It’s never too early to start teaching your child the value of saving and smart spending, Gorynski told LifeZette.

Here are some lessons for kids:

Age 2-4: It may be too soon to discuss abstract financial topics, but this is a great time to start practicing financial skills such as earning rewards for good behavior, counting and waiting for something they want.  Give your child a coin to place in his or her piggy bank (with adult supervision) as a reward for positive behaviors such as putting away toys after playing with them.

Periodically, empty the bank to count the coins with them to demonstrate how their hard work pays off over time. Introduce the idea of commerce by turning in a certain number of coins for a certain reward. For example, 10 coins equal a trip to the park.

Age 5-8: With this age group you can introduce the concept of earning and saving money from activities such as household chores, lemonade stands or birthday gifts. Have your children keep their earnings in their piggy bank or savings account — and celebrate every time they make a deposit.

Age 9-12: The tween years are a good time to start talking about some of the bills we pay as adults and how they relate to “needs” vs. “wants.”  For example, parents have to buy groceries for the family, which is a “need.” If we spend all our money on all the latest toys — a “want” — we won’t have enough money to buy food and we will be hungry.

This is also the perfect time to start talking about budgets. Explain that you can’t spend more than you earn in a given time period and that the money you earn must pay for “needs,” such as food, shelter and utilities, first. After you’ve paid for all of your “needs,” you can then decide how much to save and spend on “wants” with what is left over.

Earning larger amounts of money sets the stage for saving for bigger ticket items.

Age 13 and up: This is an ideal time to start encouraging a part-time job outside the home so that teens can earn more money and learn responsibility through babysitting, walking dogs for neighbors, or working as a grocery store carryout. Earning larger amounts of money sets the stage for saving for bigger ticket items, such as a cell phone, computer or car.

Start encouraging your teens to save for these bigger ticket items to help them gain an appreciation for the hard work that goes into purchasing them.

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Related: Smart Money Lessons for Kids

This is also an ideal time to introduce the concept of sharing some of our hard-earned money with others, by giving to a charity or purchasing special gifts for friends and loved ones.

Work with your teen to determine an amount to set aside from their earnings in order to share with others while still setting aside enough for saving and spending.[lz_pagination]