“Working to help parents raise money-smart kids.”
Hello, friends!
I’m coming to you from the land of Flying Elvises, drive-thru weddings and one-armed bandits. Considering my recent newsletter subject, talking to our kids about gambling, I suppose it’s only fitting that I’m in Las Vegas.
My daughter’s last soccer tournament this past weekend (😢) happened to dovetail with the Fintech Meetup conference I’m attending here in Sin City this week.
Also, March Madness, college basketball’s annual high-stakes tournament, is in full swing. And Las Vegas is its holy land!
So amidst all this bustle, I bring you another installment of “3 Ideas to Share & Save.”
— 1 —
Mixed Messages: Big, bright LED displays assault the senses up and down the famed Las Vegas Strip. And periodically, a screen will warn tourists that gambling is addictive. While seeing these warnings is certainly better than the alternative, not rolling my eyes proves difficult. This practice feels a bit like handing someone a lit cigarette at a Marlboro convention and telling him not to smoke. 🙄
Speaking of mixed messages, I know you read this newsletter because you’re interested in raising not only money-smart but also media-savvy kids. One of my favorite email newsletters, Recomendo, turned me onto the Deceptive Design Twitter account, which calls out companies for shady marketing practices like:
- False urgency: This company misleads by telling us there are fewer items in stock than actual inventory numbers. 🙄
- Confirm shaming: Yes, this is a thing! Should you decline an oh-so-generous offer, Radio Shack shames you, suggesting you must be slightly off your rocker to do so. 🙄
- Pay to streak: While I think Duolingo is a terrific app, I wish they’d stop manipulating our kids and us into paying for the endorphin hit of maintaining a streak. 🙄
So let’s talk with our kids about these manipulative practices. Because in a world of endless clicks and scrolls, these tricks are powerful. But they are less likely to be successful if we let our kids know they’re out there.
Please let me know how your conversations go. I’d love to hear how your kids react! And for more information about how to arm your kids for battle in the marketing arena, you can read this essay.
— 2 —
Better Workplaces: In one of yesterday’s Fintech Meetup sessions, Melissa Pancoast, CEO of The Beans, reminded the audience, “Financial stress is the #1 cause of employee turnover.”
She also mentioned how good many companies are at doing things that aren’t necessarily good for us. For instance, they put us in MRI machines to see how we react to Super Bowl commercials (in the spirit of those deceptive marketing tactics I mentioned above).
Melissa’s point is that companies are creatively capable. So we can and should expect more of the businesses with which we interact and work. (Or own! 😉)
As a reader of this newsletter, you know by now that we work with wonderful credit union partners across the country. Our program, The Art of Allowance Project featuring The Money Mammals for younger kids and Adolescent$ for tweens and teens, allows our partners to help families like yours raise money-smart kids.
So if you’d like your business to get started with (or build upon) a financial wellness program, then we’d love to talk with you. Our current partners recognize that our program not only serves their customers or members but also their employees. We want to help your institution reduce financial stress and hopefully, through the process, become a better place to work for you and your colleagues.
Email me directly if you’d like to find out more about how we can help.
— 3 —
Better to Not Pay Later: I’ve previously addressed the danger of Buy Now Pay Later schemes that continue to proliferate. Fintech payment darlings like Klarna heavily promote these BNPL programs (as they are commonly called), as if buying things for which we don’t have money is a good thing.
One of yesterday’s Fintech Meetup speakers referred to BNPL as an innovation. And while he’s technically right, I can’t think of a good reason not to encourage my kids to avoid BNPL. Can you? 🤔
You should tell your kids to think of the term BNPL as “Better to Not Pay Later.” Or, as Art of Allowance Podcast guest Robin Taub mentions in this article, some refer to it as “Buy Now Pain Later.” Whatever you call it, it’s a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”-style innovation. Because while BNPL promoters tout interest-free installments, they also benefit from your missed payments.
From Taub’s article:
“What happens if you miss a payment? With some services, it could result in interest and fees. About a third of BNPL users have admitted to making a late payment and 72% said their credit score fell.”
It’s no coincidence that BNPL payments are heavily promoted in social media influencer-style marketing. Influencers can make good money convincing us that certain items are must-haves, whether or not we have the money. (In case you’re wondering, these things are not the “needlets” I’ve written about before.)
So while I often talk about the importance of our kids having direct experience with money – it’s one of the three pillars of money-smart learning – when it comes to the possibility of accruing any kind of debt, we should be proactive and sound the alarm.
Otherwise, when debt begins to stack up and when those bills start coming due, guess who your kids are going to text for help? (Hint: It probably won’t be the BNPL provider.)
And your reaction might be a bit more than 🙄.
I hope you’re enjoying this newsletter. I put in a lot of effort each week researching and writing it. So if you could take just a minute to share one of these ideas with a friend or colleague who you think might benefit, then I’d really appreciate it.
Until next week, enjoy the journey!
John, Chief Mammal
P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before engaging in any decisions that might affect your own financial well-being.
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