If you're new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
One of the best things parents can do to prepare their children for the Real World™ is to teach them basic financial skills. A kid who knows how to save is a kid who has a jump-start on life. Money Savvy Generation is a company designed to “help kids get smart about money”. Founder Susan Beacham writes:
I am the mother of two girls. I was also a private banker, who repeatedly saw in my professional life how painful and difficult it was for my adult clients to deal with even the most basic concepts of personal finance. In 1999 I decided to do something about this and co-founded Money Savvy Generation with my husband, Michael.
My dream is to teach money management basics to elementary school aged children, a segment of our educational system virtually untouched because of the perceived complexity of the subject matter. Stated differently, I wanted to get “out in front” of money management behavior before bad habits set in.
Money Savvy Generation creates and sells tools designed to help parents and children develop sound money skills. The company’s keystone product is the Money Savvy Pig:
The company also produces a Money Savvy Cow and a Money Savvy Football. Each money savvy bank features slots for SAVE, SPEND, DONATE, and INVEST. (Of course, the truly frugal can accomplish the same thing with four canning jars.)
I have no affiliation with Money Savvy Generation — I just like the pig! (Trent likes the pig, too, and chose it for his son.)
.jpg "The Money Blog Network - Improving your bottom line")
June 6th, 2007 at 6:15 am
I too agree with this idea. I really like the “donate” section of the piggy bank as tithing isn’t a widely used concept for children.
FT
June 6th, 2007 at 7:24 am
My kids would find this concept (piggy bank) as “old school” and “too retro.”
I think that for VERY YOUNG kids, it is an OK concept.
I taught financial planning & investing to my kids by showing them how to read the financial pages (stocks & mutual funds) of the Wall Street Journal. I also took them on to Vanguard & Fidelity’s websites where I showed them how to choose mutual funds. On Fidelity’s site, one of my kids chose a mutual fund and transferred some of his assets into that.
Then I took them to treasurydirect.com (bonds) (Netscape only) and my oldest son opened his own account himself as I guided him along. All this was free of course. Treasury Direct has an authorization form that needs to be signed & stamped by a bank officer and then sent in to the Treasury, so it takes several weeks to actually get account approval and an account number to buy securities.
Then on to TDAmeritrade and opened a direct deposit account with them.
So, its NOT complicated, but it is time consuming. We found that it takes more than “10 minutes” to open an account, mainly because of choosing a password or PIN that is acceptable to the system and has not been chosen by someone else. Also, choosing which security questions to answer - that takes time too. And, printing pages out as we went - takes more time. About 30 mins, I’d say.
My kids have the excitement of doing the real deal. Makes them feel very grown-up and decisive.
The donation portion shown in the above-photo will probably appeal to a certain political/religious segment. Whatever.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:47 am
I think this is a great item to show kids how to do each of the four things listed. Granted it might take a bit more imagination to let them figure out how investing works.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:17 am
I, too, like the pig. Especially for young children as one other reader commented. This would actually be a good birthday gift to give, as opposed to more legos or action figures.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:59 am
As someone who doesn’t have kids, I wonder whether forcing them to save/donate/invest really teaches them that they should, or that you think that they should. I guess it all comes from the way that its taught?
I think the pig would be most likely to appeal to quite small children - probably at least under 8 (dolls and so on are aimed at the under 8 crowd only these days)
June 6th, 2007 at 9:07 am
This is great! Of course, it would be best to use with kids as parents show they’re doing the same thing.
I think my boyfriend needs one…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:09 am
In response to MG, I think the donation section will appeal to more than “a certain political/religious segment.” I’m neither political nor religious, but I’ll donate to this or that when the mood strikes me. IMHO, teaching a bit of charity (along with compassion, etc that goes along with it) is just as important as teaching good personal finance skills. As my dad would say, we can’t just go around breathing everyone else’s air without giving a little something back… Or it could be repurposed to save for gifts, something along those lines.
It’s great that you are able to teach your children about finance in a more “real-world” way. I wish my parents had been able to do that for me. The closest I got was a savings account, which had a hold put on it by some creditor or another, since it was in my Mom’s name as well as mine, and she had an outstanding student loan. Yikes! Talk about learning the hard way…
June 6th, 2007 at 9:17 am
My parents did something similar with me when I was young. We didn’t use anything as sophisticated as a plastic pig though
They just asked me how much of my money I wanted split between a savings account and immediate spending. Immediate spending they would give to me. The rest they invested for me. It took a while, but I grew to recognize the fact the money saved does not mean money lost. It means even more money later!
Gal
June 6th, 2007 at 9:27 am
I really like the four categories. My husband grew up in an uber-frugal refugee family and they were given two equal amounts weekly, one to save and one to spend. There was no distinction between save and invest, and of course there was no concept of donate. The real message there was saving was good, spending is bad. It created a very unhealthy attitude, lots of guilt, and unnecessary self-denial.
I do wonder about the “pig”, which connotes piggy-ness in our culture.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:48 am
That’s rather fab. Wish I’d had one at an early age (actually, my husband could do with one right now). Writing as a heathen and a euro-lefty who rolls her eyes at the american notion of “tithing” I don’t see how “donate” appeals to one political/religious demographic either, but that’s another conversation.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Sorry, I’m just laughing at the headline. The Money Savvy Pig……. eyecatching!
June 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I’m an adult, but I have a piggy bank. Whenever I come home with spare change in my pocket, or when the clothes washer “makes” money, it goes in the piggy bank. Last time I cashed it in, it added up to $125. Pretty good for money I never missed. That’s my mad money.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:01 am
I just don’t agree with forcing anyone to donate or tithe…you can be generous when you have it (if you want to).
I was always taught to keep 10% for yourself first (thats my tithing) - nevermind the govenment gets their cut before you do! I liked the ideas above that you could have some money set aside to donate when you find a good cause or to be spent on gifts for others.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I also don’t agree with forced donation. Many people volunteer their time, which may be more valuable than their money.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I have a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old and if the price is right I might have to get one of them pigs and pronto. Thanks.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:39 am
I also used hate the idea of donations. However, I now understand the business concept behind many forms of donation: 1) donations can be a great form of advertisement for our company in forums where direct add buys are not allowed, 2) they can be a great way to target particular audiences (potential employees in university departments, yacht owners at marinas, etc.), 3) They can be used as leverage to negotiate deals with government officials (land swaps, mining rights, urban growth boundary positions, contracts, etc.).
I’d like to see a fifth compartment added to the piggy bank. Something like “money acquired from my peers”. As it stands the pig doesn’t teach children anything about how money is acquired in the first place. Sure, investment is a sound strategy with today’s tax regime — but with democrats in control in congress it’s important that we teach our children a broad array of business skills to ensure that the growth rate of their assets doesn’t falter.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I just opened savings accounts for my kids. In doing so, the bank just sent these Piggy banks to me. So, now both of my kids each have their own Money Savvy Pig.
I think it’s a great idea, the only problem I’m having is trying to explain to them that it’s not a toy. Since they were both infants they’ve been allowed to play with Daddy’s change bucket. They were each given other banks which made different electronical (very technical term there
sounds. They get a big kick out of putting the money in to make the sounds, then taking it all out and starting over again.
One is just barely old enough to start earning an allowance, the other is too young. So I’m now trying to figure out how to help them understand the concept of saving without thinking it’s a game.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I am a member of that “religious segment” and I don’t tithe … because that law was done away with at Jesus death. But I DO give … generously when money is abundant, less so when things are tight. Sometimes my giving ends up in the collection box, sometimes I’ll pass a few bucks toward the guy in the wheelchair with the cup extended, nearly always I’ll donate of my time (my donated time was recently publicly valued at $1,200 a month by an Elder).
That’s a lot more cash than I could afford, but I do kip in from my excess with the stuff the bank is more likely to recognize.
From my point of view, willing public service (including monetary & service donations) are an important part of being a human and working my way through life. Ayn Rand was right about those who will simply ‘take’ as though it were some sort of right and this might be he source of MG’s disdain … but Roark DID give where it made sense to him to do so. He wasn’t a heartless and stingy man … he had a balanced view of money.
FWIW, my religion does not have a paid priesthood and makes very little use of any sort of paid professionals. The money goes where it should and doesn’t disappear down some administrative black hole. My $1,200 ‘donation’ is the result of not hiring a landscape company. We also don’t hire janitors but quickly clean our own houses of worship ourselves after each meeting and heavily once a month. My congregation, one of roughly 60,000 worldwide, recently built our own building using 100% volunteer labor, renting only the heavy equipment needed for excavating. Even Bill Wilson, founder of AA said that there is one place where money and religion mix … and that is ‘in the hat’.
I agree with that.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I think the mason jar idea would be great for folks of all ages. I would have to have a goal set for the saving one though, family vacation or something. This may encourage the older kids too, if the goal was something they wanted.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
[...] discusses piggies. Well, actually the Money Savvy Pig because he likes it. I like it to, and I was so happy when I was able to get my son one. When I happen to get a new [...]
June 9th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
This “money savvy” thing is overrated. I had saved up $4,000 by the time I graduated high school in the early 1970s.
Then I blew it all on college and ended up with student loan debt and a minimum wage job.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:23 am
[...] at GetRichSlowly had an interesting article on a 21st century piggy bank. Yes, you read that right, a 21st century piggy [...]
June 13th, 2007 at 5:56 am
[...] is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Last week I highlighted the Money Savvy Pig, a savings bank “for the twenty-first century”. But really, what 21st-cenury kid wants [...]
June 14th, 2007 at 6:19 am
I don’t know who came up with the idea that buying a plastic, sub-divided, pig equated to “forcing” someone to give. Sounds like people are just looking for problems and are generating them where there are none.
The pig, or jars, or a piece of paper, can help parents teach children. Teaching is not “forcing” and parents should teach children about spending, saving (including investing when age appropriate) and certainly giving. Giving to a church is certainly religious but giving in general is not. Atheist can give too you know!
Sheesh. You people are as negative as they come. If you don’t like the pig, just say so, but don’t manufacture bull about the pig.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
[...] donating and investing). Check out some discussions and mentions of this bank at The Simple Dollar, Get Rich Slowly, and I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Can’t get enough of this Money Savvy creature? Then check [...]
April 27th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I am so happy to have ANY opportunity for my 7 year old to think of someone/thing other than themselves. Isn’t this what being educated about money is all about? If you want to be selfish and tell you kids to think of money as only things that fulfill their desires or needs, then put tape over the donation section of the pig. If you want kids to know from a young age that giving money to charities is a cool thing, then go on the internet and ask them what they care about,and find something concrete that they can support. My daughter, in the three years she has had the pig, has given to a cougar fund, adopted a whale, gave to Salvation Army, her orphanage in China, and to WWF. She has saved $300 for her 529 plan, opened a bank account ($160 in it…) and bought a lot of junk.
This is an awesome product. If gets kids to THINK about money and the choices you have when spending it. Seems a rather great thing, doesn’t it?