Episode 17: Pocket Change Podcast
Financial education is important for all ages, even for kids. On this episode of Pocket Change Podcast, Eva Wright, sophomore at Milan High School and the Miss Bethel University Teen Volunteer, joined us to talk about how she teaches kids to handle finances. She is passionate about financial literacy and has created a platform called “Common Cent$” and a club called “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds” where she teaches kids about money management and educates them on finances.
"My parents have always told me to be responsible with my money—'money doesn't just grow on trees.' That's what my dad's always said to me,” Eva said. “So you need to think before you spend. Always make sure that what you're spending your money on is what you really want or need. Be responsible and don't just get money and then blow it all off the second that you get it, because that's not being very smart.”
Summary
Eva believes that it is important to teach financial literacy to kids at a young age so that they can make informed financial decisions in the future. She shares tips on her social media about “wants versus needs” and the "sleep on it" method. She also encourages kids to save money by using money jars or piggy banks and taking advantage of birthday freebies and financial hacks. She utilizes money jars labeled "invest," "give," "spend," and "save" to teach children about money management.
Eva's parents have played a big role in teaching her about finances. They have always stressed the importance of being responsible with money and thinking before you spend. Eva also credits her participation in pageants for helping her learn about financial literacy. The pageants offer scholarship opportunities, which can help students pay for college. Eva is passionate about financial literacy and is using her platform to make a difference in the world.
Key Takeaways
- Eva's club, "Girls Just Want to Have Funds," teaches kids about the four money jars: invest, give, spend, and save.
- One financial hack Eva encourages is to take advantage of birthday freebies. She found that many stores in Jackson offer free food or drinks on your birthday.
- Eva's parents have always told her to be responsible with her money and to think before she spends.
- Eva advocated for all states should require a financial literacy course in order to graduate high school.
Check out Eva’s Instagram platform to follow her financial education journey. You can learn how to open a Future Leaders account on our website or walk into any of our branches.
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Full Transcript
Shea:
Hey, this is Shea.
Maddie:
And this is Maddie.
Shea:
Welcome to the Pocket Change podcast.
Maddie:
Where you'll learn better ways to spend, save and invest and take control of your financial journey.
Shea:
So Maddie, we started the podcast to talk about ways that people can learn more about finances and take control of their financial journey, like you said, and it's never too early to start.
Maddie:
Yeah, and it's not just for adults, you know, our podcast is really for all ages and it's never too early to start learning about your finances.
Shea:
Yeah, that's right. And so not only do we discuss financial literacy on our podcast, on our website, we've got a blog and articles and different resources. Our community engagement team, for instance, we go out in the community and share financial literacy with students, with adults, anyone who will listen really. And so we're glad to have someone on here who's younger, who's a teenager, who’s passionate about financial literacy and sharing that with others.
Maddie:
We're excited to welcome our guest, Eva Wright, today to the podcast. She is Miss Bethel University Teen Volunteer. Welcome to Pocket Change, Eva.
Eva Wright:
Hi, Thank you for having me.
Maddie:
We're super excited to have you here. So first off, just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in pageants.
Eva Wright:
Yeah, So my name is Eva Wright and my title is Miss Bethel University Teen Volunteer, and I'm a sophomore at Milan High School. So I got involved in pageants whenever I was about five. I did my first pre-K school pageant, and I really liked it. So I started doing it more and more and then they got more serious.
And now I compete in state and international pageants.
Shea:
Each pageant participant has a platform. Right? And so tell us a little bit about your platform and why you chose financial literacy as your platform.
Eva Wright:
Yeah, so my platform is “Common Cent$” financial literacy for the youth.
Shea:
That's common sense. Like c-e-n-t-s, like, you know, money related, right?
Eva Wright:
Yes. Well, the “s” is a dollar sign.
Shea:
That's clever.
Eva Wright:
So when my brother was graduating college or graduating high school, sorry, he was getting ready and preparing for college. And I kind of got a sneak peek at how much the real world costs. So that was an eye opener. And I think that it is very important that everyone sees that before it's their time to go off to college.
So I got to see all the prices for living expenses and education and groceries. Like, it's insane.
Maddie:
It's a lot more than you would think.
Shea:
Yeah. We're all having to learn how to adult every day, so learning it earlier and being exposed early is so important and it helps everyone just have more knowledge about money management and saving and budgeting and what it really takes to, um, live life every day. So it's so important.
Maddie:
So what are some strategies that you use to help kids learn about money?
Eva Wright:
So I have created a club called “Girls Just Want to Have Funds”, so I have money jars right here.
Shea:
We've got them if you're watching on YouTube. She brought her money jars with her.
Eva Wright:
So you can organize your money and decorate them however you like. And so I have labeled mine: invest, give, spend, and save. So it's easy to manage your money and stay organized. I also share wants versus needs on my social media, so a want would be something like a toy and a need would be something like food or water, like shelter that you would need in order to survive
Shea:
For a living.
Eva Wright:
Yeah. And I also like the sleep on it method. I think it is so useful now because everything today is always immediate gratification. I think that, if you just want to get something, like you might want to think it through a little bit like maybe sleep on it for a day or two and then see if you still think that that's a good investment.
Shea:
That's a good point. I don't know if you're talking about sleep on your money or what that looked like.
Maddie:
Put it under your pillow. Keep it safe.
Shea:
Rest on it, think about it, sleep on it overnight, then come back and say, “Do I really want to purchase this or make this investment”. I think those are great ideas and the money jars or piggy banks, whatever you have, just separating your money out in those categories I think keeps it organized, like you said, but keeps it simple because a lot of times I think we can make budgeting just over complicated.
We like to separate things into like 27 jars instead of 4. And so keeping it simple like that makes it easier for us to not feel overwhelmed and to really budget and separate our money into helpful things like saving and giving. So important. I don't think we even focus on that as much. But that's so great that you have those four lined out that, you know, we can think about.
Maddie:
And you can see them, you know, in front of you and you can watch them fill up because they're clear jars.
Eva Wright:
That's one of my favorite things about it is that you can actually see how much money you're saving instead of just seeing that number.
Shea:
So those are great tips that you've already shared. But what other ways can you think to encourage kids to save?
Eva Wright:
Here in Jackson, I went and found a financial hack online. So we went around Jackson on my birthday and we found there's birthday freebies that stores around here will give out. So you could go to Red Robin and get a free burger or Starbucks and get a free drink for your birthday. Crumble Cookie has a cookie for your birthday, and there's a lot of other stuff that you can get.
And I think that that's just like one of the best things.
Shea:
You can get like a whole meal.
Like your whole meal for the whole day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner and dessert on your birthday.
Maddie:
And your coffee. You get that big Starbucks drink!
Eva Wright:
And I also love this financial hack. So I have a student account at Leaders in Milan. And I love that Leaders rewards you for your hard work at school. So if you make straight A's you can get money. And so for every A that you get or up to five on your report card, you can get $5. So that's four a year.
So you can have $20. And if you have perfect attendance, which I usually don't because you know, I get sick, but you can actually have $30 at the end of the year.
Shea:
That's right. Earning money for good grades and then also for perfect attendance is a good way that children and teens can save in our Future Leaders savings account.
Maddie:
What role have your parents played in teaching you about finances?
Eva Wright:
Yeah, so my parents have always told me to be responsible with my money. So money doesn't just grow on trees. That's what my dad's always said to me. So you need to think before you spend. Always make sure that what you're spending your money on is what you really want or need. Be responsible and don't just get money and then just like, blow it all off, like, right the second that you get it, because that's not being very smart.
Shea:
Don’t let it burn a hole in your pocket. So do you think our schools do a good job of teaching financial literacy in our communities?
Eva Wright:
Right now, I think so. But the thing is, only 15 states require a financial literacy course in order to graduate high school. I think that we should talk to our representatives. Thankfully, Tennessee is one of them, but I think that we could get every state to require a financial literacy course and just prepare everyone.
Shea:
Not learning a lot of that in school and coming to work at a financial institution. I didn't know even a lot of the things that I've learned now by working at one. So it's definitely so important to teach it in schools and even in Tennessee it is required, but it could probably be have a higher requirement or maybe a stricter requirement of maybe a whole semester.
I think it might be half a semester. But you know, definitely it's great to contact our representatives and show them, especially at such a young age, how invested you are in this platform and share, you know, your knowledge and your reasons why that's so important.
So we know you're involved in pageants and as a part of those pageants, there are some scholarship opportunities for students.So tell us a little bit about that.
Eva Wright:
The age group that I just competed in for state in July was the Teen Volunteer category. So we have two teens in the pageant and there's Iris and Volunteer Teen. So each of them get $2,000 if they win Queen in scholarships. For the Miss age group, which is the age group above me, the winner gets $11,000. And in total this year, the Miss Tennessee Volunteer organization has handed out $85,000 in scholarships.
Shea:
That's huge. That's amazing. And really helpful for the pageant winners and the pageant participants who are going to apply that to their school in the future. I mean, that's great.
Maddie:
And for you, you're not just, you know, raising awareness for financial education and teaching kids, but you're also able to earn this money for yourself and for your education in the future. So, I think that's really awesome.
So our last question today, if you found some extra change in your pocket, what would you do with it?
Eva Wright:
I don't know if this would be enough because what I like to spend my money on would be art supplies. I love sketching and drawing and painting. That's something that really like soothes me. So I've actually drawn or sketched out some of my outfits for pageants. I've made an interview jumpsuit, not this one, but I've made one- or I’ve sketched one out and created my talent costume.
My seamstress, Darlene, she just makes everything just come to life. Like, it's just amazing how well she can just read the sketches and just, like, make my imagination just come true.
Shea:
I think you can definitely buy some art supplies with your pocket change.
Maddie:
At least something. Or, you know, save up the pocket change and then buy it all at once. Well, thank you so much for being here, Eva. We really enjoyed having you on the podcast today.
Eva Wright:
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate this is a great way for me to share my platform with everyone.
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