Happy Holidays!

Christmas morning is here and as good as everyone feels today, the pain of paying for all of the gifts will hit in a couple weeks......unless you had a budget and stuck to it.  Tough to do when the kids all want a Wii, or whatever it is they lust this year. 

One of the gifts my kids received is a new version of the game "Life" that includes visa cards for tracking all of the money electronically instead of paper currency.  Aside from being a headache waiting to happen learning how to play, I believe this is an indicator of things to come for our kids.  They will handle the green stuff less and less and the plastic more and more.  I think we can all agree that the skills needed to manage finances change when we are dealing with plastic, and although it is simpler in some ways, it is also way more complex.  Without a solid foundation in the fundamentals of financial mangement, these kids will get in trouble.  It is not if, it is when.

Obviously I have a bit of an axe to grind on this topic!  The good news is that we get to do somethng about it this year.  Now that Catherine has agreed to jump in as the Program Director, its time to put together the Advisory Board and get down to the real work - turning the rough draft in to a book, developing the web site, and establishing relationships with the partner charities we decide to support as an organization.

I am very excited about all that I will learn as I continue down this path, and wish all of you as much success and happiness as possible in 2010!

A Welcome Addition

For the three or four of you who actually read this blog, you already know that I had previously mentioned the need for a Program Director who is not me.  Out of the huge pool of volunteers (all two of you, and don't worry, I have other plans for you both!) I decided to go outside and follow a bit of intuition.  I am pleased to say that it paid off, and can proudly announce that Catherine Berger, a long time colleague in the life insurance space has agreed to fill the post of Program Director.

From our previous work together, I know her to be a dilligent, thoughtful and caring person who will be a huge asset rather than simply someone who can push paper around (although I know she is great at that as well!).  I am very excited to be working with her again, and I know she will provide her usual insight and creativity as the Program Director.

This announcement was my primary motivation for posting today, but there are a couple other things as well.  First, one of my more interesting reads over the past couple months was The Chaos Scenario by Bob Garfield.  He is a long time advertising expert, and this book chronicles his observations over the last four years as all things media have undergone some dramatic changes. 

You can learn more about him at his web site - The Chaos Scenario.

While I was on the site today, I noticed a link to an article about the publishing industry and an interesting fact - the average book in America sells about 500 copies!  There are a number of other thoughts and facts there that support my idea that the best way to actually have people read my book is to publish it myself.  For those of you who are curious, here's the link - Ten Awful Truths about Book Publishing.

The next step in the publishing process is already on the calendar - a meeting with a "Book Packager" who is essentially a consultant who can advise on all aspects of the process of turning a manuscript into a finished book.  That meeting is set for January 13th, and I should have a much firmer grasp on the timeline and steps needed to end up with a finished product.  Can't Wait!

Banking Day! On time this month!

We were a bit more on top of things this month.  Spent a bit of time reviewing past topics/discussions with both Miranda and Logan, which brings me to a fundamental skill that must be developed if you really want to work with your kids on money - the ability to repeat yourself relentlessly.  Remember, these are new topics, and despite our best efforts, they can be a bit abstract.  Only the most brilliant kid will understand shares of stock, compound interest, or how to figure out how much money they should have in savings (Can most adults to this?  I think not!) on the first go around.  So keep coming back to it, again and again, until it sticks.

The other aspect of this is that the point is not to memorize a definition, but to actually understand, so until your kids can tell you what it means in their own words, keep pressing play, then rewind on that tape recorder (you know, the one you use all the other times you have to repeat yourself - clean your room, stop teasing your sister, the list goes on and on!).  Oh, and keep calm about the whole thing, as your frustration will lead to your kid's shut down, and all learning will stop.  If you feel yourself about to lose it, call it a day, and come back to it next month.

We also set holiday gift buying budget as well as planned how to deploy some of the funds set aside for some worthy causes.  More on that next time.

A Bit of Clarity

So there seems to be a bit of confusion among some blog readers about exactly how this is all going to work.  Here are the broad strokes:

• Its My Kids' Money will have official 501c3 status based on its affiliation with CD Programs (see previous posts for more about them)
• I will donate the rights to the book to the charity
• Once inside the charity, there will be a number of activities to get out the message of the book, as well as raise funds:
• Provide the book as a fundraiser to other charities like schools, little league teams, Girl Scout Troops, you name it.  Any kid's organization that is interested in increasing the members financial literacy and has charitable status.  The group in question will keep any proceeds over costs from the sales they generate.
• Direct sales to parents/the general public
  
• Direct sales to the financial adviser community
• Charitable donations
• Grants
  
• Proceeds from sales that are not generated as a fundraiser for a specific group will be distributed to one of a number of charitable partners that work with children, families or financial literacy.  The first of these is already on board - Bridge Volleyball (www.bridgevolleyball.org), and I am set to meet with a second as soon as next week.
  

The genesis of the charitable component is one of the major themes of the book - having the kids set aside 10% of their allowance to donate to those less fortunate than they are.  Just like the spending decisions they get to make with their allowance, they also decide where to donate their money (with a little guidance from their parents, of course!).  As with most things, the kids pay more attention to what I do than what I say.  As generous as we are in giving to charity each year, it was clear that we could do more as a family, and this is our way of giving back on a larger scale.

So for those of you that want to support my efforts - buy a book when its available.  Better yet, hook me up with the groups you are already involved with to work on a fundraiser.  We should be ready by the end of the second quarter 2010.

We are go for launch!

CD Programs has given me the green light for establishing the charity, clearing one of the major hurdles for my project!

I continue to meet some really great people as I investigate all the nooks and crannies that go along with developing a book - a book publicist is now on that list.  With the charitable question answered, I can now focus on the final steps in the book - editing the rough draft, working on layout, selecting a publisher and developing a marketing plan.

Funny story from yesterday.  My daughter Miranda used this project as a topic for a homework assignment.  She shared the assignment with the class yesterday, and eight kids raised their hands wanting to buy the book (14 kids in the class).  I take two things from this - kids really like allowance (I can't imagine why else they would be interested in all of this unless they are much more aware of these things than I give them credit for, which may be the case!) and Miranda may have a future in sales!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Banking Day!

In an effort to show that I am human and not some robot, we are three weeks late for Banking Day with the kids this month.  When you get a chance to read my book (second quarter of 2010!?) you will read that Banking Day is set in jello, not concrete!  Its OK to be late, as long as you pick it back up.

The good news is that Logan handled his money perfectly, learning his lesson from a month without allowance.  He even hit his target balance for his savings account.  Of course, that lead us to a discussion about if he should continue to contribute to savings, and more importantly, why?  This brings up a point that is vital in working with kids and money - They really want to give the "right" answer, and it takes quite a bit of coaching to get them to the point that they answer honestly, rather than telling me what they think I want to hear.

On a related but separate front, I am forcing Miranda to use her credit card.  Being the perfectionist that she is, I managed to scare the crap out of her about paying interest.  So much so that the credit card just sits gathering dust rather than her learning how to manage it (although, having it in your wallet and never using it would certainly work better than some strategies employed by some adults out there!).  So she is to use it to do her Christmas shopping, with the intent of paying it off at the end of the month.  We'll see if this banishes the fear a bit.  Funny, I threatened her with taking it away so that she would have to figure it out on her own as an adult and she immediately said NO!  Classic.

Delayed Gratification

OK, its been a while without posting, but not much has happened in the last couple weeks - until today!

I met with Tracey, the potential editor of the book, and it went well.  I think we could work very well together.  As with most things, it did leave me with a bit of homework to do, and so off I go to do the following:

• File the application to establish the relationship with CD Programs
• Start working on cover art and the like - need a logo for the whole thing actually!
• Research publishers a bit more thoroughly
• Start working on layout/format ideas

The good news is that Tracey gets what I was trying to do with both content and style, and that she believes it would be effective.  Sure beats "this thing is a train wreck and I should just scrap it and let her ghost write it"!

I have the CD Programs folks doing a bit of reasearch for me on the issue of being both a donor and the Program Manager, so looks like I get to start work on the rest of ths list.

What a Day!

There is a ton of stuff moving forward right now!  I spoke to a potential editor today and have submitted a chapter outline and sample chapter for her to review.  The end result will be a proposal to edit the book!  I'll probably talk to a couple other folks just to be sure she is the one to work with, but considering her background in the financial markets as well as interest in financial literacy, it feels like a pretty good match so far.

I started working on a time line for completion of various aspects of the project, and I am targeting being open for business no later than the end of the first quarter of 2010, and shipping books no later than the end of the second quarter.  I am more inspired every time I re-read the book, or think about the positive impact we can make on kids and our community.

Creating Momentum

Its 8:20 in the morning, and I am pumped up about the progress so far!

The domain name is registered - www.itsmykidsmoney.org.  Decided not to pay the $285 for my original domain name - more cash for the charity's goals that way.


Speaking of the charity, I spoke to the folks at http://www.cdprograms.org/ this morning, and it sounds like such a great way to get started with a minimum of capital required.  Sure there are some limitations, like no donations from any relatives, but they make it easy to have legit charitable status so that all donations are tax deductible.  They also keep us on the straight and narrow regarding compliance with the laws governing charitable organizations.  Looks like I have some paperwork ahead of me, and about a month of review and then hopefully we will be up and running.

By the way - 


I am searching for a partner on this project.  The restriction on donations from family of the Program Director will prevent me from being the Program Director because of the nature of our fund raising model.  Anybody interested in making a difference?!

Little Hurdles to Overcome

Ugh!  The domain name I want is taken, and now I need to see if the folks who own it will sell it to me?  I don't really want to spend money that could go to the more vital parts of the project on something like that, so there may be a name change in the future!

How to form a charity?  Good question!  One of my colleagues has turned me on to a service that handles all of the accounting and reporting for a percentage of incoming donations.  Definitely need to check in to that, as this would be another item I would rather not spend a ton of money on, nor the time for the ongoing administration.  Who knows, maybe one of my attorney friends can hook me up with some pro-bono legal work?  Small hint guys.  Its for charity!

Now on to the problem of an editor.  I found a local association of free lance editors.  Their next meeting is in November, and I'll be crashing it.

Our First Partnership

As I have talked about this idea with people I know, there have been a few who have immediately jumped in with both feet and volunteered to partner with us as either a supported charity or a fund raising partner.

The first to make it official is Bridge Volleyball Club of San Diego.  Headquartered in Chula Vista, Bridge is the result of the vision of Hawley Woods-Gray, a close friend of ours.  She is a great example of a successful, athletic woman who chose to make a difference in her community doing something she loves - coaching volleyball.  Bridge obviously focuses on skill development and all that goes along with any sport, but what really sets Hawley and her collection of coaches apart is their dedication to developing young adults rather than just athletes.  With her experience as a collegiate volleyball player Hawley is very effective in guiding her players through the college selection and scholarship processes, making college more attainable for many of her players.  You can find out more about the Bridge Volleyball Club here:

http://www.bridgevolleyball.org/

Thanks Hawley!  You rock!

The Rough Draft is Done!!!

The basic premise of the book is that we as a society do not really equip our kids to manage the basics of their financial life. I compare it to the player attempting to play professional basketball right out of high school – There are some who are skilled enough and have good people around them who make it, but there are far too many who can play a little bit and are really tall who fail to make it to the next level. I think our kids have about the same kind of chance to succeed financially as the high school athlete does. The number of people living week to week, declaring bankruptcy or working until they are 101 years old seems to back this up.

The rough draft of the book is done, and I am lucky enough to have a friend who works at a publisher attempting to have an editor read it. I, however, have had a bit of an epiphany. Two of the major themes of the book are to lead by example and to learn from the kids. I also recommend putting the kids in charge of their own charitable giving money at 10% of their allowance. That’s right, they set aside 10% of their income as an 8 and 10 year old and they decide who to give it to. This 10% thing is something I have never done. Sure, we give to charity, and we give quite a bit, but nowhere near 10% of what we make.

So, I think its time for me to put my money where my mouth is, and here’s how I plan to do it. I am going to self publish the book and give all the profits to a number of charitable organizations that I, with the help of the kids and Kellie, will select.  Of course, it is going to be a bit more complicated than that. However, the more I thought about either relying on a publisher buying it or the incredibly tough job of marketing your own book, the more I wanted to do something different that I could control. The goal, after all, was never to make money, but to increase the financial literacy of our children.


From those few people who have read it, it is pretty entertaining. Evidently I am much more funny in print than in person!