This is the first of two blog posts I wrote about my experience at Junior Achievement’s Finance Park. To read Part 2, click 15 Financial Literacy Tips for Kids

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Yesterday I spent four hours with a group of 7th graders from Takoma Park Middle School as part of Montgomery County's Public School's Financial Literacy program. I volunteered for the first time at Junior Achievement's Finance Park (Montgomery County campus) and let me tell you, it was REALLY cool.

Some people might not get super pumped about spending 4 hours with a bunch of 7th graders, especially if you have some of your own at home already. I get that. But when it comes to young people, making a difference, and finances, well, to quote a friend of mine…#wheelhouse.

A few years ago I started looking for a way to get involved with kids and financial literacy. As our kids are getting older, this is becoming more and more important to Jill and me. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any programs that were cost effective. I wasn't looking to make money or charge parents for it. I simply wanted to create awareness around financial literacy for kids. I couldn’t find anything that didn't require me to either a) hire another company or b) create a separate company with time I didn’t have. So it stalled. Earlier this year a  friend of mine mentioned the Junior Achievement Finance Park - he has been volunteering at the Fairfax location for a few years now. I looked it up and was excited to learn there was a location in Montgomery County.

As I've mentioned in other blog posts, my parents were wonderful providers and there were few things I wanted for growing up - I was fortunate. They also required my brothers and me to get jobs in high school and these experiences taught us many practical lessons. They weren't so great about teaching us or talking to us about money. And maybe that's a generational thing, idk. Or maybe I simply don't remember the lessons because if they did the lessons weren't very impactful.

My first introduction to investing came from my State Farm agent when I moved to Virginia. She recommended I open a Roth IRA. I didn't. Hard lesson learned. My first introduction to credit cards was my freshman year of college. TBH, that concept sounded wonderful. They literally let me spend up to the amount of my credit limit. And if I couldn't pay them back, they rolled the balance to the next month and I could pay them later…for a "small" fee. I literally "Discover-ed" my early/mid-twenties. Harder lesson learned.

So wouldn't you know it? When I checked into Finance Park yesterday morning, the "storefront" they assigned me to just happened to be Credit Cards. I felt seen.

What exactly is JA Finance Park? You can learn everything you need to know on their website or watch the video below.

Here's my cliff notes version:

JA's Finance Park is really something special. Corporate sponsors, county school funding, and volunteers help to make it all run smoothly and efficiently. With three campuses across the DMV area (Montgomery County, Fairfax County, and Prince George’s County). JA Finance Park provides financial literacy to over 25,000 students annually. Insert heart emoji.

The students spend the day as an adult and get to feel the pleasure and pain of real life. Each student is automatically & randomly assigned a career, a family profile, an income profile, a debt profile and a savings profile. The focus is on "paying yourself first" - which you know I love - and they are required to save at least 2% of their income. IMO this is too low but hey, it's a start. Like us adults, they (begin to) learn the difference between needs and wants. They can only spend what they have and can't use credit cards to create excess spending. And they also include and discuss the concept of philanthropy, or giving back.

From there, the kids learn how to create a spending plan (you know we don’t use the word bu*get) off their "net" monthly income. The kids start by learning about the various spending plan items like mortgages, insurance, credit cards, groceries, utilities, etc. They meander through the Finance Park in their "teams" to learn from the volunteers like me at each storefront. Then they create a preliminary spending plan based on their "net" monthly income. This was interesting to watch and hear.

We talked a lot about wants vs. needs, spending vs. saving, debt, etc. And since they really had no clue what their items were going to cost based on credit scores, buying vs renting a home, owning a car vs public transportation, much of my advice was falling upon deaf ears. This initial exercise was really them just guessing and going off their pre-teen overarching desire for "wants" over "needs".

Engaging with these kids was so much fun. A few of my funnier highlights:

"Mister, do you work for Capital One (the sponsor for my storefront) because you kind of look like the guy on the wall?"

"Can you tell me again which kid here is yours?"

"I am not having kids. They cost too way much."

I also had a couple of kids in my group that really took a liking to it. Here are some of their quotes that made my day:

"Today I learned that I don't have to buy the nicest car or have the nicest clothes."

"I'd rather earn interest instead of paying it."

"Budgeting is really hard. I had to make some tough choices."

I shared my day with Jill and the kids last night at dinner. It sparked some interesting conversation and questions. For example, when we told them how much we paid each month and what the sticker price was for our car they were shocked. They all also woefully under-guessed how much we paid for it. I think it also helped them understand why we can be a bit maniacal when it comes to their disdain for the appearance of said car…haha.

In thinking about my day at JA Finance Park yesterday, here are some random thoughts:

• While yesterday was a terrific experience for all of the kids I met (even if they don't know it yet), it's not enough. Kids should be getting more information around financial literacy and it should be on a regular basis.

• Kids of all ages can handle different concepts around financial literacy and as parents we should be ingraining/teaching various concepts starting at a young age. As they get older and more mature, we can introduce them to more and more and ask more of them, financially.

• We should be teaching more of this in schools but at the end of the day it's really up to us parents to instill good and sound financial habits in our children. 

Yesterday was a tremendous experience. Interacting with the 7th graders was fulfilling and I will definitely be going back to volunteer at the JA Finance Park. If you have an interest in helping kids and/or teaching them about financial literacy, I highly encourage you to give it a shot. You don't have to have any experience at all - everything is provided for you.

All you have to do is show up with a positive attitude, engage with the kids, and want to make an impact on a young person's financial future.

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To read my follow up post, click 15 Financial Literacy Tips for Kids