Are children too young to teach financial health? I welcome Carissa and Nikki of Benjamin Talks a platform that is on a mission to make all families financially fit.

We discuss:

• The right age to start discussing the concepts of financial fitness
• Misconceptions parents have about teaching financial fitness
• How to foster saving and gratitude when discussing finance
• Tips to teaching kids about financial health

If you are looking to make your family financially fit visit benjamintalks.com

00;00;00;29 – 00;00;20;13

Carissa

So when you look at the data, the data tells us that children understand value by the age of three and children have a relationship with money developed by the age of seven. And much of that is modeled by their parents. Right. So how are parents talking about money, engaging with money that’s really going to shape the relationship that that child has with money.

 

00;00;20;15 – 00;00;43;08

Dr. Mona

Hey everyone. Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast. This show keeps growing because of you and your reviews. We are consistently in the top 50 of parenting podcasts in the country, so thank you for tuning in and being here today. Our guests today are Carissa Jordan and Nikki Lucas, founders of Benjamin Talks, a company on a mission to make all families financially fit.

 

00;00;43;13 – 00;00;50;27

Dr. Mona

And we’re talking about five ways to teach financial fitness for your children. Thank you so much for joining me today, guys.

 

00;00;51;00 – 00;00;53;05

Nikki

Thank you. Thanks for having us. We’re excited to be here.

 

00;00;53;12 – 00;01;00;28

Dr. Mona

Yes. Well, tell me why this topic is so important to you and also why you created Benjamin Talks and the mission of the company.

 

00;01;01;00 – 00;01;20;20

Carissa

Sure. So, you know, let’s just take a step back and really understand, like, how we got here. So Nikki and I first met on the trading floor as, like, Goldman Sachs back during the financial crisis. I was in the fixed income side. Nikki was on the equity side. Fast forward a decade later, we find ourselves as neighbors living in the same New York City suburb.

 

00;01;20;23 – 00;01;45;11

Carissa

We’re raising our young children. We’re both time taking a pause in our careers at that point and start talking about what we passionate about. And we realized quickly that we were very passionate about financial literacy, particularly how to talk to your very young children about all things money related. And we start doing our own homework, and we found out there’s really no blueprint out there for parents and caregivers to use to start the money conversation early and often.

 

00;01;45;14 – 00;02;03;10

Carissa

So with that in mind, in November of 2020, we launched Benjamin Fox. And Benjamin Talks like you said, is on a mission to make all families financially fit. We do so through our content, which is an email form as well as social media, our patented products, which is our take on the piggy bank. It’s called the Benji Bank.

 

00;02;03;12 – 00;02;16;16

Carissa

It’s siloed. It’s clear spending, saving, giving. We also have corporate relationships, and we have a firm process and giving back. So $5 from every Benji bank we sell goes to our nonprofit partner, as well as volunteering our time.

 

00;02;16;18 – 00;02;29;28

Dr. Mona

That’s amazing. And thank you for the bank, by the way. Benjamin talks gifted my son Ryan and our family a bank, and it’s just so exciting. I know we’ll talk more about how I can teach Ryan financial fitness, but that’s an amazing introduction already. Thank you.

 

00;02;30;01 – 00;02;43;17

Nikki

And of course, we’re excited to see, how he likes it. And we put a lot of time. And it was kind of, you know, in the beginning when we were talking about how we wanted to teach kids, we both have three little ones. I have a seven year old, a four year old and a two year old.

 

00;02;43;17 – 00;02;45;12

Nikki

Chris has an eight year old, six.

 

00;02;45;12 – 00;02;47;12

Carissa

Year old and a four year old.

 

00;02;47;14 – 00;03;08;27

Nikki

And so when we were talking about the concept of financial literacy, we wanted to make it tangible for kids. So while we have a lot of content and ways to kind of prompt your kids and start these conversations, the Benji Bank is a great way for it to be tangible for kids and really to interact with money just because, you know, just like you can’t learn how to play soccer without a soccer ball, you can’t learn how to handle money without actually handling it.

 

00;03;08;27 – 00;03;14;28

Nikki

So we thought the physical part of it, and that component was really important. And the education for the little ones.

 

00;03;15;01 – 00;03;34;05

Dr. Mona

Absolutely. And I know the discussion about the bank will come in more, but your organization, like you said, with being like a nonprofit in terms of money going towards the donation, that’s amazing. But my first question, you know, talking about financial fitness would be how young we could start these conversations. So I know you all gifted me the piggy bank and it’s awesome.

 

00;03;34;09 – 00;03;48;26

Dr. Mona

I know we don’t have visuals right now on this podcast, and maybe we will, but it’s really cool. You’ll explain more about it. But my son is almost three at the time of this recording, and I think it’s going to be something really useful to teach him. So how young do you think that we can start these conversations?

 

00;03;48;28 – 00;04;08;08

Carissa

So when you look at the data, the data tells us that children understand value by the age of three, and children have a relationship with money developed by the age of seven. And much of that is modeled by their parents. Right. So how are parents talking about money, engaging with money that’s really going to shape the relationship that that child has with money.

 

00;04;08;14 – 00;04;32;21

Carissa

So with that in mind, we really feel that you could start money conversations, particularly around value at the age of three. And as the child grows, you build on that conversation. So you start with something that we like to do with our young kids. It’s like a trading game, right? So you take a bunch of stuffed animals or a bunch of animal figures, you throw them on the floor, you take the one that you know they really want, and then you kind of separate the rest.

 

00;04;32;28 – 00;04;52;13

Carissa

And you see if they can negotiate with you for that. So maybe they love the elephant. How many of their other animals are they willing to give away for that elephant? And even though you may say, look, how does that money related, it really starts building that foundation of value and what’s important to you and the idea that in life many things are transactional.

 

00;04;52;13 – 00;05;03;18

Carissa

So you’re building on that idea and then you start introducing money, right? So you want them to see the money and you can start showing them money at three. So we use this to pay for things that we want and need. And then you kind of build from there.

 

00;05;03;20 – 00;05;20;20

Nikki

I would also add from a very young age, at least on that three year old end of the spectrum, delayed gratification is a big one. And is that part of progress for my four year old? For sure. But it’s definitely something that we talk a lot about, even just with our quick tips. So my seven year old, a lot of times he has sports.

 

00;05;20;20 – 00;05;40;16

Nikki

He always wants a Gatorade after the vending machine. It’s something every parent comes across and we’ve all told those white lies like, I don’t have my wallet, I don’t have cash with me. Instead, kind of just changing the prompt of the conversation, saying, that wasn’t our plan today. Let’s take a picture. We’ll bring your spending dollars back with us next time, if that’s something you decided you wanted today.

 

00;05;40;16 – 00;05;47;04

Nikki

So really little actionable ways to take advantage of these, what we call money moments throughout a day or week.

 

00;05;47;07 – 00;06;06;25

Dr. Mona

I love that well, I’m loving hearing about using things that are relatable to children. Right? You’re talking about animals that, like you said, people a parent may not understand how that can relate to a transactional world that we live in, and it does, and how you can use things in your child’s environment and things that they love. And I also have to agree, I don’t know what it is about the obsession with vending machines.

 

00;06;06;25 – 00;06;23;15

Dr. Mona

Like I, I my kids are too young and we haven’t really been around that school doesn’t have it and we just haven’t been around it. But I remember being a kid, I have so many memories of when I was a young child thinking, I cannot wait to be an adult so I can buy whatever they.

 

00;06;23;17 – 00;06;23;26

Nikki

Have.

 

00;06;23;27 – 00;06;38;04

Dr. Mona

Right? Like I think every like school aged kid and above is like, I will buy whatever I want. And then of course, my parents did teach me about financial wellness in different ways, and I’m sure we’ll talk about that now. I grow up and I am very smart with my money, as is my husband, but I don’t buy whatever I want.

 

00;06;38;04 – 00;06;53;14

Dr. Mona

I understand the value of the dollar, but I have vivid memories of that from my childhood about like, wait till I make my own money and have my own job and I’ll buy whatever I want. And I was like, I’ll just buy all the toys and all the dolls and all the junk food that I want.

 

00;06;53;17 – 00;07;13;15

Carissa

Well, I mean, the truth is, money is a motivator, right? So regardless of where you are, money is a motivator. And kids, I think, can identify that even if they can’t put it into words from a very young age. But as parents and caregivers, it’s really our job to kind of teach them how money should motivate and what to motivate them for, and to write.

 

00;07;13;15 – 00;07;38;18

Carissa

So even though we’re talking about delayed gratification and the vending machine, and value something else that we start as young as three is really teaching kids about giving. And again, we make it super tangible. So if we’re going through their old clothes or their toys, this could be a very emotional activity for them. But really kind of getting them to understand that we’re going to give this to somebody who may not have it or may need it, and having them start in the process.

 

00;07;38;18 – 00;07;41;05

Carissa

At three, we found success with as well.

 

00;07;41;07 – 00;07;49;18

Dr. Mona

And your piggy, the bank that you all sell, has three different compartments. Can we talk a little bit more about what those compartments are and how the bank works?

 

00;07;49;21 – 00;08;08;20

Nikki

Yeah of course. So the bank, most importantly and probably how it’s most different from any other bank out there, is that it’s clear. So the traditional piggy bank, it’s kind of you put your money in, you set it, forget it. You don’t interact with your money again, this kind of goes back to some of the core foundational values that we have that kids have to interact with money.

 

00;08;08;20 – 00;08;21;25

Nikki

They have to see it. They can quite literally see it grow. They can take it out and spend it. But if siloed into three sections or spend, save and give and we think about all of those dollars differently. And in addition to that, I mean when to talk about the give back.

 

00;08;21;29 – 00;08;39;24

Carissa

So yeah, I would also say that how all the different is that, piggy banks and other products on the market are very cumbersome. And being able to get the money in and out, whereas we feel that children have to be able to really interact and take them in and out. So the tops of the silos are actually magnetized tops, which, you know, every kid loves playing with magnets.

 

00;08;39;24 – 00;09;00;17

Carissa

So that’s kind of like a way to engage the child. And they’re each compartment is pretty large. So kids could really put their little hand in and out. And then again, at $5 from every Benji bank, we sell those to our nonprofit partner. So we, we’re a corporation, but we have partnerships with nonprofits that work to bring financial literacy to underrepresented communities.

 

00;09;00;22 – 00;09;10;00

Carissa

But they do so a little bit more at a little bit of a higher age level. So whereas we’re really targeting children as young as three, a lot of these organizations we work with are targeting kids in middle school and above.

 

00;09;10;03 – 00;09;31;26

Nikki

And the way we kind of use a framework for spending versus saving dollars versus giving. And then eventually later we talk about investing, the spending dollars is something that you use every day. For instance, at the vending machine for an ice cream cone, the saving dollars are really maybe, you know, again, age appropriate. It’s a bigger item they’re saving for whether it’s, you know, an electric scooter or a pair of rollerblades.

 

00;09;32;07 – 00;09;48;19

Nikki

And then the giving dollars, of course. We again try to recommend making it tangible for your kids. And a lot of times giving particularly young age, it can be localized. So for instance, my son, my seven year old, anytime there’s something a school fundraiser or a canned food drive for at school, we take as giving dollars.

 

00;09;48;19 – 00;10;00;27

Nikki

We go to the grocery store, he picks it out, he pays for it. He puts them in his backpack. He goes again. It’s a little bit of an extra step, but it also can be, you know, super helpful and making an effective and impactful.

 

00;10;00;29 – 00;10;14;20

Dr. Mona

Well, like I said, I have the bank and I love it. I love that it’s clear. I agree because growing up I had a traditional piggy bank like the you know, it’s actually a pig. And it was pink and you have the slot in the top. And I remember that you, you know, you couldn’t see what was inside.

 

00;10;14;20 – 00;10;39;27

Dr. Mona

And I love that you all make that visual. That is amazing. And they also can be personalized. They also have different designs. And I will link the website for Benjamin Talks and their product on the show notes. Because again they’re describing something that you all can’t see. But it is really cool. Now my question is, you know, knowing that those are the three sort of compartments, how do you approach educating or, you know, fostering that financial awareness for children when they get money?

 

00;10;39;27 – 00;10;57;29

Dr. Mona

Just say grandma gives them $4 or $5 and she’s $5. Do you have a recommendation on what you do with that money? Like, do you tell the child, what do you want to do with it? Do you tell them to put X amount in each slot? How do you approach teaching them about financial literacy, but also using that piggy bank together, if you will?

 

00;10;58;04 – 00;11;24;07

Carissa

Yeah. So first and foremost, we believe that everything that we say is a guideline for each and every family, every family is in a different situation. You know, you do you like we like to say. So everything we give is kind of like a guideline to take a step back with money. We feel that kids should really start being exposed to money through allowance, and allowance is really the best tool families can use to build financial literacy, and allowance shouldn’t be thought of as tied directly to chores.

 

00;11;24;10 – 00;11;41;12

Carissa

Allowance is really giving kids access to those dollars so that they can make these decisions. So where we take the good team member approach to allowance, meaning that every person in a household is part of a team, every person on a team has a job to do to make that team be successful. Just as a.

 

00;11;41;12 – 00;11;41;24

Dr. Mona

Sports.

 

00;11;41;24 – 00;12;01;09

Carissa

Team may do that, a household team needs to do that as well, right? So my eight year old is responsible for bringing, the towels to the laundry room. All three of my children are responsible for putting their school bags away, putting their shoes away when they come home from school, or emptying their school folders and putting their dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

 

00;12;01;14 – 00;12;19;22

Carissa

Do they do that every time? No. So we give grace. Just as adults may not get to every load of laundry they need to do, we give grace. And if you’re a good team member, then you should also get allowance. But it’s not tied directly to chores. And we do that because at some point kids get old enough and wise enough that say, well, you know what?

 

00;12;19;22 – 00;12;49;11

Carissa

I have all my spending dollars for the week. I don’t want a vacuum for mom, so I’m not going to vacuum. And we want to avoid that. And again, we are giving allowance to teach financial literacy, not to pay for chores. So that being said, children who receive allowance, that’s really their money and you could guide them. We like parents to kind of take their hands off initially and let kids really make those choices, themselves, because we want them to make those mistakes, small money mistakes before they make a larger money mistake.

 

00;12;49;13 – 00;13;12;08

Carissa

And then when it comes to gifting, whether it’s through money from the tooth fairy or grandma, we feel that it depends on the dollar amount. Rachel $5. Maybe you take the same approach as you would to allowance, or maybe they get to spend it all. If it’s a larger amount, that’s a different conversation. So again, we give parents a framework, but we really want kids initially to make those decisions themselves.

 

00;13;12;12 – 00;13;20;07

Carissa

Parents, the guidance that you have to give to every silo. But they don’t necessarily have to give the percentage because you want the kids to kind of make those mistakes.

 

00;13;20;10 – 00;13;39;02

Dr. Mona

I love that, and I also want to thank you for the comment about connecting chores with money. I think, you know, your explanation makes a lot of sense, but I do see that mistake. And as a pediatrician, I’ve had that scenario where I have teenagers coming in who’ve gotten very smart and do what you just said and that they’re like, well, I don’t need to do it anymore.

 

00;13;39;02 – 00;13;55;20

Dr. Mona

Like, you lose the incentive if you will like, rather than saying, hey, this is what we do as a family to make the house run and as something that we’re doing. You get an allowance every week and that’s why we do this. But it’s more so because this is what needs to get the house running, right. We all take part in, doing the chores and all of that.

 

00;13;55;20 – 00;13;59;16

Dr. Mona

So I love that comment. And I think this explanation makes a lot of sense for sure.

 

00;13;59;23 – 00;14;18;07

Nikki

Great. I would say one other thing just to add, and this is something specifically with allowance, just because we want to get kids thinking about the spend saving give dollars differently. We do recommend, no matter what amount you’re giving or allowing your child to kind of, make those choices themselves. We just say make it divisible. So if it’s a dollar, give them four quarters.

 

00;14;18;07 – 00;14;35;07

Nikki

If it’s, you know, $5, give them five singles, even if they’re making those, you know, mini money mistakes early. For instance, when I first started giving allowance to my seven year old when he was five, he was putting everything in the spend and buying Pokemon cards and then quickly realized, you know, he couldn’t save for a bigger item.

 

00;14;35;07 – 00;14;51;20

Nikki

So allowing him to kind of make those many money mistakes will hopefully give him the foundation. So he’s not using a credit card the wrong way later on. You know, it’s just it’s kind of building that foundation, which is important for these smaller money mistakes as opposed to the bigger ones that can really impact your life.

 

00;14;51;22 – 00;15;11;24

Dr. Mona

This is so great. I’m so glad we’re having this conversation because I think a lot of parents feel like kids are too young to have these conversations, because money seems like such a adult thing, you know? But like you said, it can all be related to the things that your children are one, right? So the example of your son wanting Pokemon cards and learning that, wait, I kind of want something bigger than this sometimes.

 

00;15;11;24 – 00;15;31;04

Dr. Mona

And how do I make that happen? That is such a great cognitive skill. It’s such a great social skill to have. And I just think this is such a great conversation so far. Now, what would be some misconceptions that you think a lot of parents have about teaching financial fitness and you know, I know you both have a career in finance, which I think is phenomenal.

 

00;15;31;04 – 00;15;44;04

Dr. Mona

And that makes a lot of sense why you want to teach financial literacy, and fitness to children. But what would you say you come across, maybe with your friends or people on social media in regards to, these topics of education, on finance?

 

00;15;44;07 – 00;16;02;13

Nikki

Yeah, there’s definitely there’s definitely a lot here to unpack. And so I’ll just start I mean, I think first and foremost, this is something Chris and I spoke about in the beginning. Money is definitely a taboo topic, can be for different reasons. Whether or not parents want to talk about money because they themselves don’t feel educated enough to talk on the topic.

 

00;16;02;20 – 00;16;19;27

Nikki

They think if they’re talking to their kids about money, they might become money obsessed. You know, there’s a lot of emotions around money, you know, for different reasons. And I think, you know, one of the things we were trying to set out to do is really provide the education so that not so the kids are money obsessed.

 

00;16;19;27 – 00;16;37;20

Nikki

It’s not about making more money or investing more money. I mean, all of those are great skills, but really, so that kids have the financial foundation which will lead to financial empowerment and then financial freedom. So no matter what path they’re choosing, they’re just educated on that path and making those choices along the way.

 

00;16;37;22 – 00;17;00;17

Carissa

Couple of things to add. One, you know, as like you said, it’s still a taboo topic. And we found that, you know, a portion of our followers, part of the reason why it’s so taboo is because they themselves don’t feel they have enough of that foundation. So while we initially set out to educate the child, what we’ve learned is we’re actually oftentimes educating the parent first who is then educating the child.

 

00;17;00;20 – 00;17;21;18

Carissa

And as a parent, I mean, we know this could be any topic. You are more willing to say, I’m learning about this so I could teach my child, and then admitting that you need to learn it for yourself, right? I’m an adult. I should know everything. So I think it’s a little less intimidating for parents if they’re approaching it from the guise of, I’m doing this so I can teach my child that I’m doing this because I really am unsure on that.

 

00;17;21;20 – 00;17;23;04

Carissa

So that’s one thing we found.

 

00;17;23;19 – 00;17;39;18

Nikki

Yeah. I mean, I think I also just to add on that, when we were doing our initial research, we were just so shocked to learn, you know, two thirds of Americans can’t pass a basic financial literacy test. And also, when it comes to parenting, specifically, parents are more likely to talk to their children about sex than money, even at a young age.

 

00;17;39;18 – 00;17;50;23

Nikki

And, you know, it’s something that, you know, involved every day of our life. That kind of really stuck out to us. And there’s definitely a white space here and some ground that needs to be made up for sure.

 

00;17;50;26 – 00;18;08;06

Dr. Mona

And using your example of the sex conversations and money conversations. Right. You said that sometimes parents do not want to talk about money because they think that their child will become money obsessed. Using the analogy of we talked to our children about sex so that they make smart choices, right? So we talked to the children about money so that they learn how to make smart choices.

 

00;18;08;06 – 00;18;29;17

Dr. Mona

So I think that analogy in that parallel makes a lot of sense. And even so, let’s be honest, I don’t think parents talk to their children enough about smart choices with sex or money. Both. Very true. Both can be better. But no, I completely agree. And as obviously someone who’s parenting a small toddler who will eventually make his own choices in life, and as a pediatrician, I think, again, this is so important.

 

00;18;29;19 – 00;18;43;14

Dr. Mona

We talked about some of the strategies that you mentioned about ways to teach financial fitness. Is there anything else that you would want to add that maybe we jumped over, you know, strategies, things that you really have used with your children that you’ve found helpful narratively?

 

00;18;43;17 – 00;19;04;21

Carissa

Yeah, I think married as we spend. So that again, it’s kind of building on taking advantage of the many, many moments in everyday life. So, for example, and you could do this with children even younger than three is just kind of speaking as you go. So if you’re in the coffee shop getting a coffee and you’re paying with your credit card, you say, oh, mom is buying a coffee and a donut for you, and I’m going to swipe my credit card.

 

00;19;04;26 – 00;19;23;13

Carissa

And money from our credit card is going to zoom into the cash register for the coffee shop. And at the end of the month, money from my bank account has to be used to pay for this coffee. So having these little conversations or mom’s going to take a $5 bill out of her purse and I’m going to pay for this coffee just narrating as you spend.

 

00;19;23;13 – 00;19;39;22

Carissa

And it could be as simple as that. Or even I know, the parking meter, the parking meter comes up all the time. So, mom, why are we stopping? Why are you paying the parking meter? This is annoying. We have to go into the store instead of saying, I know, I. Let’s just do this, we actually take a step back and say, well, do you know why we are paying the parking meter?

 

00;19;39;24 – 00;19;58;09

Carissa

And the kids often say, no. And I say, well, you see our street, they’re nice and clean and the roads are paved and if there is a pothole gets paved quickly, well, how do you think that gets paid for? And it gets paid for partly from paying parking meter. And it kind of just makes the connections that like, hey, like you really do need money in every kind of phase of life.

 

00;19;58;11 – 00;20;00;11

Carissa

And then it builds on that conversation.

 

00;20;00;13 – 00;20;24;00

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love this. I love it that you all take a developmental approach to this, because that is what should be happening, and also an approach of gratitude, and that the world works in this way, like using the potholes as an example, using service as an example. Right? That not only is money good for buying toys, but obviously money helps things happen and makes the world a better place in terms of roads cleaner and the world cleaner.

 

00;20;24;00 – 00;20;30;08

Dr. Mona

And I just think that’s such a great approach. Is there another tip that you wanted to end with in terms of, a strategy?

 

00;20;30;18 – 00;20;47;14

Carissa

I would say that as kids get older, something that’s important to start talking about is investing. But again, at an age appropriate way, at an, at the right age. So we found that you could start broadly talking about like, what does it mean to invest, putting your dollars in something so that it could grow for the future.

 

00;20;47;14 – 00;21;11;13

Carissa

You could have those conversations around five, but really starting around investing, we found success around ages like between 8 and 10, and it’s really child specific, a little bit based on interest. But even we talk about investing, we try and find things that children are interested in. So for example, my oldest, he’s eight, but he’s been an old soul since birth, so he may be a little bit on the younger end of the spectrum.

 

00;21;11;16 – 00;21;29;17

Carissa

We went to Disney this past year and Epcot is under renovation, and he’s had a little bit of knowledge about stocks and investing. And he knows Disney is a public company and you could own a small piece of it. So as we’re walking through, he’s like, mom, so you’re telling me if I own Disney stock, then I could tell them that I want to Luca right here.

 

00;21;29;23 – 00;21;49;13

Carissa

And I kind of laughed because I was like, you know what you’re getting? You’re getting it. You are getting it. Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s starting like you’re getting it. You’re making the connection. So I think when you can start talking about investing, it is important to have those conversations as well as talking about earning and how different jobs, there’s different career paths.

 

00;21;49;15 – 00;21;55;27

Carissa

And what goes into that is really important to also make sure that that becomes part of the conversation as the kids do get older.

 

00;21;55;29 – 00;22;13;24

Dr. Mona

And also how to foster budding entrepreneurship, because I know your platform and obviously your company kind of, works with that as well. So any tips on that? You know, a six year old that wants to start a business or wants to learn about that? Or should we be teaching our children about entrepreneurship and what that means?

 

00;22;13;26 – 00;22;32;28

Nikki

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we talk a lot about that and encouraging entrepreneurship. And, you know, one simplistic way to do that kind of at a young age and making sure kids, while fostering their interest and eagerness to do so, also making it realistic in a teaching moment and kind of a, you know, a general plan. We use this our thoughts on the lemonade stand.

 

00;22;32;28 – 00;22;50;27

Nikki

And if your child wants to set up a lemonade stand to either make money with their friends or to raise money for a cause, what we like to talk about is making sure they understand what goes into that. It’s not just, oh, you go into mom and dad’s cabinet and you get the lemons and you get the sugar and you get the picture, and you just take all the profits.

 

00;22;50;29 – 00;23;11;21

Nikki

It’s, you know, really use that as a moment to teach them, okay, here’s what everything is going to cost and here’s what you’re going to charge. And where should we set up. And this is maybe we should think about marketing. And there’s so many different topics you can touch on just with that as an example. But it really can apply to, you know, whatever their interest may be, whether it’s setting up a little coaching clinic or what have you.

 

00;23;11;26 – 00;23;38;21

Carissa

And even on a more like simpler level, while we do give allowance, we also encourage parents to think about extra jobs for those children who really want to save up faster for those bigger ticketed items who just can’t wait, think about something you may pay somebody else to do. So whether it’s helping weed the garden or clean out a garage, or if your child’s a little older, babysit a sibling, something you’d pay someone an adult to do.

 

00;23;38;24 – 00;24;00;03

Carissa

Think about offering that job to your child. Obviously, you’re not going to pay them the same amount you would pay a grown adult, but it’s a way for kids to think about earning and doing a job and getting paid for it very early. Right? So it may be more incentivized to help you if they know they’re getting paid for it, and they know that you’re trusting them with this job that’s really seen as a job for an adult.

 

00;24;00;04 – 00;24;04;14

Carissa

And then then that also helps them save up for their bigger ticket items quicker.

 

00;24;04;16 – 00;24;24;10

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I love it. It teaches them responsibility, financial management. There’s so many ways that this whole conversation is just building that amazing development of a child that I think a lot of parents don’t really think about. And I think your point is valid, that a lot of parents probably don’t talk about it because they feel like it is still taboo, or that, you know, maybe their child will feel a certain way about money.

 

00;24;24;10 – 00;24;48;04

Dr. Mona

That’s not what they want, but that’s not the case. Or like I think a lot of it is financial literacy of the parent themselves, you know, and I think you all have presented such great, easy, tangible ways that we all can talk about money in a great way and really support our child’s development and how they, you know, start to learn about money and look at money as something valuable, something earned, and how it can help others and how it can help them get the things that they want.

 

00;24;48;04 – 00;24;50;02

Dr. Mona

So really, such a great conversation.

 

00;24;50;09 – 00;25;07;05

Carissa

Thank you. I would say that, you know, we all know that one of the big drivers of stress is money, right? So we’re hoping to help the next generation alleviate some of that stress by giving them the tools they need to make smarter money choices and just to understand how money works.

 

00;25;07;07 – 00;25;24;02

Dr. Mona

What would be something that you would say to that parent who feels like they don’t know enough about money, like where can they begin if they’re feeling like, well, I don’t even know how to manage my own finances. And I’m struggling with, you know, feeling like this is only a conversation to be had with higher earners. This is not the case, right?

 

00;25;24;02 – 00;25;39;23

Dr. Mona

You can make the choices that you’re making in the education that you’re making, regardless of your socioeconomic status. Right? Everyone has money in some way who’s probably listening to this podcast. So what would you say to that parent who’s feeling nervous or hesitant on having these conversations or learning about finance?

 

00;25;39;25 – 00;25;57;16

Nikki

Exactly. I mean, I think, and when we started Benjamin Talks, this was really important to us. And a reason why all of our content is free is that we believe everyone should have access to financial literacy. No matter where you fall on the spectrum or what your background may be, with finance and with money, you can always start.

 

00;25;57;16 – 00;26;15;01

Nikki

And so with that in mind, we kind of adjusted our I, not our curriculum, but the way that we distributed content and a way to kind of hit all these pillars so that you’re building the foundation along the way. And again, as I spoke to earlier, we found that we’re really educating the parents a lot of times before we’re educating the kids.

 

00;26;15;01 – 00;26;32;10

Nikki

And so a lot of the pieces we’re writing kind of build that foundation, check on these different pillars, and then have a prompt penny for their thoughts, which is a way to engage your child. The end. So again, we’re really educating the parents and caregivers first and giving them that foundation as well, and then giving them a way to engage with their kids on that.

 

00;26;32;13 – 00;26;51;18

Carissa

And then there are a lot of organizations that can actually help on, like a real day to day basis for adults. You know, the financial jam, for example. And they’re very accessible really to wherever you are on the financial socioeconomic spectrum. But just look for those resources if you like. You really need help with that day to day.

 

00;26;51;20 – 00;27;02;16

Nikki

And the legitimate ones, because obviously now with in the age of, you know, TikTok and influencers, you have to be very careful about where you’re getting your information and you know how you’re using that. You just want to. Yeah. That.

 

00;27;02;19 – 00;27;11;04

Carissa

Exactly. So you really want to research and make sure you’re going to somebody who is qualified to be helping with kind of like the day to day money management.

 

00;27;11;06 – 00;27;31;16

Dr. Mona

Oh, I can tell you that from being a health care provider. So I could imagine being both of you being in finance and seeing maybe some advice being given out there, you’re like, what? Like my we all have our strengths and niches for a reason, right? To be able to give all this information. And again, I’m just so grateful that you all use your training and experience in Wall Street.

 

00;27;31;16 – 00;27;52;11

Dr. Mona

Right. To do this because like I said, it all starts in childhood. I do believe, not only with finance education, but with so much that we teach our children, and this is a part of that. So where can the listeners find your resources, the bank? Where is the best way to stay in contact with you all and learn more about everything that Benjamin talks, is doing?

 

00;27;52;13 – 00;28;14;05

Nikki

Yeah. So you can sign up for all of our content for free at Benjamin Foxconn. We also have a shop page where we offer the Benji Bank and some other products. We’ll also be releasing some additional products soon, so stay on the lookout. Very excited about that. And then our Instagram at Benjamin Talks. We really do a lot of quick tips and tricks, a lot of kind of reels, and bringing the kids involved.

 

00;28;14;05 – 00;28;29;12

Nikki

And we also do marketing a mom minute, which is Chris and I every week, kind of breaking down the markets, defining a few terms. Again, this is sometimes more for parents. Or older kind of tweens. But, we do a lot of that type of content and Instagram.

 

00;28;29;12 – 00;28;49;23

Carissa

App and it’s really for education. So we’re not giving financial advice, but it’s really what is happening. Why is it happening? Why is it matter? We try and throw in some humor and some pop culture as it relates to money, to make it a little less intimidating. I think when you start talking about the stock market and using words like volatility and reserve, it can be a little intimidating.

 

00;28;49;23 – 00;29;09;23

Carissa

We try and make it as digestible as possible. In addition to market and a mom in it, we are also doing money in a moment. And that’s really where we do little videos on tangible, actionable things parents can do to like start the conversation. Or if there’s broader headlines about family and finance, we’ll kind of address it.

 

00;29;09;25 – 00;29;24;22

Dr. Mona

Well, again, thank you so much, Carissa and Nikki, because this is an enlightening conversation for me. I just think it’s so important that parents hear this. I can’t wait to utilize some of your tips with my son, you know, especially as he turns three. And we’re going to take out that bank. And I again, thank you so much for sending it.

 

00;29;24;22 – 00;29;36;01

Dr. Mona

It is awesome. And beyond the bank, you know, just the stuff that you’re sharing on your social and your website and your mission to work with nonprofits as well is just so nice to see. So thanks again for joining us today.

 

00;29;36;04 – 00;29;37;25

Nikki

Awesome. Thank you for having us.

 

00;29;37;27 – 00;29;56;22

Dr. Mona

And for everyone listening. If you love this episode, please make sure to leave a review wherever you can. Leave reviews, call out the episode. Thank Carissa and Nikki for all of their information. If you buy the Benjamin Talks Bank, please shout it out! We are so appreciative to have these amazing guests on our podcast and we will talk to you next week.

 

00;29;56;22 – 00;29;59;18

Dr. Mona

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always.

 

00;29;59;18 – 00;30;01;13

Carissa

Please leave a review.

 

00;30;01;15 – 00;30;12;12

Dr. Mona

Share this episode with a friend. Share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel. PedsDocTalk TV. We’ll talk to you soon.