Guiding Children to Financial Fluency with Financial Advisor-Author Anthony Delauney

Unlock the secrets to teaching your children the priceless skill of financial literacy, as we welcome Anthony Delauney to share his expertise and heartwarming journey as a Family Financial Planner and author of Owning the Dash children's book series. This episode is packed with engaging stories and practical advice that will change the way you approach money management with your little ones. You'll hear stories which bring to life the concepts of patience and delayed gratification in a way that's relatable and impactful for kids.

We're venturing beyond the piggy bank to explore creative methods to help your children understand and value money. From grocery shopping with a purpose to interactive activities on the Owning the Dash website, these strategies are designed to foster independent thinking and solid decision-making skills. As we navigate through tales of goal-setting and the importance of a work ethic, you'll discover a treasure trove of resources and ideas that cater to the evolving financial landscape and the varied experiences of families.

To wrap up, we highlight the collective triumphs in incorporating financial literacy into our educational systems and share a call to action for listeners to become part of a community dedicated to promoting the good in education. Whether you're a parent looking to empower your child with confidence in their financial decisions or an educator seeking resources for your classroom, this episode offers a wealth of inspiration and practical steps to ensure our children are equipped for a financially savvy future. Join us for an enlightening conversation that promises to leave you inspired and ready to take on the challenge of raising financially literate kids.

Go to the Owning the Dash website for financial literacy for kids book series.
Use the code OwningMyDash! for story discussion questions, activities, and games under the For Educator section.

Chapters

• 0:33 Financial Literacy in Children, Research
• 2:10 Anthony Delauney Introduction and Owning the Dash Financial Literacy for Kids Book Series
• 6:16 Story Backgrounds and Lessons
• 12:00 How to Talk to Kids About Money Concepts
• 13:28 Money Habits that Form by Age 7
• 17:27 Conversation Tips with Preschoolers
• 18:16 Teaching Kids Financial Concepts Through Games
• 20:16 Financial Conversations for Older Children
• 24:02 Owning the Dash Activities and Games- Online Resources
• 29:12 New Book Addressing Roadblocks and Confidence
• 31:52 Financial Literacy in a Digital and Cashless Economy
• 34:57 How to Use Financial Literacy Books in Class
• 36:06 Wrap Up

Transcript

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 0:10

Welcome to the Brighter Side of Education. I'm your host, Dr. Lisa Hassler, here to enlighten and brighten the classrooms in America through focused conversation on important topics in education. In each episode, I discuss problems we as teachers and parents are facing and what people are doing in their communities to fix it. What are the variables and how can we duplicate it to maximize student outcomes? In this episode, I discuss financial literacy in children.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 0:36

We live in an increasingly complex financial world, yet many people lack the knowledge and skills to navigate it successfully. Financial literacy the ability to understand and make informed decisions about money matters is alarmingly low across the globe, even in developed nations. According to research by Anna Maria Lussardi published in the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, financial illiteracy is widespread and higher national income levels do not necessarily translate into financially literate populations. This lack of financial know-how has real consequences. The study cites ample evidence that financial literacy impacts crucial financial behaviors like saving, investing, debt management and even borrowing practices. Those with greater financial literacy are more likely to accumulate wealth and plan effectively. Conversely, those with poor financial literacy often exhibit problematic debt behaviors, struggling to manage their liabilities and miss out on the benefits of compound interest and long-term financial planning. As Lussardi notes, we are increasingly tasked with making more financial decisions throughout our lifetimes, from navigating new financial products and services to assuming greater responsibility for our retirement savings. Yet many individuals, especially among vulnerable populations, lack the fundamental money management skills to thrive economically.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 1:55

Financial literacy is no longer a privilege for the few. It's an essential skill for the 21st century and should be considered a fundamental human right in universal need. Without financial education, individuals and societies cannot reach their full potential. Today I'm excited to welcome Anthony Delaney to the podcast. Anthony is a certified family financial planner, a behavioral financial advisor and author of the award-winning Owning the Dash children's book series that teach basic lessons about money. He has also authored two financial self-help books geared towards helping young couples start their financial journey and toward helping older couples prepare for their transition into retirement. His mission is to empower kids and families with financial literacy education from an early age. Welcome to the show, anthony.

Anthony Delauney: 2:41

Thank you so much for having me. It's wonderful to be here.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 2:44

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to write the Owning the Dash Children's Book Series on financial literacy?

Anthony Delauney: 2:51

Sure. So I've been in the financial planning world for about 21 years and I started right out of college and in that time I ended up getting married, buying my first home, having two children now a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old and I just realized, as I was growing my family and going through all those stages of life, that I just really had a passion and love for helping other families. So financial planning is hard enough as an individual, but once you start bringing in a partner and children, it just becomes more. It's like a giant puzzle box and you're trying to put all those different puzzle pieces together. So I've always just had a passion and love for helping families. And back in 2015, I actually experienced a life event. It's a bit of a sad event, but it was a very powerful one. I had a cousin. His name was Greg Plitt. Greg was really, I guess you could say famous in the fitness world.

Anthony Delauney: 3:42

He was on the cover of over 250 fitness magazines and just really really well known in that area and he unfortunately passed away unexpectedly. And as a way of kind of remembering him, he had a website where members would email in questions on life and fitness and he would do video, blog and answer those questions. And just as a way of remembering him, I'd watch those videos and realize that a lot of his philosophies, as they related to life and to fitness, could also apply to finance. And I thought how could I kind of share this information with others and kind of serve as a testimonial to Greg? And I thought why not write a book about it? And I put that book together and he actually had a segment on the concept of death and it was on the idea of owning the dash, and the dash is the. The title seems a bit odd, but on your tombstone, between your birth and your death dates. There's the dash in between and the idea is taking ownership of your life. You only have this limited period of time and giving as much as you can during that time and doing for others as much as you can. And it was really powerful to me, so powerful that I said that's the title, that's where it's all going to start.

Anthony Delauney: 4:52

I brought that book to life. It was really written for young families and young individuals just kind of getting started. It received a lot of positive feedback, which was wonderful. So I thought where do we go from here? And some individuals said what about a book for older individuals? What about us looking to make the transition into retirement? So when COVID started, I decided I'll take on that challenge and started writing an adult self-help book for retirement.

Anthony Delauney: 5:16

And while I was writing it at the time, my 12 year old daughter for the parents out there. She's the type of child that never sleeps at night, so I would be writing during evening hours and all of a sudden I looked to For the parents out there. She's the type of child that never sleeps at night. Yeah, can relate.

Anthony Delauney: 5:27

So I would be writing during evening hours and all of a sudden I look to my left and I hear hi, daddy. And there she was and she started writing next to me. Oh, and it was really just a fun time together. But we came up with this crazy idea of why don't we write a children's picture book that teaches a basic financial lesson. She helped make sure that it would be something that kids would read, and my son helped as well, and I made sure that it actually communicated an important lesson and that book turned into Dash and Nikki and the Jelly Bean Game. Since that time we've written five children's picture books, the most recent one just released on April 2nd of this year, and number six is going to be coming out in October.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 6:06

Oh, wow.

Anthony Delauney: 6:06

So yes, and each book teaches a basic financial lesson that kids can hopefully get the fundamentals on. So it's been a fun journey, but that's how Owning the Dash came to life.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 6:17

That's a great story and I love how your children impacted the direction of the books and the content. And when you know that kids approve of it, you've got like a solid win there. I think Robert Munch also did that, where he would test his stories in front of children and he knew if they enjoyed it it was going to be a hit and if not, he had to work out the kinks.

Anthony Delauney: 6:39

They are the best critics because you know they're going to be honest with you and you know love you. That is true, it's fun to have your children. All the stories are rhyming stories that they read, like Dr Seuss books. They're meant to be read aloud either in a classroom or at home during bedtime. And it's fun to have your children say this isn't a Christmas, carol, dad or no, that rhyme will never work. No child would ever say that.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 7:05

Oh, that's a good point because kids' lingo is different and their humor. As adults we look at humor like, oh my gosh, that's so funny and they're like, yeah, I get it. So it is good to have their feedback on that and also to have the rhyming to talk fun things about the lessons. Saving, budgeting, earning, risk versus reward these are topics that children necessarily would not be. Picking up a book and saying I can't wait to read about savings, so I could see where that hook about making it kid-friendly really struck a chord, probably with being able to make it so that they would be excited about reading that content.

Anthony Delauney: 7:39

It's very interesting with children's books. It's a very different dynamic than an adult book, and one thing that I found very interesting when I was learning about children's picture books is when it comes to kind of going back to the idea of financial lessons and teaching. We always want to tell our kids and guide our children, try to figure out when's the most appropriate time to start teaching these lessons and how do we do it. One thing that's very hard is when we tell our kids what to do. They may do it or they might do just the opposite.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 8:06

Right.

Anthony Delauney: 8:07

I was told, never make the parent teach the child what to do in the book.

Anthony Delauney: 8:12

Instead have it be a friend or a sibling, because kids will pick up on that right away. They will notice if the parent's telling the child what to do in the story that they can say, oh wait a minute, it's a subconscious thing. So with each of the kids' books what we have are dynamics where it's siblings or friends that are going through scenarios and the child can actually experience the emotions and think what would I be doing or how would I be feeling in this particular situation and then how would I respond accordingly. So it's very interesting how the psyche of a child is not so much about here's what you should do, it's more of here's a scenario. How do you think you would react in this scenario?

Anthony Delauney: 8:55

And to give an example, that the original book Dash and Nikki and the Jelly Bean Game. That story is basically about a brother and sister who might look just like my kids. They wake up one morning and they find a note waiting for them inviting them to play the jelly bean game. So they go downstairs and at the kitchen table there are two plates and a jar full of jelly beans and each plate has 10 jelly beans to start off. And the note says for every hour that you can resist. You'll get five more jelly beans.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 9:24

It's like the marshmallow challenge right Exactly.

Anthony Delauney: 9:28

I mean, for those that know it, it's the marshmallow study from years back and we've seen videos on it and so forth. But the idea is that if you give the children the ability to, I'm going to give you a marshmallow. So this is the marshmallow study for listeners who don't know. But I'm going to leave the room and when I come back, if the marshmallow is still there, I'll give you another one to see how the kids react. It's not to tell them what to do. It's to say here's the option. You get Temptation. So in this case, I use jelly beans instead of marshmallows.

Anthony Delauney: 9:59

But Dash the older brother is a competitive individual and he wants to win, so he immediately takes another plate and covers up his jelly beans, so he can't even see them. The temptation is put out of sight and out of mind. So he has a game plan. He's thinking about how he wants the jelly beans as much as his sister does, but he tries to use a strategy to put it out of sight and it's a little tweak into the saving psyche I'm going to put my money somewhere that I can't see it.

Anthony Delauney: 10:20

I'm going to put it somewhere that I know it's for the future, as an example. So Dash does, as the hours pass, start to accumulate, but in the first three minutes Nikki is a slightly more impulsive sister and my daughter, abby, is giving me permission to say that this is not completely related to her, but she eats jelly beans right away. And what we get to see in the story is Nikki sees her older brother accumulating those jelly beans throughout the day and her plate is empty throughout the day. And if that was a story it'd be a terrible story One child suffering while the other one doesn't. So there's a twist that happens later in the story, where Dash sees his sister being upset and he has compassion. He says I've got an idea. Why don't I give you 10 jelly beans if at the end you'll give 12 back? And he knows she'll get a lot more than 12 jelly beans throughout the rest of the day. So she agrees and they both can win.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 11:16

Ooh, interest.

Anthony Delauney: 11:18

And, yes, just the kind of idea behind the books is not so much. We're not even talking about money per se, but we have financial concepts like delayed gratification, patience. We're also learning about compassion in the story when it comes to money. Kids don't understand money per se because they can't make it. They might have a piggy bank, they may get an allowance, so they can get those basic concepts, but they don't have as much of a sense of what the real value of money is.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 11:44

Right, but things that they yes.

Anthony Delauney: 11:47

They can understand things. Different parents have different examples, but candy can be an example that's something that they have value in. Or they can say, oh, I want jelly beans, I want some type of treat. So if there's a fundamental thing I've learned over the 20 years as an advisor, parents have always asked how can I start talking to my kids. It's not so much about teaching them the hard parts of finance, like investing and things of that nature that comes down the road. It's more so focusing on these basic fundamentals. How does the family budget work? How do we make sure we're aware of our decision-making and our emotions before we make a decision, just like Nikki, impulsively eating those jelly beans and not thinking about what it could be down the road? That's kind of the idea behind it.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 12:35

So why is it so important to start teaching kids about money management at a young age?

Anthony Delauney: 12:40

I think it's kind of like all those other basic things we try to teach kids about early in life no-transcript them directly about money, but concepts that when they understand those concepts they'll be able to better understand how to make decisions when it comes to money. The sooner it feels natural to them, the easier life becomes down the road.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 13:29

So you were talking about some key money habits and mindsets that tend to form by age seven. I was surprised by this information. Did you want to share with what happens by age seven? That's so important?

Anthony Delauney: 13:42

these bigger concepts, that children can't understand the stock market, but they mimic parents.

Anthony Delauney: 13:56

They want to play grownup, they want to be viewed as adults. It's exciting to them, they want to feel in control, even though they know they're not in control. And so when we can introduce lessons that sometimes we think that they can't handle, but they want to at least learn or feel what it feels like. So, as an example, if you take your child to the grocery store and go through that process of what are the things that our family needs or doesn't need, they're going to listen. And if you say we need to get this, we need to get that, versus asking them what do you think we need to get? Do you think we should get this cereal? The more we give them ownership of their decision-making, just like in the books, the idea of not having the parents tell the children what to do. Another unique little concept when it comes to writing children's books is, I was told, never say what the emotion is that the child is feeling. So you don't say so-and-so felt sad, so-and-so was angry. Say what is happening. So-and-so cried, So-and-so made a pouty face, and then it's up to the reader to interpret that. So the more we can kind of introduce concepts that children can reflect on, the easier it is for them to then remind themselves of those moments.

Anthony Delauney: 15:10

And I'll give another kind of key example my fourth book no, my third one. It's called Rohan and Naira and Big Sister's Bet. And the foundation of this story is I was in my backyard just throwing the football with my son, and he was about 10 at the time. As you're throwing the football, I said I'll make you a bet. For every catch we make, I will give you 25 cents and we can keep playing as long as you want to play, but if at any point you fumble the ball, then you lose all the money. So as parents, the first thing that probably comes to mind is we know that fumble's coming right.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 15:46

We know, at some point fumble is coming.

Anthony Delauney: 15:49

But what Jason ended up doing was he set a goal, a goal for himself. He said I want to achieve this level of money because he had something he wanted to get with that, and so we played, and that that amount was about ten dollars. Okay, so we played, we got up to five dollars, we got up to eight dollars, and as we got close to that ten, he started to think about some other things that he wanted to potentially get. Yeah, the more expensive things, and so we got to 10. He said let's try for just a few more.

Anthony Delauney: 16:21

So, we kept going, we got up to 15. Wow, he's good and then each time I would ask are you sure you want another throw? And he'd say just one more. And we got up to $18.50. Wow, and he'd say just one more.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 16:33

And we got up to $18.50. Wow and he said just one last one, Dad oh.

Anthony Delauney: 16:36

Sure enough, there's the throw and there's the fumble.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 16:38

Yeah.

Anthony Delauney: 16:39

And why it was such an important moment is when he dropped the ball. He didn't get mad at me, he just stood there quietly and looked down at the ball and reflected on the moment, because he knew at that moment it wasn't someone else's fault.

Anthony Delauney: 16:54

It was. He allowed his emotions and his greed to influence his decision and as he was reflecting on it, I realized this is a scenario he's never going to forget for the rest of his life. Anytime he's kind of working toward a goal or working towards saving for something, he's going to be kind of reminded if I get too greedy it could come back to bite me and I said this is a perfect story scenario. So in this case it's an older sister comes home to visit her brother and she brings home a football for them to play with. Sure enough, that story comes to life.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 17:25

Oh, that's wonderful. So for parents, what kind of practical tips to start having conversations with preschoolers about money do you recommend?

Anthony Delauney: 17:40

Sure. So I think, once again, the idea of allowing them to share their thoughts in different scenarios. So a simple idea is when you're sitting around the dinner table I know we're all really busy these days, but whether it's the breakfast table or maybe on the weekend, we're all together.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 17:50

Yeah.

Anthony Delauney: 17:50

Just say what kind of things do you think mom and dad pay for in terms of, like, the family budget? Make a game out of it. If there's one thing that's really fun with kids is they love games. So if you can say, let's go around the table and think of one thing that we pay for we pay for food, we pay for the table in the house and it just kind of gets those juices flowing. These are all the different things that we could pay for it and they get excited because they come up with more and more ideas. That's a good idea. So that's one I would say as a fun little scenario for parents that have ever had the child who's on their arm, as they go into a gas station and the child sees that nice array of all those candy bars and whatnot, right as they're about to leave and say, oh, please get it for me, please get it for me.

Anthony Delauney: 18:33

One thing that is a lot of fun that I found very helpful, because I went through that myself is say let's take a look at this candy that you want to get and I want you to remember, let's write down how much it costs here and then, when we go to the grocery store. I want you to see how much it costs there and I want you to tell me what the difference is. I want you to see how much it costs there and I want you to tell me what the difference is. And then, all of a sudden, they're not focused on the candy anymore. It's another, it's a game, it's a okay. We're going to compare these things and as they get a little bit older and maybe they have an allowance or might have a little money in their piggy bank, one thing I've also found very helpful is to once again give them ownership. So instead of just saying saying okay, I'll buy it for you, or if you ask 20 times, then on the 20th time I'll buy it for you After the first ask, say if you think it is something that's appropriate for them.

Anthony Delauney: 19:20

Say I'll let you get it, or I'll get it for you, but I'm only going to pay for 30% of it, or I'm only going to pay for 50% of it. And then, all of a sudden, it's math being brought into the mix. They're kind of thinking about not only how much does that mean I have to give? And if they're not willing to give 50%, then that's their decision and it's no longer. It's not you. You said I'm willing to help, but in the end it has to be your decision on. Are you willing to give up?

Anthony Delauney: 19:46

That's a good point, because what we find with a lot of individuals adults and children is that some have the savers and the hoarders mentality, whereas others have the spenders mentality, and if there's no money in the piggy bank, then there's no ability to pay because you already put that money towards something else.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 20:00

Right.

Anthony Delauney: 20:01

So I think that, yes, it's just simple games and not so much worrying about the big concepts, just like brushing your teeth and learning how to get dressed. If you could teach them how to just live life, they'll start to really want to take ownership, sooner rather than later.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 20:15

Right. So then how do those lessons and activities evolve as children get older? You did talk about like the percentages for a little bit older, so you wouldn't do that with a preschool child, but then elementary, even high school. How do you start to bring in the harder stuff?

Anthony Delauney: 20:31

Sure. So one of the biggest things that I've been asked over the years is especially since the book started coming out is how do I start?

Anthony Delauney: 20:38

talking to my middle and high school or my pre-college students about these financial lessons, because the attention span goes from big book to children's book to I'll watch a TikTok video to try to learn. And one of the things I've learned as you do get older or get into that world, even as young adults, is that we've become. For my generation, none of that existed. None of these social media platforms existed, so information was scarce and a lot of times parents didn't even talk to their kids about financial lessons. Everything was very confidential. Parents didn't even talk to their kids about financial lessons.

Anthony Delauney: 21:14

Everything was very confidential. Now there's more of an openness, but there's also this massive abundance of information everywhere you can get financial advice across the board, and if there's an important lesson to start to teach the kids as they get into those older years, it's to be mindful of the pitch or of the sale, and what I mean by that is that the most successful financial individuals follow the fundamentals and don't get caught up in the hype when everybody's talking about it. You usually don't want to be doing that, so it's hard. It's the hardest kind of category, which is why it's so important to get those fundamentals established early. But when it comes to try to teach the older individuals, one is you want to be very just, like going back to the example of Dash and Nikki with little children.

Anthony Delauney: 22:02

The thought process behind that is if you can understand that your emotion is guiding your decision-making, then that will be very, very helpful later in life when it comes to actually using your money. I'll go back to an area that I still struggle with is just the fitness philosophy. If you're stressed, you're more likely to eat poorly. If you're stressed, you're more likely to do those things you know you're not supposed to do. So I think that if there's a way to really focus in for the middle school and high school individuals, it's not so much introducing things to them. I mean, they may want to learn about stocks and they may want to learn about investments, but make sure that you're teaching them in a way that is not directed at their emotions, and what I mean by that is that there's a lot of apps out there.

Anthony Delauney: 22:43

There's a lot of things that almost work in a casino type mindset, and what that means is that if they make a trade, confetti goes up in the air or dings happen and things are done to evoke an emotion that says do more of this and I think that that's the thing that, as parents, we almost need to rein them in more than set them free and say that why are you doing this?

Anthony Delauney: 23:06

What are you investing in this for? Are you investing it because everybody else is doing it? Are you investing in it because you see value in it? How did you go about making this decision? In all the years I've been an advisor the most successful individuals I've seen over the years in terms of achieving their goals they are able to really be mindful of. This is what I'm working toward and setting a plan versus just I want to try this, I want to try that. I want to try this Kind of going back to those puzzle pieces.

Anthony Delauney: 23:36

If the puzzle pieces are all over the place, you can't focus yourself. And I think that when you want to talk to your children about financial lessons, it's not so much saying, oh, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do this, because the kids will say, okay, mom and dad, you don't know what you're talking about. It's more what do you want to achieve and how do you want to achieve it? And giving them more ownership of here's what I want and here's how I want to do it and then kind of guiding them along that path.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 24:01

So do you have any other examples of like activities that parents can do with their kids to teach financial concepts in a fun, engaging way?

Anthony Delauney: 24:08

Sure. So one thing I'll share is, in addition to each of the books, there is on the Owning the Dash website, owningthedashcom, there is a section called For Educators, a tab, and on that there's a list of discussion questions that are associated with each of the books. But also there's a variety of games and activities that parents can use to start playing the games and trying out different things. Oh fine, as an example, with my second book, lily and May Learn why Mom and Dad Work, that book really introduces the basic concepts of not only the reasons that parents work and the different types of jobs they do, but what does money go towards? So the basics of a budget. And there's an activity book where children can draw in pictures. So we're talking ages four and under. They can draw in pictures of different things that families pay for the clothing, the food, just all those different types of items, and obviously I didn't put too many on there, otherwise it would be a very long coloring book.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 25:06

Yes.

Anthony Delauney: 25:07

But it's a fun way of just kind of giving different associations but making it fun.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 25:12

Yeah.

Anthony Delauney: 25:13

So if your listeners are looking for different games and activities, there's a variety of them there.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 25:18

Excellent. I taught first and second grade for 20 years, and when I was in second grade we were talking about jobs and earning income. Where does that money go? To taxes and stuff. And so one of the activities that we did at the end of that unit was to go visit this French bakery. The kids would go and they would buy a croissant and everything. But in order to pay for that croissant that they would purchase, they would have to do work at home to earn money to then bring to the bakery. And then we would go into jobs and here's Baker Ben, and where does he get his flour from? And trading and all these other things and taxes. So your croissant is $3.50, but at the end it's more than that, why? And then tips. And so we were going into all of these things and I thought, well, let's make it real for the kids. They earned money and they would look at the menu before, like what are they going to earn towards? And then they knew, when they went to the bakery, what they were purchasing, so how much money they needed to earn. And each child would go up and they would have to then decide okay, so I'm going to buy this. This is how much money I have. Do I have enough for tax? And then there's a little tip jar next to it and they would decide how much they wanted to leave for tips. We talked about tipping and how much is appropriate, and it was wonderful because we got back from the bakery and the kids thought it was such a wonderful experience.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 26:37

And then we were talking about like, so what kinds of things did you do to earn your money and how much money did you earn? And so we went around the classroom and some kids were like well, you know, I folded the laundry. And another one was like I took out the garbage and I made the beds and this is how much money I earned. And one boy said well, oh my gosh, I was out there with like my four wheeler, I was picking up sticks, I was mowing the grass. This kid, by the way, second grade, so we're talking seven, eight years old. And so he was doing like hard labor and he had earned a considerable amount of money, but he really had to work quite extensively for that that money. And he was so proud of himself, all the things that he had done to earn this money.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 27:17

And then, as the we keep going around the students and and, um, this one little girl goes, well, like, what? Like you had to work for this money. And so he's like, outraged, what, what? You didn't even do anything, your parents just gave it to you, you know. And then one little girl said my dad did the laundry and then he helped me fold and he gave me $20. And the little boy was, like I want to work for your dad, you know, because I mean my dad. I was like, put out there, I was picking up sticks and hauling lumber and grabbing weeds and cutting grass, and that's how I earned my 20. But you, you folded a half a load of laundry with your dad. You got 20 bucks.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 27:54

But what was amazing was we got to see how everyone's concept of work and how much money they were shooting for, so how hard they were working towards it. But it was really eye-opener for the kids because they all just assumed that they were doing the same thing as they were. So it was wonderful. And then one boy was very excited because he's like, did you know? They have free water there? It was free. So the fact that he did not have to pay for his water when would you ever really consider that, but he was super excited about that. That was his favorite part.

Anthony Delauney: 28:19

I absolutely love that story because the earning of the money created a sense of ownership.

Anthony Delauney: 28:26

They saw the value of their money, Just like the child had to work incredibly hard he knew each one of these dollars was worth this much, whereas if you just kind of give kids the money, they don't appreciate it quite as much. Two quick things. For those games that are on the website, there is a password to get into them. I'll share it with all the listeners. It is owning my dash exclamation point and the O, the M and the D are all capitalized, so just owning my dash exclamation point.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 28:58

Okay, good, I will put that in the show notes as well. Awesome.

Anthony Delauney: 29:01

Thank you. The final thing I'll share is that it actually kind of using your story as an example is great teaching moments. That entire exercise was an incredible teaching moment. But kind of going back to also to the middle school, high school and young adults, my most recent book addressed probably the most significant roadblock that I've seen when it comes to individuals achieving their goals across the board, no matter what age, and that is fear of judgment A lot of times.

Anthony Delauney: 29:29

Yes, we want to focus on the fundamentals of this and that and the other, but this idea of when you meet with a planner as an example, that you're going to be judged for the decisions you made in the past, that will immediately stop people from moving forward or feel that they don't deserve to achieve their goals or dreams. And so my most recent book I will go too deep into it, but it's called Akash and Mila and the big jump and it involves the two best friends that are attending their first gymnastics class and they basically are going to try the springboard and they try and one of them falls flat on his face and is worried that everybody around, all the other kids there, are going to make fun of him. And he's just he went in super excited and happy and made a mistake and now wants to completely quit and leave and it's just miserable. And the reality in the story two older kids.

Anthony Delauney: 30:22

Dash my son, jason, who happens to be a gymnast. He's actually there. Jason happens to be a gymnast. He's actually there. He invited them to try the class and he tells them a story about him and the two friends, about how he had the same experience when he started and he realized that the other kids that are around actually do want him to do well. We're there to encourage him. The story basically goes into that the two try again and find out they can achieve it.

Anthony Delauney: 30:44

It's a basic concept once again, but the idea of when we're teaching our kids these lessons, when we're trying to educate them and guide them, we really want to make sure we encourage and that we are supportive and that we're not belittling them for making mistakes. Because if we can get in that mindset even especially as the middle school is in high schools where we start to see the pushback take place it's really hard to do. But if you can create that sense of not overconfidence but just confidence, belief in yourself, empowerment, that hey, I can make decisions, I can try doing these things on my own, I don't have to have someone else telling me what to do all the time, then when they get into adulthood, they're more confident. I think I can try to save up for this car. I think I can try to buy that home. Here's how I want to go about doing it, and if I don't know how to do it, I will not be afraid to ask people for advice, because when I've asked for advice in the past.

Anthony Delauney: 31:39

I've received feedback instead of ridicule, so it's a very broad concept. But it's amazing how that fear can really plague into decision-making all the way into the later years of life.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 31:52

And when you're talking about those challenges, how are the digital and the cashless? Now that we're going to? A lot of things are debit or on cards and they're not even really seeing or touching the money. What kind of challenges does that make it for kids to understand that money is real and how can parents overcome that?

Anthony Delauney: 32:10

So in that case it does kind of go back to children grow at different levels and mature at different levels. I think it is important to put the parameters, dedicate your time where it's going to give you the most bang for your buck. So, rather than trying to teach your kids all about the stock trading or things like that, things that you may not do in general or you may not have a passion toward, some kids love that kind of stuff. Other kids may not have an interest, but if you can help monitor without ridicule, but just kind of say, all right, here's what's a week or what's a month, we're going to look at what's in that savings account, Well, maybe we'll talk. Not, you know, these are the things you spent money on this past month and if it is being done on a card, just did you realize like all these things added up to this? And it's an important conversation to have, but it's also important to how you approach the conversation.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 33:02

Right.

Anthony Delauney: 33:03

You know, being there kind of almost as a teacher and as a I don't want to use the word friend, because being a friend to your kids is is. It's a different dynamic, but you're there trying to be as objective as possible and allow them to explain their thought process versus, look at, you spent $20 on you know gas station candy. Come on, man, uh.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 33:25

So how do you say that? Then You'd be like, was that a good choice?

Anthony Delauney: 33:31

I mean, and the reality is that our children are going to make different decisions than we do. We all have different priorities in life, and one thing I've learned just when it came to helping families put together budgets is I have no right, as a financial planner, to tell people how to spend their money. It is some people value travel, other people value going to certain events. Other people value charitable giving.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 33:54

That is true.

Anthony Delauney: 33:55

So to say that, oh, you need to cut back on this or cut back on that, if that's something that gives you value and joy, then we don't want to take that away from you.

Anthony Delauney: 34:04

But what we do want to do is figure out okay, if that's what brings you value and joy, if being able to go to the gas station once a week and buy a candy bar is the thing One we've got to talk about the health habits, but that's a different discussion. But if that's what you want, how do we make that a reality? And also make sure you're not sacrificing the other things that are important to you, and that way you're helping them to kind of work towards their vision of their, their desires and their goals, versus you try to tell them how they should be. Of course there are parameters and we've made mistakes and that's how we will teach against our mistakes. But the more they feel that sense of ownership just like that young boy or girl that was worked their tail off to get all that money their sense of value is generated by what they're doing, not by what someone else is telling them to do.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 34:55

Excellent, yeah, good advice. So, as we wrap up your books, what grade level would you recommend teachers using this at, and how would you recommend them using it?

Anthony Delauney: 35:04

So all elementary school first, even kindergarten, up to fifth grade, because the books can teach lessons and just be fun stories for the very young. But as we get up to the fourth and fifth grade, there are these kind of financial topics and what I've found is that the teachers are actually incorporating the books into the core curriculum studies for third, fourth and fifth grade. So we can go high level. Just how do you think? So-and-so is feeling. But then we can also talk about more of those specific scenarios on what would you do in this position or that position, or how does this type of scenario relate to something else? So, but yes, elementary school is probably the most appropriate.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 35:42

Yeah, and I could see some of these concepts with like savings and budgeting, the risk even versus reward, the importance of earning. Those are concepts that I even touched in first and second grade. It was in my social studies. I think that the more you bring it down to how do they fit into that not just this abstract concept it really hits home and they find it more real. Well, thank you, anthony, for joining me today to discuss the importance of financial literacy for our children and how parents and teachers can start. To find the full collection of Owning the Dash book series, you can go to owningthedashcom, which also offers free activities and resources under the educator section, as well as a free book giveaway. So head on over to owningthedashcom for more information. And that's O capital and D capital right.

Anthony Delauney: 36:32

Yes, and for the password O the owning my dash, the M is capital as well. Owning my dash. The website is owningthedash. com, but OwningM yD ash! Exclamation point is the password for those educator links.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 36:46

Great.

Anthony Delauney: 36:46

But thank you so much. This has been wonderful.

Dr. Lisa Hassler: 36:51

Thank you. If you have a story about what's working in your schools that you'd like to share, you can email me at lisa@ drlisarhassler. com, or visit my website at www. drlisarhassler. com and send me a message. If you like this podcast, subscribe and tell a friend. The more people that know, the bigger impact it will have. And if you find value to the content in this podcast, consider becoming a supporter by clicking on the supporter link in the show notes. It is the mission of this podcast to shine light on the good in education so that it spreads, affecting positive change. So let's keep working together to find solutions that focus on our children's success.