When talking about financial literacy for children, Brian Formisano likes to mention his friend’s 5-year-old son, who is fascinated by anything money-related.
“When I told him what I did for a living, his eyes lit right up,” said Formisano, region president for Wells Fargo & Company in Las Vegas. “He loves piggy banks and coins. Even at that age, I think it’s good to introduce kids to money, though not every kid will be as interested at that age as he is.”
If parents, family members, teachers, financial industry professionals or others can interest young people in money—and the beginnings of understanding how to manage it—it tends to bode well for their future.
In fact, Jerrie Merritt, a community development manager for Bank of Nevada, said that many young people have already established lifelong financial habits once they make it to their high school years.
“It’s important that students start to learn financial literacy early,” Merritt said. “Budgeting is a skill.”
Initiatives are in place at most banks and financial institutions across Southern Nevada to help children and teens learn about responsible money management.
At Wells Fargo, “Clear Access Banking” is geared toward those aged 13 to 24. A $25 deposit is required to get started, but the accounts don’t have overdraft fees.
It offers young people access to offerings like mobile banking and ATMs. Those ages 13 to 16 need an adult “co-owner” to open an account.
“It really is a nice way to get young folks started,” Formisano said. “The product offers a full array of banking services at no cost. There’s actually a $5 monthly fee, but that’s waived for anyone in that age range. I’ve been in the banking business for over 20 years. What I’ve seen over the years is that people who get started young, they do tend to have an easier time.”
Merritt said Bank of Nevada likes to work with two organizations to help spread financial literacy to the young people in the Las Vegas area—Everfi, a digital educational platform, and Green Our Planet, a nonprofit that offers gardening and hydroponics offerings to students.
With Green Our Planet, students can grow fruits and vegetables and later bring to market. The farm-to-table model helps kids understand the value of money and the importance of commerce, Merritt said.
“We really like to work with those two organizations,” Merritt said. “We’re able to reach elementary students with Green Our Planet. Everfi is more for high school students.”
During the 2017-18 school year, Bank of Nevada began working with Everfi to provide financial literacy lessons for students at some of the area’s Title 1 schools, those with a high proportion of kids from low-income families.
“Financial literacy, I think, is more important than ever before,” Merritt said. “And we need to reach those low-to-moderate-income students. We need to make sure we’re always thinking about that.”
Part of why financial literacy is so important now, Merritt said, is because the financial system seemingly moves closer to a cashless model each day. In the past, kids learned about money by handling bills and coins. If they had $10 and spent it all at a store, it was a tangible sign that their money had run out.
Today, with mobile payments systems, online banking and credit cards, money doesn’t manifest itself in a physical way nearly as often. For kids, that can make it appear that funds are infinite.
“Let’s say a young person wants to buy a video game today,” Merritt said. “They’ll often get it online, often through a parent. There’s an expectation that mom or dad will have a credit card ready—or an Amazon account—to make that purchase. That’s a different experience than handing somebody a $20 bill and receiving change back. That all affects how kids think about money.”
And at the end of the day, that’s what’s most important: getting a younger generation to start learning the merits of being responsible in creating and executing a budget.
“Every child is different, but I don’t think it’s too early for a first-grader to start to learn about money; not at all,” Formisano said. “The earlier a child can comprehend the fundamentals of money, the better. We want to do everything we can to help people manage their money, and that should start early.”