“Working to help parents raise money-smart kids.”
Hello, friends!
“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn’t talking about raising money-empowered kids, but his words are relevant to the journey we’re all on.
Start with a crawl if you must. And eventually, your children may learn to fly. 🦋
— 1 —
Hats Off to Our Partners: As you probably know, we partner with credit unions across the US to help parents raise money-smart kids. Our program is called The Art of Allowance Project and features The Money Mammals, who started it all for us, and Adolescent$, our new offering for tweens and teens. Of course, it includes lots of material to help you, the parents, too.
On this day of service, I want to extend my gratitude to our credit union partners, who have done incredible work in school systems — reaching their local communities using our books, games and videos.
Because each state (and even each district) has different requirements, these incredible volunteers sometimes must crawl before they can break into a sprint. 🏃♀️
If you’d like The Money Mammals to visit your school, then please let me know. We’ll see if we can connect you with one of our fabulous credit union partners.
— 2 —
The Art of Allowance Academy: I am excited to teach my first Art of Allowance Academy workshop of 2022 this Wednesday, January 19th, at 5:30 pm PT. This particular class is supported by Arden Clise of Clise Etiquette and sponsored by the wonderful folks at Sound Credit Union.
The Art of Allowance Academy course is a great way to kick-start a program to get your children on a money-smart path, no matter their ages. There are still spots open, so you can sign up here on Clise Etiquette’s site. The class is a bargain at $89, and it’s free for members of Sound Credit Union who sign up here.
Please contact us if you’d like to present this unique workshop to your members or employees.
— 3 —
Living Beneath Our Means: I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not always abided by this key tenet of financial literacy. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I’m passionate about helping parents raise money-smart kids — so that we can all get money-smart a bit earlier.
Last week I shared my most recent essay, “You Don’t Need a Budget,” and noted that living beneath our means is a more foundational money-smart principle than budgeting. 🤯
And this week we’re releasing the fourth video in our Good Money Habits series for tweens and teens, “Don’t Spend More Than You Make.”
This approach is how we live beneath our means, and it easily could have been the subject of the first video in the series in terms of importance. Feel free to share this new installment and our other videos, all of which are part of the Adolescent$ program.
Truthfully, this video was inspired by one of my favorite financial literacy shorts of all time, “Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford,” which appeared on, of all places, Saturday Night Live! 😂
Remember, when your journey slows to a crawl, take heart that if you stick with it, then you’ll learn to walk. And you know what? Eventually you’ll maybe even fly.
Because our journeys take us places we never thought we’d go.
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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