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Kirkmere students learn about saving money
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Fourth-graders Dexter Grant and Alexairys Rosario learned that it’s better to save money in a bank than at home.
“You get interest and you get more money,” said Dexter, 10.
“If you have money in the bank, it gets interest and then you can save it for an emergency,” said Alexairys, 9. “If your car breaks down, then you have money to buy a new one.”
Fourth-graders at Discovery at Kirkmere got a lesson in the importance of saving money Monday from Lisa Vallas, Niki Koch and Jen Wise, Talmer Bank branch managers at the Cornersburg, New Middletown and Austintown branches, respectively.
The presentation, “Teach Children to Save 2015,” is an initiative of the American Bankers Association. It is part of Smart Money Week, which runs through Saturday.
To illustrate the importance of saving, Vallas read a book, “The Great Investo and the Flourishing Flamingos.”
The story uses multiplying flamingos to show how interest accrues.
By saving $5 per week, in a year that savings adds up to $260, for example.
If the students keep that money at home in a jar, that’s the total they’ll have at the end of the year. If they save the same among in a bank, however, Vallas said, that amount will increase because of interest.
“How does the bank get the money to pay?” one student asked.
“Banks loan money out to people and the people who are getting the money pay us interest,” Koch said. “That’s one way banks make money.”
The branch managers will be delivering the message to other Mahoning County schools this week as part of the program.
Vallas will visit Williamson Elementary School, Koch will go to Springfield Elementary and Wise will make the presentation at Austintown Elementary.
Each of the Kirkmere fourth-graders received a certificate for their participation and paperwork with savings and financial responsibility tips.