American Children learn consumerism young, typically recognizing 200 commercial logos by the start of first grade. Yet most learn nothing about saving or investing until their school years are over—if then. “There’s a strange taboo around money in this country,” says financial consultant Lawrence Stein. “Parents don’t often talk to their kids about it.”
So Stein does it for them.
Two years ago, when Stein began teaching money management at Santa Barbara City College, he was amazed by the students’ ignorance of personal finance. To intervene earlier, he envisioned a camp where 10- to 18-year-olds could learn to handle their money.
The weeklong Money Camp for Kids, which Stein co-founded with fitness and nutrition coach Elisabeth Donati, drew 39 kids for its first session in August at the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara. “We started it as a day camp to keep costs nominal [$99 per child for five days, with scholarships available],” he says. “Kids came from a variety of backgrounds, including some low-income families.”
The launch followed the Treasury Department’s announcement in May that it will establish an Office of Financial Education to encourage public schools to work financial principles into their math curriculum. “The Money Camp plans to be very involved in this,” says Stein, a psychology major with a JD from UC’s Hastings College of the Law. “Our ultimate goal is to integrate our curriculum into the schools, and students would then ‘earn’ their way into the summer overnight camps through their work in the school-based program.”
Students at the Money Camp learn the vocabulary and mechanics of money management, including budgeting and tracking, managing debt and reading financial statements. At the heart of everything is a set of principles inspired by the bestseller Rich Dad/Poor Dad (2000), in which author Robert Kiyosaki describes the contrasting views of money held by his financially unstable father and by the wealthy father of a friend. Stein developed 10 guidelines for financial independence, representing a blend of approaches. “If the kids walk away with just those 10 principles in mind, that’s great,” he says.
Much of his creed deals with setting priorities: “Put money to work for you, instead of you working for money,” “Pay yourself first,” “It’s not how much you make; it’s how much you keep.” The aphorisms are witty (“Wealthy people may be broke but never poor”), motivational (“We have the power to create our lives”) and philosophical (“Wealth buys you goods and services, not happiness”). The 10th commandment reads, “Philanthropy is the secret to being truly rich.”
“The most valuable thing I learned at the camp,” says Julie Wooten, age 14, “is that becoming a millionaire is a choice, not a dream.”
Stein and Donati have ambitious plans. “We’ve tentatively scheduled five more camps in California for next summer,” Stein says, “but we hope to build a national and even international network, and we expect to make a homeschooling curriculum available nationally in the near future.” They’re also planning weekend retreats for adults. After the August camp, explains Stein, “the parents all said the same thing: ‘I want to go!’”
—MELISANDE MIDDLETON, ’02
