is spending money. How can I teach them to save? A: My father, an accountant, didn't give me and my siblings our weekly allowances in cash. Instead, we'd line up each Sunday evening and he would "debit'' the accounts he kept for us on a yellow notepad by whatever allowance each of us was due. (We'd get bonuses for chores.) There was a certain amount of rivalry among us as to who could save the most.

As the totals grew, we could "withdraw'' funds to cover the cost of things we wanted to buy or, even better, move them to savings accounts my father helped us set up at banks. We didn't know it at the time, but we were getting weekly lessons in how to manage money -- and how to save.

Susan Cole, managing director of the education foundation at the American Bankers Association, says parents can't start too early teaching their children good spending -- and savings -- habits.

"If those skills are developed young, they stay with you for life,'' Cole says. Young savers who persist "end up with money for college, a home, retirement, whatever''.

Unfortunately, money management is a skill many parents lack. According to the latest US Commerce Department figures, America's savings rate -- savings as a percentage of after-tax income -- was a record monthly low of 1.6 percent in September.

Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, has some tips to get parents going: Give your children an allowance, tell them what it's supposed to cover, and don't help them out if they try to overspend.

Require they save a percentage of their allowances (say 10 percent) and at least part of any earnings and cash gifts.

Match their savings dollar for dollar as an incentive.

Some banks offer year-round programmes for children.

One bank offers kids get a free piggy bank when they join the Young Savers Club. Accounts can be opened with as little as $5! Another bank sets up savings clubs in local schools, and starts paying interest at a dollar.

--Eileen Powell AP Business Writer If you have a question please send it to Good Question at editorial y gazette.newsmedia.bm.