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RichMinds Academy‘s motto is “Learn Young, Grow Rich”. To quote from Richminds :
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Richminds Academy seeks to increase the financial literacy of the next generation. The Academy aims to provide education tools to help parents teach children to manage money wisely and develop good financial habits.

We were invited to their Dec holiday camp, Daddy was interested to know how Richminds impart the importance of “Financial literacy” to the kiddos.

Actually, their one-day course (from 10am to 4pm) is only an orientation. Kids will pick up money management skills and good habits when they touch on the course’s Five modules, namely “Spend, Save, Earn, Share and Build“. RichMinds highlighted that the module “Build” cannot be covered under the holiday curriculum, due to time limitation.

Before class starts, our friendly teachers need to warm us up first. Once we are more comfortable, comes the orientation. Daddy say kids nowadays are so accustomed to getting money from our parents, kids thought they only save because of Rainy Days Christmas Toys !

Teachers use the analogy of corn and milk farmers, to demonstrate how trading was conducted, before monetary system was developed. We can barter (exchange) our corns for milk.

..but what happens when we need to trade in bigger volumes, do we really want to cart sacks of corns to exchange for two litre of milk? (a lot of hard work)

People start to trade with gold, and money.
Currency exchange and conversion, kids learn that not all currencies are the same. Example $1 Singapore Dollar is worth 7,800 Indonesia rupiah!

What are “Needs and Wants”? Which one is more important? Looks easy, until teacher tempt kids with iPhone (haha).

Discounts, bundle, or bulk purchase. Kids understand the concept of “Value for money”.
Example $1 can buy one Evian from Shop-A, or two Evians from Shop-B, which deal is more attractive?

After being equipped with basic financial knowledge, kids roam the neighborhood’s Guardian store. They are ready to go hunting for deals.

It was interesting to see how the kids go about searching for the best-value items in the store. More importantly, they are learning an important trait through fun activities.

Next, the older kids (Junior camp) are supposed to sell some food to the smaller kids (Kids camp).

Kids are learning fast, Cheeseburger at $3 (inflated). The little ones are given “coins” to buy their lunch (or toys).

Unfortunately, the budget is only enough to buy Food or Toy, not both. Kids face a lot of dilemma deciding whether Lunch or Toy is more important :p

No wonder Joey (jBabies) is bewildered 🙂
Teachers gently remind the kids about “Needs and Wants” again.

Boon Wee and Boon Kang has one more thing to learn. Is it more worthwhile to buy Mcdonald’s piece meal, or set-meal?

We set off to McDonald to grab our lunch. Each one only has $5 (real money), so they need to ensure they do not overspent on lunch.

Our Financial course has one last chapter “SHARE”. We can share our wealth(Charity), love(hugs), empathy (for animals) and labour (time sacrifice). We should not forget the less fortunate in our community.

What about Sharing of Fun? Hoola hoop anyone?

Finally, the kids graduate from their Financial class 🙂
Every kid brought home a sense of achievement, and become more knowledgeable about “Dollars and Cents”.

Daddy hope the kids now understand and appreciate that their allowance does not fall from the sky, parents need to work to bring back the bacon.

Kids proudly show Mummy their achievements, diy coin-box and briefcase. It is time for our little CFOs to show off their new capability at Ntuc.

Video : For those who went through the class, they will remember this catchy tune. When you hear McDonald, Pizza Hut, remember what we learn at Richminds Academy.