Johnnie’s Story
Johnnie is the father of four children ranging in age from 6 - 23. He is also a staff member at Teamwork Englewood working with the summer jobs program which helps hundreds of local youth find summer employment. Both Johnnie and Teamwork Englewood stress the importance of financial literacy to all summer jobs participants. To teach youth the basics of money management every participant is set up with a bank account in which paychecks are directly deposited. Recently Johnnie’s daughter began working with the program and has begun to accumulate funds in her account. “She has received two paychecks and hasn’t taken any money out”, says Johnnie.
While his daughter may be on the right track to building savings Johnnie says that this is not the case with all children. “If youth are saving it is usually for an immediate material desire. They are not saving for assets, they are saving for gadgets”. Johnnie attributes much of this problem to societal trends, “we are living in a consumer oriented society and are constantly at war with marketing”.
IABG promotes Children’s Savings Accounts that are started at birth, restricted from use until a child turns 18 and designated for purposes such as home ownership, entrepreneurship, and post-secondary education. “I think a savings account can be a useful tool for helping children understand what money and finances should really be for”, said Johnnie. When asked how CSAs could help his family Johnnie stated, “I would hope to use it to re-frame what is important and to open a discussion on tangible and real financial goals and objectives. I think a savings account is the first seed of a plan for their life”.
In addition to helping his own family, Johnnie feels that CSAs can play a vital role in the lives of children from low-income households. “How do you start a discussion on finances and saving for the future when you don’t have any concrete assets? I think CSAs could have a huge impact on families like this”.
Whether they come from low, middle or upper-income all children will benefit from the educational and financial opportunities offered through Children’s Savings Accounts.