I recently wrote about a blog about what I need to teach my children at the Act Like a Man   blog site. Check out the post here. I was encouraged by the positive response to that blog and how many people found it helpful and enlightening. In essence, I mention 3 things I felt I needed to strongly teach my children about: 1) Making Money 2) Handling Money and 3) Loving God above everyone else.

Today, our family had a milestone in the area where we felt my wife and I needed to empower our younger boys on — that of savings. We have encouraged our boys to keep all the coins they have (mostly from me) and place it in their coin banks. Getting kids to save using coins is the first step and it is a very important step. I hear many parents complain about their kids not seeing the value of money. We believe that for kids (or adults) to see the value of money, they must first value the smallest amounts — coins! My kids have been dutiful in putting their coins in their coin banks and we felt they are ready to do the next step.

So what is the next step? Get them to open their own Savings Accounts! Many parents open accounts for their children but my wife and I felt that the experience of opening accounts themselves will leave a positive imprint. I also found out that BDO’s Junior Savings Program only has a minimum initial deposit of P100 which was really encouraging.

Here’s my son Riggs filling up the forms

Now it’s Chino’s turn to sign his name in the forms

BDO had some give-away for kids opening their accounts. In the 70’s I remember Banco Filipino and BPI would give piggy banks for their kiddie accounts. I would have been more cool if they got piggy banks like we did before eh?

Opening an account themselves is a cool experience. The branch staff were so thrilled seeing young kids pumped up about opening accounts. It was also an opportunity for me to talk to them about the virtues of teaching the next generation on proper money management. The new accounts staff had a difficulty counting all those coins my boys carefully sorted and taped themselves but was very elated to see that kids were experiencing their first real banking transaction.

I also took the opportunity of teaching them on subsequent depositing after they received their first passbooks (no ATM for them yet!). I gave them P100 each and told them they can now add on to their accounts by making a deposit. Their older sisters (they insisted to witness this milestone) were on hand to assist the boys in filling up their deposit slips.

It’s now Riggs turn to make his first deposit over the counter, he had to fall in line just like all of us.

Then it’s Chino’s turn to make his deposit.

A trip to the bank will not really be a complete experience without the waiting and the reading of the newspaper while waiting, haha!

As we left the bank, the Branch Manager gave my boys a good hand shake and welcome them as the bank’s newest depositors.  We wish to thank the very helpful, cheerful and accommodating staff of BDO Pasig-Pioneer Branch. What an experience for all of us!

Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. – Proverbs 22:5, NIV

It will be a privilege to share the stage once more with my good friend and mentor, Chinkee Tan.

CVJ Training Center Corporation and the City of Malolos presents the ABC of Success, a life-changing seminar.

July 27, 2012 at the Grand Pavillion, Cabanas, MacArthur Highway, Longos, Malolos Bulacan. 9am to 5pm.

For inquiries, get in touch with Carol at 0921-6504042

I am honored to have a guest post by my good friend Edmund Lao. Edmund is a Registered Financial Planner and a columnist for Business Mirror. He is also in the forefront of financial literacy for Filipinos.

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The Right Education by Edmund Lao

Education  is the formal process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs, and values  from one generation to another. Whatever knowledge we acquired from experiences, experiments and discoveries of the past generations became the basis of our education today. Without formal education nowadays, one is surely bound to be bracketed in lower caste. Such importance is given to education that the status of a person depends on what school school he or she graduated from. Taking a look at the present , it cannot be denied that education has become a luxury already. In the early 80s, tuition fees cost only around Php 50 per unit. Tasking a full load will mean only around a thousand per semester. Nowadays, the fees range from Php 30,000 to Php 200,000 per semester. Worse, the quality of education is not even at par with that of our Asian counterparts.

Just imagine the hardship all the parents have to endure just to have their children finish schooling. Then when the graduate finds a job, unless he comes from an exclusive school, the compensation he will receive pales in comparison to the expense incurred to finish his course.

Then the new graduate will be in the rat race, taking the same road traveled by The Tired, The Retired, and The Re-Tired. This is because our current educational system gave too much emphasis on the technical aspect. Our system gave little importance to teaching the basics and the values to our generation. Ever wonder why we have corrupt people in the government and in the workplace? The only culprit is the lack of right education. The more information and knowledge we have now, the more ignorant we become. The more ignorant we are financially, the more risk we make in handling our finances. Just observe. If really we are more educated especially in this high technology age, why are there more people who cannot make both ends meet despite the fact that they are earning good income? The painful truth is that more and more people are having low emotional and financial intelligence quotient.

To a certain extent, Robert Kiyosaki was right in saying that our current education system is designed to make us employees rather than entrepreneurs.  His biological dad had an excellent education and great job, yet constantly struggled for wealth. His “poor dad” followed all the rules, yet died penniless. His best friend’s dad, on the other hand, dropped out of school but always asked himself how he could make more money. The “rich dad” was a savvy businessman and investor, however, and become very prosperous. We have also our version of Rich Dad in the persons of Henry Sy, John Gokongwei, Lucio Tan, etc. They never finished schooling but they knew the basics of creating wealth. I am not emphasizing that our youths drop out of school and become wealthy. What I am driving at is that

unless schools modify their curriculum, definitely there will be more future “poor dads”. Their experiences and the basic principles of finance can be shared to inspire the students to emulate them in terms of growing wealth the righteous way… Doesn’t it the progress of a country depends on the citizens comprise it? If majority of the people belong to the poor bracket, no matter how good the economy of a country is, it will still belong to the so-called Third World countries. Just take a look at our more progressive neighboring countries and see the difference. Most of these countries have a savings ratio of more than 30% while we are at around 15%. The only way for a country to upgrade its current status is to help educate its citizens be financially aware.

There are two viable solutions:

First is to teach children at home and create the mindset and habit of saving money. I,  for one, teach my kids by example. It is very important to practice what you want to teach. I have my own piggy bank to show them I save and now they have their own piggy banks. Whenever I give them coins, they automatically put it into their piggy banks.  What RFP Randell Tiongson said is true, that personal finance is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge.

Second is to include personal finance as a curriculum starting from elementary up to college as a continuation and strengthening of what was learned at home.. To some, personal finance is boring but it depends on the professor. In fact, having heard RFPs like Randell Tiongson, Efren Cruz,  Alvin Tabanag speak, I can say that they help create interest and excitement in the minds of the audiences. Schools have been including minor subjects which have no bearing on the course.  Why not include personal finance subject which can create positive impact on their lives later. If the government wants to create a progressive Philippines, then make financial education an investment that will give the country an unlimited return.