Today is the 8th birthday of our only son, CJ. Just like all parents, Jay and I are very proud of our son and we pray that he will grow up to be a kind and God-fearing man. And we also want CJ to be financially literate.
I think many will agree that financial education is not really taught in schools so it’s up to us parents to be our children’s first teachers on this subject. I know from experience that if this is not learned while young, and the child is left to learn on his or her own, it would be harder to unlearn all the wrong things, such as the wrong mindset when it comes to money, later in life.
The Right Mindset
Kids from our generation grew up thinking that for as long as we study hard, we will get a good job which will support us until retirement. I am the classic example of this upbringing. I think it’s true that Filipinos in general are trained this way, and those who are trained to become entrepreneurs are few and far between. How to handle money is not really taught too.
That said, since parents are the main role models of their kids, we are really forced to set a good example. This is of course easier said than done but we do our best to change for the better everyday, using our children as our inspiration.
For the right mindset, what we do is we bring our son with us to The Feast, the weekly mass with powerful life-changing talks by Bo Sanchez at the PICC Feast. He listens intently and I know he understands the talks as he sometimes blurts out what he learned during our casual conversations. I like that he learns about financial literacy tied with spirituality, and that the purpose of earning more is so you can give more. It puts earning money in the proper perspective, and trains him that money by itself is not evil.
For more info about The Feast, please visit http://kerygmafamily.com
Books that teach financial literacy
We love reading books and I am glad that our son has imbibed the love of reading from us. We started reading to him when he was just a baby so now he reads on his own for pleasure and without pressure from us. We have a lot of books that teach financial literacy for kids but for this post I will only discuss the comic book “Escape from the Rat Race: How to Become a Rich Kid by following Rich Dad’s Advice”.
This book is basically Rich Dad, Poor Dad in comic book form, something kids would understand. I actually like to read books on finance which are written for kids because they are easier on the brain, resulting in easier absorption of information. CJ was able to finish this in one sitting.
It is quite funny to hear him talk about doodads, assets, liabilities, and businesses. I got a copy from Powerbooks at P499 – quite expensive but worth it if the whole family (or more, if the book is lent to others) will be able to benefit from it. You may want to wait for the next “sale” to get it at a discount.
Games
Everybody loves games, especially kids. A good boardgame we have is “Cashflow for Kids”. I have not seen this being sold in the Philippines. We got ours from CJ’s ninang based in New York, who bought it for me through Amazon, and shipped it to the Philippines. We just had an internal arrangement for the payment.
I like Cashflow for Kids because it is easy to understand, like a gentle introduction to accounting. Personally, I think it would be better for adults to play Cashflow for Kids first before “graduating” to Cashflow 101 and later on to Cashflow 202.
Checkout these related posts about Cashflow 101:
- Top 7 lessons I learned from playing Rich Dad’s Cashflow 101
- How to turn listings of foreclosed properties into opportunities (similar to the opportunity cards you see when playing Cashflow 101)
Our son CJ took to it like a duck to water – I was amazed how quickly he was able to grasp the concepts. He was eager to act as the banker and his addition and subtraction skills were honed. And since he knows how to handle play money, I think it would be easier for him to handle real money in the future.
Aside from the Cashflow for Kids boardgame, the set also includes a discussion in an audio CD entitled “Raising Your Child’s Financial IQ” as well as a book entitled “Rich Dad’s Guide to Raising Your Child’s Financial IQ”. The CD is very informative and something you can listen to while you are in the car. The book is a very good read as well – my only complaint is that the binding is not good so the pages fell apart.
I actually have a lot more books and games that I will feature in later posts, so I will call this Part 1 of this series.
How about you, do you teach your kids about financial literacy? How do you do it? I would love to learn from you!
~~~
Cherry Vi M. Saldua-Castillo
Real Estate Broker, Lawyer, and CPA
PRC Real Estate Broker License No. 3187
PRC CPA License No. 0102054
Roll of Attorneys No. 55239
Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2008 – 2013 All rights reserved.
Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.
Hi there mam cherry, I just read your articles regarding financial education for kids, I was really inspired and decided to buy cashflow game board for my daughter so I can start introducing her to the world of investments. I tried to research how to buy cashflow board game but to my disappointment, I can’t find any since amazon.com cannot ship the item from US to Philippines or UAE where I am working. Although many individuals online (mostly sulit.com) are claiming that they have such an item, I am afraid because it might be a scam or fake. My last option is the way CJ’s ninang able to ship the board game to the Philippines. Can I please know how she did it? Is it by courier or she carried physically to the Philippines? If its thru courier may I know the company? (DHL, fedex, UPS said it is prohibited). Thank you, your website is very helpful to a newbies like me.
Nathan Dungan, founder of Share Save Spend, a Minneapolis-based company that works with schools, employers and families to encourage healthy money habits, gives the nation a C- in financial literacy.
Happy Birthday CJ!
Me and my group in Yummie Nation (Young Millionaire Nation) is geared towards teaching the kids and teens about financial and personal mastery as young as possible, We hope to complete the syllabus for Teens this year, maybe this summer 🙂
Wow, that’s something to look forward to DJ!
Yes Jay! I was so inspired by Cherry’s post. More importantly, I am amazed how you raise CJ, at a very young age, he is on the right track. I won;t be surprised if CJ would be one of the tycoons of the Philippines someday! 🙂
I wonder how young CJ would be a millionaire! I am excited! 🙂
Happy birthday CJ!
You are one blessed young man with Che and Jay with you 🙂
Thanks Ian!
Another tool for raising financial literacy among kid’s as the Cha-ching Music Videos that show up on the Cartoon Network. These aim to teach kids on earning, saving, and donating. The creators also made an I-Phone app to teach kids about budgeting. See http://www.cartoonnetworkasia.com/cha-ching/en/apps.php for more.
Thank you Willeus! This is the first time I’ve heard of this and it sounds very interesting! I will definitely look into this. We have no tv kasi. We have computers and books only. I liked their fb page and saw very interesting links too. Thanks again!
Happy Birthday, CJ!
I don’t have those Rich Dad products yet and it’s nice for you to review them. I will add them to my wishlist.
Right now, I’m still working on Joseph’s math skills so when I’m satisfied with that, we can move to financial literacy.
One comic book that I’ve found effective in instilling the entrepreneurial mindset is “Big John.” It’s John Gokongwei’s life story in a comic book format. It’s his favorite bedtime story and we’ve been reading it for months. Now, he’s been bugging me on a product that we can buy and sell. 🙂
While we don’t have a product for him yet, I’m just glad he has the mindset already. Setting up his business is my next assignment. 🙂
Thanks Ronald! We had a lot of fun today celebrating CJ’s birthday. I will look for that Big John book, sounds interesting.
Yup, math skills need to be established first. Education should indeed be age-appropriate si I may have to classify the age groups that would benefit from the different books and games. With CJ, I really take time to explain to him the importance of math in real life. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, I relate it to math. And of course, I still do the tried-and-tested flash cards, workbooks, etc. I am lucky because he loves math and insists on joining the MTAP training. And of course, as my Papa would say, “It’s in the genes” (haha, this is our private joke).