Students get a crash course in saving money, avoiding debt
Financial literacy an ‘element on which you build your life’
Jahrey Robinson no longer wants to spend his money on candy and Xbox games after spending Thursday morning with actor and author Hill Harper.
Robinson and other Memphis City School middle school students were a part of a financial literacy forum, sponsored by the Memphis Grizzlies, Mass Mutual Financial Group and Junior Achievement, that spoke to students about debt, saving and the way they spend their money.
“(Hill Harper) taught me a lot about saving money and to use it in a different way than I was using it at first,” said Robinson, 12, a Soulsville Charter School seventh- grader. “I now know to save my money, put it in the bank and invest it.”
Harper said the forum was just the start of the change in thinking that needs to take place in each student.
“This is important because financial literacy is part of the foundational element on which you build your life,” said Harper who was given a key to the city by Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, Jr. at a breakfast before the forum. “If you have a shaky foundation you cannot build a big life. We tell these kids to dream big and to work hard and to do all these different things, but we don’t necessarily equip them with the foundational resources to do that and that’s what this is about.”
Harper said in most cases educating children needs to fall upon corporations, schools and other celebrities who have a platform or resources.
“Parents only do what they know and many of these parents don’t have these lessons themselves, so we can’t always rely on that the parents are going to be able to teach their kids this,” he said.
The program was dedicated to Dana Davis, the Memphis Grizzlies vice president of basketball operations who died in October and who orchestrated the event before his demise.
“My connection to Memphis and the whole reason I’m here is Dana ‘Double D’ Davis,” Harper said. “I’m proud of that and proud to represent his legacy.”
Harper said the idea came from Davis’ wanting Harper to adapt his latest book “The Wealth Cure” for children. Every stu- dent left with a copy of his gender-tailored book “Letters to a Young Brother” or “Letters to a Young Sister: Define Your Destiny.”
Nicole Buchanan, 12, a seventh-grade Hamilton Middle school student, embarrassed Memphis Grizzlies players Mike Conley and Quincy Pondexter, who shared their f i nancial upbringings with the children, when she made a free throw shot that they all missed.
Nick Fyntrilakis, Mass Mutual vice president of community responsibility, said the program was part of building the future.
“They’re critical to the future of Memphis,” Fyntrilakis said. “They are the future of Memphis, so it’s really important to get to young people at that age and even younger to start to think about the importance of financial planning, financial literacy and their education. If we wait until later on, it’s harder to do.”