by Market Research Company iReach during the period of 24th March to 1st April using the iReach Consumer Decisions Research Panel which delivered 1,000 responses from adults in Ireland aged 18+ to 65+ and is nationally representative by Age, Region, Gender and Social Class. This research has a confidence level of 95% and confidence interval of 4%.
About the Irish League of Credit Unions: The Irish League of Credit Unions is the representative body for over 498 Credit Unions on the island of Ireland. It is Ireland’s successful, not-for-profit, financial co-operative run by – and for – it’s almost 3 million members.
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