Episode 2: Piggy Bank: Its History and How to Choose the Right Bank

MAK: Hi, I’m Mak.

GRANT: And I’m G.

BOTH: And you’re here for Money With Mak And G.

MAK: The only show that teaches you about finance, business, and accounting from a kid’s perspective.

GRANT: We are on a mission to demystify money to help you and your family be financially secure.

MAK: Welcome to Educounting. My dad is passionate about financial education. Today’s video is on your piggy bank.

DAD: Hey, it’s dad here. I like to talk to my kids about money because almost everything you do touches on it. When you go to see your grandparents, for instance, you spend money, you buy a plane ticket. If you fly, use gas, good if you take your car, or you have to eat food, jump jump in order to have enough energy to walk there. Each of those costs money. Anyway, being a dad might be more complicated, but my kids do a lot of the same things I do. Take for instance, my bank, I have one right around the corner and my kids have one right upstairs in their bedroom. Do you know what that is?

MAK: We all have a piggy bank. It holds our money for our allowance babies today on special occasions like birthday parties and holidays.

DAD: Hey, I put money in my bank. When I make money from my job. I don’t babysit or get an allowance anymore. But I do work and get paid.

MAK: As I save money, it goes in. When I want to buy something it comes out. It got to flow with dollars and coins and said it was time to move it to a real bank.

DAD: I pay for my stuff by taking money out of my bank so it may look a little different, but my bank acts the same way as a piggy bank.

MAK: A real bank works the same way. If you put money in you can take money out. It’s safer too, because if anyone steals it, the government will repay it. That’s called insurance when something bad happens like a car wreck damaged your house insurance pays for the damage.

DAD: Did you know that over 85 years ago the government started to promise to pay people if the bank couldn’t pay. This was around the time of something called the Great Depression when many people lost their jobs. About one out of four people didn’t work. If you look at today, only one out of 25 don’t work that had to do with money problems throughout the entire United States. And that’s called the economy. Many people became homeless. And before this if a bank was robbed by an outlaw like Jesse James, stick them up. This is a robbery. Your money was gone forever. Crazy, huh?

MAK: Anyway, my parents and brother won’t borrow money from my piggy bank either. Did you know piggy bank comes from the word peg. That’s a type of clay used in pots to hold money. Cool, huh?

DAD: As Mak explains, pig PAYG or pay G G was a clay used in the Middle Ages that was used to store money. It was a cheap material. So they used it to make things for storing all kinds of stuff. They had pig pots, or pig jars. But I think people got lazy and evolved into the pig Bank, which normally holds small coins for us.

MAK: A bank sometimes charges you to hold and protect your money. Other times a bank gives you money called interest. That’s crazy.

DAD: Hey, banks can charge a lot of fees judging. So you have to know what you’re getting into and choose a bank carefully. Too many fees aren’t good. But there are all kinds of banks, some may not charge fees, while others will charge a lot. I don’t charge any fees for my house for having a piggy bank.

MAK: Every month I get an email that shows how much they counted is called a statement. When I put money in it goes up and when I take some out, it goes down.

DAD: Have you ever seen a bank statement? What’s all the bank statements when they have lots of numbers on them? If you haven’t seen one, ask your mom or dad to show you. It starts with the amount you had at the end of the last month. Then it has the money that goes in and comes out due to your parents’ money they earn and stuff they buy.

MAK: Bank Account makes it easy to pay for things. It also makes it easy to put money in for my work like my loans I have all in one place.

DAD: Many people have a bank account. However, some people keep their money at home because they don’t trust banks. In the olden days, they would put their money under their mattress. I would think that would make it very hard to sleep.

MAK: My parents use your bank account in the same way. When they get money. It goes in and when they pay for something it goes out. They see it makes things really easy.

DAD: Today, a lot of things take place on the internet, which can be done through your bank really easily. But about one out of three purchases at stores that you go to are done with cash. The other two out of three happened with debit or credit cards which do require a bank. Hey, more on that later. But ask your parents how many times they pay for things with cash or their credit or debit card. And don’t forget to ask about the Great Depression, what a bank statement looks like and why they chose the bank they use. Okay, kids, this part is for the parents, and it might get a little boring, but make sure they listen. Now that you know a bit more about banks, let’s think about a couple things. We want to pick a bank for many reasons. Here, we only want to talk about the very first steps in our journey about banking and money out of the gate, make sure to ask the tough questions, particularly about fees. Read the fine print, there’s nothing worse than having an account that costs you a monthly fee, and works against your financial goals.

There are many banks that don’t charge fees, and several offer incentives for transferring your account. This can earn you several $100, make sure it works for you and doesn’t cost you. In addition, there are banks that only operate online, this will keep costs down if they don’t have a physical presence. So if you don’t need to ever go into the bank, they tend to pay better interest and have lower or no fees. Many of these online banks can do the same things a physical bank can, but you have to make sure to do your homework and make sure they’re legitimate. A physical bank tends to help kids identify with the basics of money and saving, because the child can see the bank and touch it. Different banks, both online or physical banks in your neighborhood, offer incentives for kids who save, I have found several banks which offer various benefits. One Bank I found will pay $1,000. If your child makes monthly deposits over a period of years, it may sound like a long time. But can you imagine how much and how long, a bank would have to hold that money to make $1,000 It would be very long. And with current rates, that would mean a very large balance. Other banks have programs for kids that have low minimum initial deposits of say $5. Some offer interest rates that are over 400 times more than you get normally to incentivize kids to start accounts. Some have fees, and others don’t. I tend to travel a lot. So for me, it makes some sense to have a bank that has locations around the US. And I’ve started relationships with not only one bank, but a couple. I know I’ll have other needs in the future such as business loans, mortgages, he locks, and other things, which we’ll talk about as we keep going. So let’s say no to fees and make your commitment to get your kids started with their first account today. And we’ll continue to give you some insights on how to use those accounts moving forward. That’s my quick two cents. Thanks for being here where it’s fun to talk about money and learn things on money with Mak and G.

MAK: We hope you liked this episode. Now it’s time to grab your mom.

GRANT: Or grab your dad. Because it’s now time for you to talk to your parents about what we’ve discussed.

MAK: Join us on our next episode.

GRANT: On money.

MAK: Thanks for joining us. If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe, rate and review this podcast.

GRANT: We want to help you succeed.

MAK: And if you have more insights on financial education, check out www.moneywithmakandg.com for lots of extra stuff which is growing all the time. Thanks for listening

DAD: Bye!