newsminer.com

Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

FAIRBANKS — On Tuesday, as part of National Teach Kids to Save Day, members of the American Bankers Association at Denali State Bank worked with more than 600 students at local elementary schools to teach them the value of trading in spending habits for saving habits.

“Money grows like we grow when we put it into the bank,” said Shad Cole, a first-grader in Christine Bolinger’s class at Woodriver Elementary School.

Students like Shad spent the afternoon brainstorming ways to earn money, where to spend it and how to save it.

Helping parents with household chores, selling old toys at a garage sale or mowing the neighbor’s lawn were just some of the jobs the first-grade entrepreneurs proposed.

“Saving money can be fun if you get to spend it on something someday — like super pressure suction cup guns,” first-grader Peyton Merideth said.

No doubt it was easier for students to name ways to spend their money than tips for saving, but students all seemed to have a general know-how about the importance of holding on to money for something important.

“These kids all seem pretty wise for their age about savings,” said Laurie Fowler of Denali State Bank. “You can tell which kids have been listening to their parents talk about the economy.”

Bank employee Sharisse Martin talked about the importance of learning to save given the nature of the U.S. economy.

“Now, more than ever, we should be teaching kids to be prepared and spend wisely,” Martin said. “If kids start saving now, they’ll have less trouble in the future.”

Bankers nationwide hoped to reach more than 1 million students Tuesday in an effort to build well-informed consumers in the next generation.

“It’s something we should be learning every day in school,” Martin said. “We think these kids are grasping the concepts of saving, and that’s a life lesson most folks learn the hard way. Hopefully we can prevent that.”