Episode 3: Money – What Is it Good For?

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.

GRANT: Business.

MAK: And accounting from a kid’s perspective.

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

GRANT: Welcome to Educounting. My name is Grant, and my dad’s passionate about financial education. Today’s video is on money.

DAD: Hey, it’s dad here. Money is funny. The money itself isn’t worth much, because how much is paper money really worth? The Federal Reserve, which is part of the US government, actually orders money from the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing? Wow, that’s a mouthful. But this government group makes all of our money. In 2018 they are going to pay about $862 million to make all of our money. Here’s a little tidbit. How much does it cost to make some of our paper money? It’s about six cents to make a $1 bill and a little over 13 cents to make a $100 bill. But we use money to pay for things that do have value. The word money comes from Anita, which was the temple in Rome where coins were made. A temple is a religious place. Sounds kind of funny, right? But this temple was for Juno Moneta, the goddess of marriage, dun, dun, dun, and also the goddess of women. The word men, which is not the one you take to make your breasts smell good. But the place that makes money also came from genomic data. As the word changed a bit over time.

MAK: Money is what we use to pay for things we want and need. We can buy video games, iPads, food, clothes, and almost anything you want.

DAD: Money can buy the craziest stuff. For instance, SpaceX is a company that will take you to the moon for a price, which I’m sure is millions of dollars. Houston, we have a problem. For $115,000 you can buy some hair from Elvis. Number. No. Okay. Now that’s really gross, because he died many years ago. Ask your parents about that. Or how about a nine pound gold shirt, which is the same weight as my dog for $213,000.

GRANT: Paper money and coins started almost 3000 years ago. But did you know people used to pay with cattle? How would you like to bring the cow to Best Buy to buy a video game.

DAD: That’s a big reason money was created. It’s hard to carry a cow on your back to pay for a new chariot back in Roman days. They called a kaput, which meant Head and today, they use the word capital in its place when talking about money and business. Have you ever seen a movie like The Pirates of the Caribbean, or someone bites a coin to make sure it was real? Many years ago, they would make money out of gold. And if you didn’t know gold is actually soft. When you bite it, your teeth would sink into the coin and possibly leave a tooth mark, which would mean it was real gold. Are my teeth hurt?

MAK: The largest Bill made in the US was a $10,000 bill. But we don’t use those anymore. If you had one, you could buy over 300,000 gumballs with debt.

GRANT: Cool.

DAD: Okay, how awesome would it be to have 300,000 gumballs. It’s estimated there are around 300 of those bills still around. They were issued until 1945. And they had the picture of salmon chase on it, who was the governor of Ohio, the six Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as well as the Secretary of the Treasury, which means he was in charge of all the money in the US.

MAK: We learned about Abe Lincoln in school. He was the first person in the US to have his face on a coin. He had a lot of great stuff. So that makes sense.

DAD: Abe Lincoln was a pretty cool guy. He was the president that stopped slavery in the United States. Did you know he was the first and only president to ever get a patent for a new idea, which was for lifting ships over a barrier in the water called a shoal. I guess it never really took off. And he was also the first to have his picture taken on his inauguration, which is the day he became president, which had John Wilkes Booth close to him in the picture. He’s the guy who shot President Lincoln. Now that’s scary. Anyway, the first picture of a person ever on a coin was Julius Caesar. All Hail Caesar, which was in 44 BC, and that was over 2060 years ago.

MAK: Nowadays, money works differently. We don’t pay with cows. We pay with money by using cash, a credit card or a debit card or cheque. We can even do it on a computer.

DAD: Credit cards were started in the 1920s but can only be used for one of two different companies. That would be For a gas station or for a hotel, you couldn’t use it at all the places that we do now, the first one to be used at many different locations took off in 1950, and it was called the Diners Club card. It was an idea from a businessman who forgot his wallet at a restaurant and couldn’t pay. That original multi use credit card was made of cardboard. That sounds about right.

MAK: If you have money, you can hold it in your wallet or purse, or safe or you can keep it in a bank.

DAD: The first handbag was a small piece of luggage that you carried around by hand, which was usually for men, excuse me as you’ve left your purse. In ancient Egypt, men had a purse-like pouch around their waist to carry stuff as well. The word wallet was originally used to describe an item that was used to carry food, particularly dried meat like beef jerky, just imagine how bad that could smell.

MAK: When you want to spend the money, then you get it out of your wallet or purse to save or take it out of your bank account.

DAD: Safes are used to hold valuables so other people can’t break in and steal them. They were created by two Englishmen less than 200 years ago. Safes that are supposed to survive a fire are usually made out of perlite, also known as volcanic glass. Yes, that stuff from a volcano, it’s gonna blow. perlite actually absorbs heat. Just as a sponge absorbs water, it helps to keep the stuff inside cool. When the outside is crazy hot.

MAK: You should also have some savings for things you need in future, like a vacation, school, a video game or when you get older, a house or a car.

DAD: Most people only think about what happens today, I am hungry, I want a new shirt, or let’s buy some candy. However, your money also has to go for things in the future too. We call this savings. We will save it now. So we have it in the future. There’s a general rule which is 50 30 20. That means if you make $100 No more than 50 should go towards things you must have now like food, your house, your car and clothes. 30 can go to stuff you like to have or do for example, movies, a baseball game, video games and other stuff. But save $20 Out of every 100 for the future. 50 for needs no more than 30 for once and 20 to save.

MAK: You don’t want to have all of your money with you. Some should go to the bank. If you have all your savings with you and you are robbed, that would be very bad.

DAD: Okay, kids, this part is for the parents and it might get a little boring, but make sure they listen. I wanted to start talking to Mak & G early about money and having dollar bills, fives 10s 20s, as well as coins help them to understand the concept of money because they could touch it. However, it’s also important when a child can understand the value of money too. So it’s very helpful to play games or include them in the process of spending money at the store. See if your kids can add up everything as it goes into your cart. When a gallon of milk is added, tell them the price, they’ll start to understand that a gallon of milk costs around $3. And when a dozen eggs is added, it will cost around $2. At that point, they can begin to understand what a $5 bill can buy. Also, let them pay with cash when checking out. Have them listen to the cashier when they say 40 to 50 have them work the numbers and pull out the 220s and a five or some other combination. Make them get their right bills to pay. Since they’re counting the balance as you go along. They should have an idea of what the total is. And if they’re close, you can always give them a bonus whatever that may be in your house.

This will help them understand the concept of money as well as change. Give them support and let them know you’re there. You can always start slow and hand the money over to the cashier together. As you go to the store or look online, it’s time to talk about value or how to save money with coupons or deals. Hey, Mak was in line the other day and she overheard someone in front of her at the store checking out who used a coupon. Guess what? She asked if the store had any coupons she could use when making a purchase with her birthday money. Funny enough, the clerk said the guy in front of her left a 50% off coupon from another store. And since that store honored their competitors coupons. She got a great discount. Wow. You should have seen her eyes led up. Now she’s looking for ways to save money. Comparing prices when buying in bulk or even buying generic brands also starts to make kids think discussing coupons and realizing that you can save a lot with a little bit of effort is huge. For Mak, she kept $7 or $8 and got to come back another day to get something else.

This is a journey that takes time and little effort as you go along. These are basic concepts to get kids a bit more comfortable with money so we can dive deeper into how to spend, save, budget, invest and more. Hey, even gentlemen, Neda knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day. That’s my quick two cents. Thanks for being here, where it’s fun to talk about money and learn things on money with Mack and G.

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

GRANT: Or grab your dad.

MAK: Because it’s now time for you to talk to your parents about what we’ve discussed. Join us for our next episode on burning money. 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 want 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!