Teaching tweens money
A pair of Kiwi financial experts have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,000 in a bid to teach tweens their money lessons.
Paul and Craig Duffy used to run money workshops at schools around the country but are now seeking to create a series of e-books parents can use to school up their children at home.
Kickstarter is an online fundraising tool that lets people appeal to the public for money to fund projects as varied as publishing a book, developing a business, making a movie, or recording a music album.
And when a project grabs the public imagination, money can flood in.
The Duffys estimate they reached around 15,000 children at 130 schools with their school workshops, but Paul believes that only ongoing financial education can help Kiwi children develop the skills they need to thrive in a society awash with damaging consumer debt.
‘‘Unfortunately, financial literacy will never be part of the core school curriculum as a distinct, standalone subject, and it will never be with children from five years of age, and throughout their lives,’’ he said.
He likens financial skills to learning a language. ‘‘You can’t just learn it as a part of another subject, or for just one year. It has to be with them each week, for the rest of their lives.’’
Currently, there is financial capability taught in schools but it was often woven into other subjects, most commonly maths, he said.
The Kickstarter project pitch for a financial literacy e-book series helping tweens to save, budget, understand the value of money, and prepare for home Ownership. With house prices where they are, the Duffys believe that anyone who has not bought a home by 30 is unlikely to retire with enough to live decently. But getting there requires avoiding consumer debt, and is considerably easier for people who manage to enter the workforce with the advantage of being student-debt free.
‘‘We want kids to be on the property ladder by 30, which means n debt, except a mortgage,’’ Paul said.
They believe that is possible for children who get the kind of upbringing they had. ‘‘Essentially, we were taught to save, save, save our whole lives.’’ The e-book series will follow twins Ethan and Aria, who compete to have the most savings by the end of the school year. The plot is derived from the Duffy’s own childhood competition, fuelled by the advice and financial prudence of their Scottish father.
‘‘As twins, we were very competitive be it with school grades, running the fastest, lifting the heaviest . . . and saving the most,’’ the Duffys say in their Kickstarter pitch.
They were also both keen martial artists, and to this day believe the discipline it taught them has played a big part in getting ahead with money.
People pledging money will get access to the e-books, although the brothers have been approaching financial services firms like big banks for backers as well.
‘‘We’d be absolutely privileged to put our e-book series onto the devices (and into the hands) of tweens so they are better prepared for their futures,’’ the Duffys said.