07 Sep 2022 | 04:16am IST
Getting smarter, richer and braver with finances
When it comes to financial literacy, Goa is leading the country with 50 percent, which is still considered low. However, most educational institutes don’t know how to guide children and teenagers to make financially sound decisions. Marilyn Pinto has written a book, ‘Smarter Richer Braver,’ aimed at parents of teenagers to give them a better understanding of financial education
Dolcy D’Cruz
"I
think money isn’t an end in itself, it’s just a means of
obtaining what you desire, whether that is material possessions, peace of mind,
a way to pursue your purpose or building a secure future for your family. Money
gives you choices, whether this relates to education, fun experiences or
building a legacy. And it’s nice to have choices,” explains Marilyn Lydia
Pinto, the author of ‘Smarter Richer Braver’.
Young children do not understand the
importance of money until you tell them it is essential. While toddlers and
small children are often seen throwing tantrums in toy shops and aisles in
supermarkets, older children and teenagers can understand the concept of
spending wisely and later inculcate the habit of saving and investing.
Financial literacy for young children becomes an essential aspect of life.
Marilyn Lydia Pinto lived in Panjim for
most of her student life. She studied at Mary Immaculate Girls High School,
then Dhempe College and graduated from St Xavier’s College. Her first job was
at AT&T in Goa and then Coca- Cola in Pune. She is currently based in Dubai
where she lives with her husband and two teenage daughters. She heads KFI
Global, an education company that specializes in teaching teenagers and young
adults how to make smarter money decisions. “Over the last five years, more
than 5,000 students have benefitted from our program. We’ve recently won an
international award for the best financial literacy project for schools. And
just last week, we were nominated as one of five finalists for the ‘Most
Innovative Customer Happiness Initiative’ at the Customer Happiness Summit and
Awards 2022. We’re on a mission to bring this critical education to more teens
across the world because we believe that it will help them step up, stand out
and live a life on their own terms. We’d like to see more teens become part of
what we call Generation Wealth,a generation that’s ‘Smarter, Richer, Braver’
because that’s exactly what our world needs,” says Marilyn Pinto, who made
Dubai her home nearly 20 years ago.
While she wrote the book in three months, it was a culmination
of the five years of research, insights and hands on experience with teaching
kids. “Researching and writing the book really clarified my thinking and
allowed me crystallize my insights into a methodology for effectively teaching
teens how to acquire this life-changing skill. This is the methodology web used
in all our programs at KFI Global, it’s detailed in the book. Writing the book
also forced me to delve deep into the reason this crucial skill is ignored by
the current education system, as well as why we as parents often seem content
to take the backseat when it comes to properly guiding our teens around
managing money. I also came to the stark realization about how widespread this
problem was, how little was being done to actively combat it, as against just
paying lip service to the issue, and how some efforts were exacerbating the
situation,” she says.
For her research, she spoke to parents from all over the world
and found that the issue of financial education is the same everywhere. Parents
worry that their children don’t seem to know or understand the value of money;
and that their particular cultural context makes it worse. She explains, “This
holds true whether the parents are from India, UAE, Australia or the UK. They
feel that their children have it worse than those living elsewhere. Parents
also feel inadequately prepared to have these conversations with their children
and who can blame them, it isn’t something we were taught growing up. Most
adults learned through trial and error and by making expensive mistakes.”
What can readers expect from the book? “Financial illiteracy is
rampant. The book focuses on how neglected the issue is and the reasons behind
this. It is crucial that parents understand what roadblocks they will likely
encounter on the journey to educating their children about money. I want to
highlight the fact that as parents we cannot afford to rely on schools and
universities to teach our children about this important facet of life. We need
to be proactive and get our children the best education around this topic,” she
adds.
What
message would she like to give through the book? “Money is intricately entwined
in every aspect of our lives, from the career we choose, the car we buy, the
loans we take out, the businesses we start and even who we marry and when we
choose to retire. Not educating students about this critical topic is severely
short-changing them and hampering their success. This needs to change now,”
says Pinto, whose book is available on Amazon.in, both in print as well as the kindle
version. The book is published by Rethink Press Limited.