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April is Money Month! Teach a Child to Save!!

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Financial Literacy: Teaching Your Kids About Money

by The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association | April 14 | 1 Comment

Talking about money often times makes us all uncomfortable -- especially parents. We all want our children to develop strong financial values, but just how do we do that?
Since April is financial literacy month, we took our questions straight to the experts at Moonjar, who have created a simple money management tool for kids that’s both inspiring and practical. They gave us great advice on how and when to start the money conversation with your child through their spend, save, and share teaching philosophy.

Moonjar's mission is to inspire and incorporate strong financial values and practices into everyday life. That really resonates with a lot of parents. What particular instance or event sparked the thought: "Wow, there's a real need for Moonjar?"
Lalie (Scandiuzzi) created the Moonjar Moneybox after visiting several non profits who were dealing with people who fallen off their track -- and so often it was because of money. At the same time, she was trying to find tools to help explain money management to her own children and there were no clear tools available. Lalie felt she HAD to create something to help people avoid that tenuous step off the track, and where better to start than with our children.

How does Moonjar work exactly?

The teaching bank is divided into three boxes, one each for Saving, Spending, and Sharing. We encourage kids to visualize their goals for each Save, Spend, and Share- most kids are visual learners and when they see the goal and recognize there are choices around achieving that goal, they can set themselves up for success!

The Moonjar comes with a Family Guide that encourages parents to talk to their kids about setting goals in each of three categories and to place images on the boxes. Each Moonjar is 100% personal; it is a great way for parents to discover what their kids really care about and encourage each child to follow that individualized plan.

Each time a child has money for the Moonjar Moneybox they can record the amount in the passbook. They can also track what they are spending on and how much they are donating.

How young should parents start think of incorporating moon jar or financial values into their child's everyday life?
Every time a child is given or earns money there are choices to be made. It is a great opportunity for conversation. It also allows for many more ‘YES” conversations when kids start to want to buy other products in stores- rather than “no we can’t afford it…” the conversation becomes, “yes, and let’s go check your Moonjar to see when you will be able to buy that!”

What three things should all parents do in order to help develop their child's financial literacy?

1. Be a good role model. Make sure your children see you doing the things that you are teaching them. Let them in on your bill paying, savings and investment plans and charitable giving.

2. Get the conversation about money started early and use tools. Start talking with your 4 and 5 year olds about money concepts. Keep in mind most children are visual learners, so using hands-on tools like check registers and moneyboxes can better help them learn concepts such as allocating funds and what interest means.

3. Develop a system of allowance and stick with it. Whether you follow a “learn to earn” format where children earn allowances through performing small chores or a “family as community” format where a stipend is given, keep on a regular schedule and avoid giving advances.

The idea of saving, spending and sharing is one we think all parents (and kids!) will love. What kinds of things have children done to share?

This is one of the best parts of working with Moonjar- we get to hear from kids and families and how they have made a difference! One of my favorite stories is that one boy got his whole class to buy Moonjars and to collect money for the teacher who was undergoing cancer treatment. We have also heard from a child who is saving to buy his mom a house. Many kids are saving for college and cars. And we have heard wonderful stories about kids reaching the spending goal too…we hear about a lot of Legos!

What's next for Moonjar as a company? Any new products on the horizon?

We are finding that financial literacy is on everybody’s mind these days! We are partnering with Credit Unions and non profits to further the message for kids and families. We are getting our curriculum into more classrooms and our Moonjars onto more kitchen tables. SAVE SPEND and SHARE is the money paradigm for today and we are proud to be innovators in that story!

We have just released a new International Moonjar. The boxes are tin with acrylic lids, like the Classic Mooonjar, but the words SAVE, SPEND, and SHARE are in several languages and the boxes are silver, gold and copper (like money).

Moonjar Partner, AT WORK

Moonjar is a tiny company in Seattle that makes great impact around the world!  Our impact is enhanced everyday by the people we work with.  Our partnership with ATWORK in Issaquah WA has been solid for 8 years. We work with the clients at ATWORK to help create our customized band projects and to store all our products. Please take a look at all they do!! Please click on the link below and see all that these amazing people do!!

AtWork!'s Mission

AtWork!'s mission is to help people with disabilities be productive, integrated and contributing members of their communities.

http://www.atworkwa.org/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM MOONJAR TO YOU!!!



Cyber Week Free Stuff

Amazingly it is almost Holiday Time again!!

The frenzy of all the free-shipping and certain percentages-off keep me feeling like I HAVE to buy things.  I am afraid I might be sharing that frenzy with my children as well.  So instead, we are going to sit down and figure it all out. We are taking a page from the Moonjar ABCs book and really mapping out the next steps.

Already I have noticed that giving is higher on the list this year than receiving which is new in our house.  We are targeting organizations to donate to as well deciding our budgets for giving.

All that said, we are offering free shipping at MOONJAR for a bit longer but we hope we can be part of your calm instead of adding to the frenzy.

Have a great Holiday Season!

NEW International Moonjar now available!

NEW International Moonjar!

Award-Winning MOONJAR goes INTERNATIONAL!

Your child’s allowance has a brand new home, and Saving, Spending, and Sharing has never looked better. Moonjar—the creator of award-winning savings banks, toys, and books for children and families—will soon release the latest version of its critically acclaimed Moonjar Moneybox.

The Moonjar Moneybox is a patented bank specially designed to allow children to learn the habits of budgeting for the things they want, saving for the things they need, and giving to the less fortunate. Your future tycoon can deposit their dollars and cents in three slots designated for “Save,” “Spend,” and “Share.”

The latest —International Moonjar—has a brand new look, inspired by every child’s most copious currency: coins. Metallic bronze, silver, and gold are the latest colors to adorn the award-winning Moneybox, wrapped in the words “Save,” “Spend,” and “Share” in languages from around the world.

The brand new International Moonjar Moneybox will be available for purchase this fall 2012.

Top Down , Bottom Up!

At Moonjar we talk about the fact that learning is never a one-way street. We love it when we hear about kids coming home and teaching their parents about money and how they want to make a difference by Saving, Spending and Sharing.

I just wanted to share this story that came across my desk:



I bought a family set for my grandson for his 10th birthday, and he has become the "teacher" for his Dad, and his older and younger brothers. He is fully engaged in the "share" piece asking lots of questions about who, why or how  to share, and I offered an example from my community saying that a neighbor had a fire in their home and lots of people in town either brought them into their homes or gave money, clothes or food until we could have a "house raising" party to rebuild, to which his brothers and Dad reminded him about someone in their school that had suffered a similar experience. I told him I felt it was important to keep your sharing close to home so you know and can see the benefits of helping others, and then you can take time to do research about other causes that matter to you. I asked him to think about ways he might be able to share his stories at school or in Cub Scouts, and as he got more comfortable, that he might consider doing a presentation for the local Rotary or Lions Club, or even a local bank, to see if he might interest them in sponsoring him to run a program with their help to purchase the kits for his group, which he is thinking about now...

I am so glad for this program and  want to thank you for such a simple, yet wonderful idea. Kids get it, and want to learn and become independent in money matters. Jack's older brother immediately drew up a "contract" complete with terms and conditions for actually "earning" his allowance, and says he will email his progress to me. He was already on track about saving and bought himself a guitar with the money he had been saving since last February, but now he can incorporate saving (and NOT spending) and sharing to his skills. I am grateful for this wonderful program.

The clarity of the message is sgreat. It does not matter what the method is as long as the conversation is started and carried forward! Summer seems to be a great time to break open these ideas on car trips, at campfires, or where ever you find a moment.