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Articles
10.25.10
Author hopes book on saving money will teach children early
By ANNA SCHUMANN
 Writing a children's book was never her intention, but when the inspiration for "Feeding Penny Pig" came to Jeannine Fox, she just ran with it.
Starring her granddaughters, Laney Elguezabal, 7, and Lexi Elguezabal, 4, the first book in what Fox hopes will be a series teaches children about the fun and importance of saving money.
In the book, Laney loves putting money into her piggy bank, Penny Pig, who speaks and encourages Laney to feed her.
In real life, the story came true, and Laney loves feeding her pig.
What Laney is learning now, her grandmother said, is responsibility that she will carry with her throughout her life.
Fox, who has nearly 30 years of personal financial planning experience and is an investment adviser representative at The Planning Team in Magnolia, said she has seen a lot of people in bad financial shape because they never learned the basics of opening bank accounts, balancing a checkbook and staying out of debt.
With her children, she would establish monthly allowances in return for chores and give them a set amount at the beginning of the month, with no way to get more money until the next month.
While one daughter spent her money wisely, Fox said, the other daughter spent it all the first day and had to learn the hard way that she would not get more until the next month. She did not make that mistake again.
It’s not only the parents' responsibility to teach children, Fox said, and she encourages grandparents to get involved in any way they can, whether by playing free games with their grandchildren, by giving gifts of money or bonds for birthdays, or by starting a college fund for them.
"Grandparents are so needed right now," she said. "There's a lot of pressure on parents to work all the time and do everything, and the expenses of child care are outrageous."
With her Mimi's influence, Laney has already learned to save. She now looks at menu prices at restaurants and makes comments about being able to buy the same item for more or less money elsewhere.
The practice Fox encourages most is having three separate compartments in a bank or savings system: for saving, spending, and giving to others.
Fox took Laney and Lexi to a food pantry in Montgomery County and gave it 10 percent of the money they had. They got a tour of the facility and learned what their money would buy.
"In the tour, they explained that their money would buy cans of tuna for others," she said. "That was a big moment for them, to see the value of their money and that there are others who don't have what they have."
In order to teach others the lessons she feels her granddaughters are learning, Fox operates a web site, www.mimisfunhouse.com, on which she sells her book and other educational supplies for parents and grandparents.
There are lists of activities for families to do together and a list of commandments for grandparents.
She also has videos on her site that explain what to do when a piggy bank is full, such as having a coin rolling party.
With illustrations by the book's local artist David Bamberg, the web site, Fox hopes, will become a resource for educational materials to teach children responsibility.
By teaching children early, they could stay out of financial trouble later, she said.
"I really believe that you've got to get kids before 12," she said. "Bring them up to be responsible, teach them that they are responsible for how their future turns out, they'll do much better."
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