Money & Me: Teaching kids about money in Australia

MyBudget is proud to partner with Project Gen Z in the money education program for Australian kids ‘Money & Me’. This program introduces concept that teaches children about money which develops real-world money skills, arms them with the tools to make great financial decisions and ultimately aims to set them up for real-life situations. Get your free copy today, find the link at the bottom of this article! 

Money and the ‘school of life’

Given that nearly every adult has to understand the concept of money at some point, you would imagine that kids would learn all about money at school. Instead, most of us are left to learn about money from daily life.

We grow up watching how the people around us handle money and learn from their financial habits, followed by practising with our own hard-earned cash. With any luck, these life lessons are not too expensive.

In my case, I watched how my Mum ran the household in our everyday family life. She was only 16 years old when she had me, and with four kids by the time she was 24 (including a disabled son), time was always short. Budgeting was probably the last thing on her mind.

Money was always tight, but Mum was also incredibly generous. We didn’t have a lot, but what we did have, we shared with friends, family and the community.

Dad was a self-employed builder and, with such a busy household, I took it upon myself to start helping him with his bookkeeping when I was 13. It came naturally to me and was something I enjoyed doing. I especially loved the challenge of managing his cash flow—making sure there was enough money coming in to cover his expenses going out.

Dad quite honestly took any help he could get. When accounting software such as Quicken became available, this made bookkeeping much easier. In fact, after my parents separated and Dad’s business started growing, I taught my step-mum how to use Quicken so she could take over.

More money, more choices

In a way, I learnt everything you should not do with money. But they were such good lessons. For example, I remember times when the electricity was about to be cut off because someone forgot to pay the bill.

I have no doubt that those experiences gave me more financial confidence than a lot of my peers. In my late-teens and early twenties, while my friends were spending their money on clothes and going out, I was setting myself financial goals like saving for a house.

And believe it or not, I enjoyed it. The concept of saving has always been fun and exciting for me.

Aside from my anecdotal experience, research confirms that learning money skills in early life can have benefits, including:

• Fewer defaults and higher credit scores among young adults
• Improved spending habits
• Greater net worth during peak earning years
• Knowledge of ways to decrease insurance costs
• Improved credit card debt management
• Comparison and smart shopping skills
• Overall, increased confidence with money

I would also argue that being good with money can lead to dreaming bigger dreams. And isn’t that what every parent wants, for their child to have the opportunity to reach their potential? Not for their child’s options to be diminished or constrained by a lack of financial confidence. Not to find themselves stuck in an undesirable job, situation or place because they’re tethered to debt or racked with financial insecurity.

We all want our children to move confidently in the world and learn the right financial concepts. Not to chase money or material things, but to understand how money fits within a life of meaning and purpose.

Financial education framework

Financial literacy has come under scrutiny thanks to the banking royal commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) looking into the effectiveness of school banking programs.

Nonetheless, financial education delivered in schools provides a basic foundation. But by comparison, it’s a small part of the overall curriculum. And so we come back to the fact that most kids learn most of their money concepts and skills—what to do and what not to do—from their parents and carers.

That’s a lot of responsibility to put on parents, especially considering that many of them lacked any positive money education experiences themselves. A 2019 survey by Raiz found that 25% of parents received little to no financial education from their parents.

The question is: how can we support parents better? 

What can we do to help parents help their kids in their money journey and develop real money skills? How do we help our kids set long-term goals and learn the right financial skills? These are the questions Liz Volpe and I asked each other.

Liz is the director of Project Gen Z, a social enterprise committed to preparing the next generation of world changers for successful lives and careers. They do amazing work designing resources that aim to inspire big thinking, creative and practical problem solving, teamwork, entrepreneurship and more.

It was not an idle question. Over the next year, Liz and the MyBudget team collaborated to develop a financial literacy program that aims to help teachers—and especially parents—tackle the fundamentals of money education in a way that’s fun and engaging.

Introducing Money & Me: A Kid’s Guide to Good Money Habits 

The program is called ‘Money & Me’ and it introduces children to concepts that develop financial literacy and real-world money skills.

The workbooks are designed to be used by kids with parents, teachers or carers.

‘Mini Dreamers‘ is for five to 10 year olds, while ‘Game Changers’ is for kids aged 11 to 17. (My daughter Ellie finished the ‘Mini Dreamers’ workbook and loved it!)

If you feel like this is yet another responsibility to load on parents’ shoulders, you’ll be pleased to know that the activities are light, fun and practical.

For many parents, the workbooks will expand on topics you’re already talking about (eg. doing chores, pocket money, or having savings goals for the things you want). For others, the activities will spark teaching opportunities you had never thought of and overall teach your children money skills.

Get the workbooks for FREE!

As part of MyBudget’s mission to eliminate financial stress in Australian communities, we are excited to announce that you can download the Money & Me workbooks for FREE.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. I promise that the workbooks don’t feel like homework! In fact, they could make a fun school holidays project for kids that are looking for fun stuff to do at home.

Use the code MYBUDGET at checkout. That’s a saving of $19.99 per workbook.

To get your free download go to: https://www.projectgenzshop.com/collections/financial-literacy-for-kids.

The worry-free way to manage your money

Whatever your money goals, there is a MyBudget solution to help you reach them. Give us a call on 1300 300 922 or enquire online.