The Milford Bank: Focused on Turning Your Children into Cent$ible Kid$

By Bob Russo

Recent research indicates that 27 percent of parents with children who are minors don’t have any money saved for them. What’s more, in 2012, the average financial literacy score for high school students was a “D.”

It’s never too early to start learning about finance. That’s precisely why we at The Milford Bank launched our Cent$ible Kid$ program in 2008, designed to educate our community’s children about the importance of saving money. As participants in the program, kids in Milford and Stratford schools are able to open savings accounts that they can put money into each week.

We believe that it doesn’t matter whether those deposits are 50 cents or $10. What’s important is having children begin the process of understanding their finances. Smart savings habits will help sculpt future shrewd behaviors related to spending, saving and investing.

Three-quarters of adults indicate they believe that it’s important to offer financial advice to our children, but only 36 percent of them do. We’re trying to bridge that gap with Cent$ible Kid$.

In addition to giving them the opportunity to save, we also use Cent$ible Kid$ as a platform through which to offer comprehensive bank-related education to today’s youth, like how money is protected in a bank thanks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, how it grows with interest and more.

From piggy banks to pads and pens and everything in between, members of our program will also get freebies with coupons in our seasonal newsletters. Click here to learn more about the program.