Getting Kids EXCITED About Saving Money

When Ryan was seven years old, John and I discovered he had a spending problem. As serious as a seven year old can have. It was all about Pokemon cards. Each week he would drain his money on the cute cards in hopes of striking it rich with a rare Charzard.

But not wanting that spending problem to grow into a bad spending habit, we decided to introduce Ryan to compound interest. We wanted to see if the idea of money growing on itself (because he saved it), would have an impact on him. We also wanted to have the idea of saving his money come directly from him.

So we sat him down at the computer, along with his brother Nathan who was a terrific saver already, and plugged 10% monthly interest (parents can do that!) into a spreadsheet. The graph that was generated on the initial $100 we set up, shocked him. Then on came the lightbulb when he realized that saving his money would mean he would end up with even more money. He was a believer. It was this moment that began our work on KidsSave.

Compound interest. Einstein, a very smart dude, called it the eighth wonder of the world. He also called it the greatest force in the universe. And if anyone should know about the universe and force, it’d be Einstein.

And it was compound interest, interest that grows on itself, that made Ryan the saver he is today.

So I’ve put together two videos to illustrate the power of compounding so that you can show your kids this “magic” and get them just as excited as Ryan got. Of course, you could also use our kids’ savings and money management software, KidsSave, as it was the very first thing we designed for the program.

Here’s my most recent video. It’s on the Rule of 72. Don’t know the beauty of the Rule of 72? Then take a peek. It’s pretty amazing. And if it gets your kids excited about saving, let me know!

And after you watch the video, ask your kids what would happen if they invested $2000 instead of $1000…

Watch this VERY COOL video.