By Arlenys Tabare
Nov 10, 2023, 18:55 PM EST
An initiative carried out 12 years ago in San Francisco called “Kindergarten to College Program” evaluated in recent years how educating children on the topic of savings can generate great results.
Although we know that children during their kindergarten years are not thinking about saving for their future, much less an emergency fund, This program managed to bring together about 600 children with their respective parents to carry out the study.
The families that participated were low-income and the program consisted of opening a bank account for the children with an initial deposit of $50 dollars, to demonstrate after 12 years that the average savings balance is $1,422 dollarsthis represents 28 times the amount of the first deposit.
The program also proved to be a resounding success in terms of educating about smart financial habits such as saving, it managed to extend to 39 states, currently having some 52,000 active enrollees who are offered an initial balance of $50 dollars, and Now in total there is about $15 million dollars of which $10 million dollars are deposits from the students’ families.
The objective of this program is also for parents to understand that at a young age they can begin to talk about finances with their children with simple methods, toencouraging them to keep their savings not only in the piggy bank but also in an interest-bearing bank accountin order for them to achieve economic independence in the future.
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