Would You Send Kids To Money Camp?

When I first heard kids were going to “money camp,” I was ready to be indignant about the pressure for earnings put on the young, the importance put on the trappings of materialism, yadda, yadda.

Oh thank goodness I just read the story. Because “money camp” for kids is really about business.

And in an economic meltdown caused in part by people who have frittered away their money buying on credit and not reading the bottom line, its clear our kids could use some good lessons in financial literacy.

Serving kids eight to eighteen, the Money Academy day camps teach kids business planning from market research on through production of a product or supply of services. The kids learn entrepreneurship and good business practices, mixing ethics with fiscal facts (for a sample of what they do, see below):

According to a study last year, funded by Merril Lynch and conducted by the Jump$start Coalition found the use of debit and credit cards by U.S. high school kids is climbing, but as many as eighty-seven percent of teen users have no idea what they’d be required to pay if their card was lost or stolen, and less than half are aware they should and check their credit report annually. Some schools require financial training for kids, but more are pushing so hard to keep up with curriculum demands that there is no room for these basic life skills.

The camp isn’t for everyone – it’s $US300 to $US370 for Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 3:30 (just one week), and it’s located in Austin, Texas. But for parents who can swing the extra cash, it might pay for itself. Would you send your child?

Source: NBC

Via Cookie

Image: MoneyAcademy