Financial security and money management is something I have always struggled with. I don’t get money and money doesn’t get me. I teach my son what I can but it’s an area I could use help with. Here’s where Sally Saver Series comes into play. This book series written by DL Collins breaks down the importance of financial literacy and how to be a saver for children. Check out our interview with him where he discusses money, how it effects the community, and what we can do as parents:
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What advice would you give to parents who struggle with their children wanting to read? My son was the same way he just wanted to be on video games all day. So, what I did, I created a system. For every hour that he read, I gave him 15 minutes of game play. I had a stop clock and we recorded the time. He would read just to get gaming time. It took a bit of work and I had to be consistent but it paid off. One day, I found him and he was just reading. No stop clock. So now he reads more than he plays video games.
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What are some “every kid should know” finance tips for parents? I would say to teach savings, how to balance a checking account, budgeting, comparing/contrasting, credit, investing, and entrepreneurship. If you go in that order too you can slowly build on each topic from what they already learned.
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What advice would you give parents? I always tell my parents when you go shopping take your kids with you and compare/contrast the prices. Teach them how to shop. When you go to the bank, let them watch the process. Ask the financial advisors questions so that they teach the kids. Take your kids with you when you buy a house. Your kids will learn so much by you asking questions. When I was purchasing a house, I acted like I didn’t know anything. I took my son with me and he absorbed everything the loan officer went over.
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Do you think we financially handicap our children with the “18 and out” rule? I think we are all misinformed. Perfect example, I think if a lot of the parents really knew financial literacy they would be able to help more. When I was growing up my mom told me “I don’t have a savings account” because she was working two jobs to take care of me. You’re using credit cards to make ends meet so now you can’t educate me when you’re just trying to survive and raise me as a single parent. Nobody sat our parents down and educated them on credit and checking. That’s why it’s important to start with the kids because we are seeing the consequences of not being educated in those areas that we never fully understood. It is not effective to just throw them out into the World without helping them build a foundation.
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What made you want to become an author? I was in school I was a math major. I hated writing and English. However, when I got out and started a non-profit that helped kids with financial literacy I felt that I was not reaching enough people. I prayed about being able to reach out to more children, not just in my community. That’s when it came to me, a book would gain me Worldwide exposure.
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What do you want children to gain when they read your book? I want children to learn financial literacy and how to make good decisions. When I was growing up there were adventure books that we would read. In the books, you would get to a turning point where it would ask you… if you think you should do this… go to this page, etc. I wanted to catch the same concept in my books. So not only do they learn about financial literacy they see the consequences of the decisions they make.
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In addition to creating the Sally Saver Series books, you are also hosting a festival? Yes! The festival is about bringing fun to finance. Kids are all into these video games today. So, I created a festival with tons of fun things for them to do but we aren’t going to sell tickets. It is a free event but for them to get tickets they must earn learning credits. They earn learning credits by completing financial literacy challenges, i.e. open a bank account, etc. International Recording Artist, Silento who is responsible for the hit single “Watch Me Whip/Nae Nae”, is also going to be present at the festival as a judge for our dance off! The festival will take place in Decatur, Georgia and you can find out more information at http://sallyfest.org.
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Where can we purchase the book series? You can get them at wwww.sallysaverseries.com , if you purchase via the website you will get an autographed copy. The website is also very interactive, there are financial worksheets parents can use with the answer keys as well. We are also in the process of creating a Sally Saver curriculum. Also, they are available for purchase via Barnes&Nobles and Amazon.