school money clubs

I recently spoke with a grandmother who gets it when it comes to financial education for children and, in her case, grandchildren. She had written an article that she read and loved so much that she had to call me. The article went over some simple steps parents can take to make their children or grandchildren much more financially educated.

As a result of the discussion, we are thinking of establishing a money club at the schools your grandchildren attend. We are also going to work with the parent teacher associations that she participates in to try to provide financial education to parents who may need it.

Education is a challenge for everyone involved. I know. My mother has been a teacher for almost 30 years, so I have seen and heard about the many challenges she has in her classroom. I also come from a banking/financial services background and understand that one of the biggest challenges I have encountered is the gap in financial education for children. And many parents don’t know where to start when it comes to teaching it.

So the question is, how do we in the financial community work with parents, teachers and administrators to teach financial literacy to children?

I could be selfish and argue that more students will pay bills when they grow up and then have to name the planets on a monthly basis.

But I realize that the education system is institutional and that curricula change slowly and teachers need time to adjust to new introductions.

However, as I am looking to do with Grandma, there are clubs that can be started around this important topic. Money clubs, finance clubs, savings clubs or any variant of this concept. It can all be done outside of the teaching environment and provide lifelong insights to children. Parents or teachers can work with the PTA to get something like this going.

I have been in banking/financial services for over 10 years and I love it. However, I wish there was more information on financial education for children. Curriculum additions and parent-teacher-initiated clubs are a great way to do this.