How to Make Money at 9 Years Old

Earning money at nine years old offers a valuable opportunity to learn about financial responsibility and the connection between effort and reward. This early experience helps children grasp how money is earned and managed, fostering habits that will serve them throughout their lives and laying a foundation for future financial well-being.

Ideas for Earning Money

Children at nine years old can explore various age-appropriate and safe avenues to earn money. These often do not require specialized skills or significant upfront investment.

• Setting up a lemonade stand, especially in areas with foot traffic, teaches basic business concepts like the cost of supplies.
• Offering pet-sitting services or dog walking for neighbors.
• Helping neighbors with car washing, requiring only basic supplies like soap, sponges, and water.
• Performing yard work, such as raking leaves, watering plants, or pulling weeds.
• Assisting with household chores for neighbors, including vacuuming, laundry, or dusting.
• Making simple arts and crafts, like handmade cards or small decorative items, to sell to family, friends, or at local community events.

Getting Ready to Earn

Before a 9-year-old begins earning money, preparatory steps ensure safety and a positive experience. Parental involvement and supervision are important. Parents play a significant role in helping children understand money and ensuring their safety while working, including discussing safety considerations when interacting with others or performing tasks outside the home.

Setting clear expectations involves discussing the type of work, time commitment, and purpose of earning money, such as saving or contributing to charity. Gathering necessary resources for the chosen activity is also important; for a lemonade stand, this means preparing the stand, cups, and ingredients, while for pet sitting, it involves understanding the specific needs of the pets. Families should also plan the activity by discussing the idea with potential clients like neighbors or family friends and obtaining necessary permissions.

Executing Earning Activities

Children can find customers by creating simple signs for a lemonade stand or by approaching neighbors directly. Parents can also spread the word among family friends who might need assistance. Delivering the service responsibly means performing agreed-upon tasks with politeness and diligence, such as arriving on time for pet-sitting appointments, thoroughly washing cars, or maintaining a friendly demeanor at a stand.

Children should be taught how to politely ask for and receive their earnings. This interaction reinforces the concept of being compensated for work completed and helps them understand the direct reward for their efforts.

Handling Earned Money

After earning money, a 9-year-old can learn basic financial management skills. Saving is a foundational concept, and children can be encouraged to set clear savings goals, such as saving for a specific toy, game, or larger future purchase. Using a transparent jar or a simple notebook can help them visualize their accumulated savings and track progress toward their goals.

Spending earned money responsibly involves making conscious choices about purchases, distinguishing between needs and wants. This helps children understand that money is a finite resource and that choices involve trade-offs. Children can also consider sharing or donating a portion of their earnings to charity, fostering generosity. Simple record keeping, such as noting earnings and expenses in a small notebook or dividing money into clearly labeled jars for saving, spending, and giving, can provide a tangible way to track their financial activity.