Why we created StoryWise Kids
In 2019, I suffered a stroke. I call it ‘my stroke of luck.’ Firstly, it was not a severe stroke. And, secondly, it gave me time to reflect and change my life so that I could do something that I found more meaningful.
The high stress marketing business that I had helped build over 20 years was no longer serving me or my life. Sometimes we hold on to things for too long.
So I resigned to begin a new chapter.
In all the research I had seen while working with our financial services clients, financial literacy was an ongoing challenge for the majority of people. There was no formal education in place to help people master money. In fact, in most countries, it was close to non-existent.
The repercussions of this were alarming. 72% of adult stress is money related; 63% of adults don’t think they will have enough money for retirement, and bad debt levels never seem to come down. So how do we solve this massive, yet unnecessary, problem?
It was out of this need that StoryWise Kids was born.
We believe that the financial education journey needs to start with young kids by introducing the right money concepts to them through the power of story. As parents, we also need to learn to set the right example so that the next generation don’t learn from our bad habits.
StoryWise Kids picture books have been developed to help parents start that journey. And with free online resources for kids and parents, will can begin to embed the right behaviours at a young age.
At StoryWise Kids, we believe that financial education begins with a story…
Money habits are set by age seven
Research by behavior experts Dr David Whitebread and Dr Sue Bingham of the University of Cambridge (2013) found that our approach to money, such as delaying gratification and planning ahead is set by the age of seven.
Read More
The former research director, Guy Shone, of the British government’s MONEY ADVICE SERVICE says, “The window (to start embedding the right behaviours) is zero to seven years of age. It’s very hard to reverse those habits later in life.” adds Shone, suggesting that the earlier we start embedding the right behaviours – the better.
Research shows children can ‘habituate’ effective processes and tendencies into their mental repertoire. These include inclinations to take responsible risks, to persist, to manage impulsivity or to think creatively. These underpin the development of skillful action and effective decision-making in a variety of life settings.
“Parents as a group typically don’t feel particularly comfortable talking to kids about money,” said Shone. “At the same time, we know there’s a huge effect we have, but we underestimate how powerful we are as parents.” Most young children learn through imitation – not just education.
More and more research is confirming that the neural pathways that form in the young brains of our children lay the foundations for behaviors and actions that guide them for the rest of their lives.
Beth Kobliner. author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties and Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not) agrees that the sooner we start, the better. “By age three, your kids can grasp basic money concepts. By age seven, many of their money habits are already set.”
Learning principles like delayed gratification offer more than just financial benefits. Forty years of research at Stanford University found that delayed gratification is the one quality that can predict if people will be successful or not. The Stanford research added that children who learn to practise delayed gratification have higher SAT* scores, better social skills, better responses to stress and lower levels of substance abuse.
Introducing young children to the concept of money and the principles that will help them become good managers is sure to be of huge benefit, not only to the child but to the family as a whole. Bringing up children to become financially independent young adults takes immense stress off the parents’ finances at a time when they should be building their own retirement nest egg.
Financial education has been a blind spot for parents and educators for a long time. It’s time to make a more conscious effort to help the next generation become more financially literate and more successful with their money.
See research paper by Dr David Whitebread and Dr Sue Bingham.
*Scholastic Aptitude Test (US)
Our brains are wired for story
Stories are at the core of all that makes us human.
– Hamilton & Weiss, 2005 –
Our brains are wired for story. For thousands of years it was the way we survived, shared knowledge and remembered life-saving information. It was also a way of passing down cultural beliefs, traditions, and history to future generations.
Read More
Storytelling is the oldest form of education. It helps to improve children’s listening skills while helping them to focus their attention for longer periods of time. Consequently all language skills are strengthened and children are exposed to new vocabulary.
Facts that are woven into stories become easier to remember; that’s because stories carry emotions. It’s the emotions attached to these facts that make them easier to remember.
According to Carole Petersen, a Professor of Psychology at Memorial University, Newfoundland, one of the most important things in determining whether a memory survives or not is the emotion it has attached to it. That’s largely due to the fact that when a person (adult or child) experiences an emotional moment or event, the brain releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which makes it easier for the person to recall that moment with greater accuracy as they grow older.
Professor Jennifer Aaker of Stanford University says, “Stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.” Research into the power of story has revealed the impact that early storytelling can have on our children. It is believed by many that characters and concepts that children experience through stories are almost certain to have a lifelong impact.
It is easy to see why early stories are so important, not just in terms of building vocabulary and reading skills, but also in the broader terms of developing thinking skills and the ability to grasp concepts and embed behaviours.
Support millions of parents
Our mission is to support millions of parents around the world to empower their children with the right money skills so that the next generation manages its money better than previous ones.
Read More
It has been reported that 73 per cent of adults say that money is their Number 1 cause of stress. It is alarming that 69 per cent have less than USD1,000 in savings, and 54 per cent have no savings at all.
These figures are from before the Covid pandemic. And these statistics are mirrored in most other countries around the world. Debt levels have never been higher. Something needs to change.
So where should financial education begin? Research has shown that our money habits are formed between the time of birth and the age of seven. This is an alarming insight that calls into question what we are doing to educate and guide young kids when it comes to money.
Unfortunately, most children never get to learn basic money principles and end up learning by default through observing the actions of their parents. Quite often, parents don’t set the best examples. So generation after generation repeats the same mistakes its parents made until the hard lessons of bad debt become their unpleasant teacher. And they spend the rest of their lives recovering from a crash course in managing their money.
Armed with just a few basic money skills early on in life, future generations can enjoy a massively different outcome. And that is exactly what StoryWI$E Kids picture books aim to achieve. This series was developed to introduce money-wise principles to children from a young age.
It’s not rocket science– it’s behavioral science.
By creating the right habits and behaviours in our children at a young age we can give them the best chance of making money work for them for the rest of their lives.
StoryWI$E author Doug Lockhart says, “It’s our mission to shift the financial habits at a grass roots level and build the foundations for financial literacy so that the next generation is more successful when it comes to managing their money.”
It starts by creating big money habits for little savers.
STORYWISE BOOK SERIES
StoryWise helps parents build the right money habits in young children through the power of storytelling and supports these stories with simple parent/child activities at the back of each book.
