Lexington, KY - Fifteen children sit at tables in the basement of the Paris-Bourbon County YMCA. They glance at the crossword puzzle pages in front of them. Then they see the multi-colored piggy banks in a box.
"My name is Mark, and do you know what I do?" asked their instructor. "I teach at a college. And do you know what I teach people about? Money."
The children rub their hands together. They have just entered the world of personal finance.
The class, taught by Mark Bell, a professor at Maysville Community & Technical College (MCTC), is a part of an after-school program at the Paris-Bourbon County YMCA that is available to students from kindergarten through age 12 from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Bell plans to teach the children primarily about saving and spending. The lesson plans include guiding students into responsible decision-making skills, such as establishing priorities for spending and the importance of paying back money that they have borrowed.
Bell, a 15-year certified public accountant, teaches at the Licking Valley Campus of MCTC in Harrison County. His classes range from personal finance to individual and corporate tax to economics. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky, and a master's degree in tax from the University of Baltimore. In addition, he has taken classes offered by the Federal Reserve to teach personal finance to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
"In 10 or 15 years, they might remember there was a man who taught them a little bit about money," he said. "This may be the only thing they get on money."
As Bell stood in front of the class, he guided the children to use their colored pencils to write down words such as income, expense, deposit and profit. Bell gave a definition for each word.
The children earn their piggy banks at the end of the class by participating orally and filling in all the blanks on their papers.
Bell handed a pink plastic bank to a child named Anna.
"Now what are you going to do with that?" he asked.
She grinned and tugged on a strand of hair. "Save my money," she said.
Bell said that parents can reinforce wise money matters at home. He advocates an allowance, no matter how large or small, and said children as young as kindergarten age can begin to have a savings account and to learn how to best use it.
Pam Litteral, the health and wellness director at the YMCA, said she just started a savings account with her 9-year-old. Litteral gives her son a weekly allowance, and she advises him to keep half of it in cash and to place the other half in savings, where it should stay.
"My son has been learning about interest and saving, and I thought the other kids here could learn about the same thing," Litteral said.
She approached Bell and asked him if he would be willing to teach young students about money. Immediately he said yes, and together, they put a plan into action. Both Litteral and Bell believe that financial well being contributes to overall health and wellness.
"Look at education and look at this state and then compare the wellness of more affluent people," Bell said. "There is a physical wellness and a mental wellness that goes along with financial wellness."
Part of this wellness comes with learning how to spend, how to save and how to make decisions about money. Parents can make a big difference in their children's lives by setting good examples and by teaching children how to manage their own money.
"Kids need to know that even if the allowance they receive is really small, or is used for small purchases, they always have to make wise decisions," Bell said.
He gave the example of a child who earns an allowance of two dollars a week. This child might have his eye on an item that costs three dollars. That child now has a choice about spending. Parents can take the time to explain the choices: spend a dollar and save a dollar, which means that child will have to save one dollar a week for three weeks to get what he really wants; spend all two dollars at once and not ever get that three-dollar item; or save the entire amount and add it to the allowance for the next week.
Bell said that one of the most important things parents can teach their children is that financial matters are like a triangle, with each point on the triangle corresponding to a different matter: income, spending and saving.
"At different points in time, you can move that triangle around and all those things have importance," Bell said. "There will be a time when spending is more important than saving. And they are not always going to stay the same. Income could fluctuate, so priorities and balance become key."
Bell also said that the number one mistake parents make is not teaching children about lost opportunity costs, such as overspending or not earning money when the chance arises.
"If you give up an opportunity, you can never go back and recapture that. This is not more than anyone can handle. Break it all down into that little triangle," Bell said.
For more information on teaching finance to children, or to schedule a class with Mark Bell, contact him at mark.bell@kctcs.edu.