Why Teach Financial Literacy?

Because if you're like most adults, you weren't taught about money at home or in school. And if you're like most adults, you'd like to see as many children as possible learn how to manage money and creatie financial freedom for themselves while they are young, so they don't have to learn the hard way!

Why Creative Wealth International, LLC...How We Got Started:

Creative Wealth International, LLC began as an inspiration by Elisabeth Donati when she read Robert Kiyosaki's book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Relating to her own lack of financial education and parental guidance in the area of financial literacy, she began considering the possibility of developing summer programs for kids and teens that was both fun and educational, with the center theme surrounding the basic concepts and principles of money.

She originally created a nonprofit named The Money Camp to teach kids and teens and train others how to do what she was doing. This worked great, until she realized that she wasn't practicing what she preached...Create assets that bring you passive income streams forever so you can become financially free and be able to work because you want to, not because you have to.

The nonprofit still exists to provide scholarships and low or no cost financial education programs. The name of the nonprofit was changed to Creative Wealth International.

For more information on the two organizations and how they work together, click here.

The First Money Camp for Kids:

The first Money Camp for Kids (now called Camp Millionaire) was held August 19-23, 2002 at the United Boys & Girls Club's in Santa Barbara, CA. with 39 kids! What a start! The summer of 2003 brought 4 full camps, several additional kid's programs (home school, after school, private programs) and several adult programs (corporate and individual).

One of our goals is for your kids and teens to leave the programs so excited about what they just learned and experienced that they don't stop talking about it on the way home!

Since then we've just continued to grow each year and now our goal is to have Creative Wealth Programs all over the world!

Donald Trump said if you're going to be thinking anyway you might as well think BIG! So, we are.

Why Financial Literacy for kids and teens?

• Money is the number one cause of divorce in America.
• Money is among the top reasons people commit suicide.
• Approximately 75% of Americans live financially month to month.
• Less than 10% of high school graduates receive any financial education in school.
• According to Nellie Mae (Money Jan. 2004), the average undergraduate debt was $18,900 in 2002, up from $11,400 in 1997.
• College students' average credit card debt rose 46% from 1998 to 2000 to $2,748; nearly 10% of students owe more than $7,000.
• One online job service surveyed college students in 2003 and found that 61% of them said they planned to live with their parents after graduation!
• There appears to be a direct correlation between high school students' scores on financial literacy exams and the number of bankruptcies in the states where they live.
• There is a 'taboo' about talking about money with family and friends.
• Consumer debt and bankruptcies are at an all time high. (Note: humans learn best by example and our government sets the worst financial example there is!).
• Only a third of this country's Baby Boomer generation are saving enough for retirement.
• There is no guarantee that social security will be around when our kids and teens reach retirement age.
• The rules of saving for retirement have changed, from pensions given to employees after many years of dedication to employees being completely responsible for saving for their own futures.
• College students are graduating with soaring credit card debt (not including student loans!) along with their diplomas. Four out of ten college students face 'unmanageable' debt as they finish college and enter the job market.
  
  Up until now, our focus on educating kids and teens about money has been left up to parents who often know little about how to make and manage their own finances.

The Team:

Creative Wealth International was developed by a group of individuals who had the financial background and experience to see the importance and relevance in teaching children (and adults) about money. The Creative Wealth International Team consists of:

Elisabeth Donati: Co-Founder and Executive Director, a professional in the fitness/nutrition industry with over 20 years of experience coaching people in areas of health and fitness.

Jan Ruskin: Executive Assistant, is a professional life coach and keeps things rolling here like never before.

Interns from UCSB: We are blessed on a regular basis with interns from University of California, Santa Barbara. They are bright, full of energy and wonderful to work with.

The Curriculum:

Camp Millionaire is our signature program. It started as a summer day camp program with four days of learning (fun and games really) and one day of field trip to a bank and local businesses to see what the 'real world' was like.

The Money Game is an integral piece of every financial program we teach and, as of 2010, can be purchased as a stand-alone financial education curriculum. It's the finest financial education game on the market. It's fun, it's easy to play, it's effective beyond measure!

Both programs are extremely modular in nature. You can use them for a one-hour program (hundreds of them!) or do the whole thing over a period of a semester or more for ages 10 and up.

If someone convinces you that financial literacy needs to be taught in an age-related program, they don't know what they are talking about. It's the same information, regardless of age. You don't teach a 15 year old how to drive differently than you'd teach a 30 year old so why would you teach saving money differently for different ages...it's the same information!

The funniest question we get here in the office is this one:

"How is your adult program different than your kids program?"

We chuckle and say, "Oh, that's easy. We have adults in that program!"

It always gets a laugh from the person asking the question...but it's because it's true. If you didn't learn this essential life skill when you were 10 or 15 or 20, and you're 30 or 40 now, you need to learn the basics first. And you'll learn better in a fun, playful environment where you actually get to experience the learning and lessons instead of just sit and take notes for an entire weekend.

Our adult program evolved because all of the parents and adults we talked to said, "But what out me?"

Our current women's financial program, Creative Wealth for Women, evolved because everyone in our office was female and as we talked over the years and did research on women's financial issues, we realized it's a huge area where women feel inadequate and insecure.

Our Train-the-Trainer program happened because people started finding us online and wanted us to teach them what we were doing that was so powerful and effective. We designed the most amazing financial literacy or financial education training program around and are actively training and licensing our program around the country and internationally.

All of Creative Wealth's curriculums focus on the basic principles of money, money flow, financial vocabulary, financial statements and basic investing as well the important concept that the beliefs and attitudes we develop early on in life about money have a powerful effect on our financial future. We also stress the idea that money doesn't buy happiness, it is just a tool to use to become financially independent.

Our goal is to help create future generations of fiscally responsible, financially independent adults who truly are happy, healthy, wealthy, and hopefully, wise!

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