Empowering the Next Generation: Money Management in a Digital World

Hello everyone.

My name is Dalia D'Agostino, and welcome to FinTech TV.

I am filming from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to welcome Deepa Raja Carbon, Managing Director & the Vice Chair of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, thank you for being here, Deepa.

Such a pleasure.

Thank you.

A few years ago, I started a YouTube channel dedicated to helping young people learn about financial literacy.

Now, thanks to the wonderful team at FinTech TV, I have the chance to interview inspiring business leaders and hear their thoughts on money, the future of finance, and advice for young people just starting their financial journey.

My goal is to reach kids everywhere and show them how they can take control of their money in a fast-paced world where time is truly their most valuable asset.

Let's begin.

Deepa, can you explain how you became the vice chairwoman of VA, and can you describe what a typical workday looks like for you?

So let me start with saying, um, uh, firstly, thank you.

Thank you for having me here.

And it's such, it's such a, uh, such a, I, I wouldn't say wonder to be able to see, uh, kids your age, be able to speak to your own generation and create.

That level of, of trust and understanding in what you're collectively going through so that people of our generation can hopefully relate to it a little bit better and interact, engage and participate uh more fluently, right?

Uh, look, it's not like I woke up one fine day and said, I'm going to do digital finance, right?

Um, I was in Dubai already at that time, we were just coming out of COVID 2020, 2021, and as the rest of the world was, and, um, the biggest part of Dubai's future growth agenda was the new economy.

So web 3, AI, blockchain, metaverse, all the things that you've heard of, clearly you've grown up with that the generation you've been born into, and not one that I belong to, certainly, but it's one that was important for governments across the world to not only take notice of, but be able to permit in a legitimate and scalable fashion, building trust across the organizations, right?

Uh, so with that context, Dubai had set itself an agenda of saying by 2033, we're going to be 100 billion across those aspects of the new economy.

And I was very much part of framing the, the context of that sort of long term goalpost.

And as a consequence, my natural thought was, but how, right?

What is the one thread that connects across these three aspects or four aspects of the new economy, and that was virtual assets.

And so that's really. how I came about to saying we need to be able to regulate this in a very systematic fashion so that it's indeed does become more inclusive, more global, more real time, and more trusted than than any other mode of value exchange that exists today.

That's really how the birth of Borrow was and my association with it.

Thank you so much.

That's a pretty amazing journey.

Can you explain what virtual assets are in simple terms for kids and what role do you think they will play in the future of money?

Look, I'll say this, right?

Virtual assets to me are, uh.

Uh, are no different than what you currently handle in, in, in your gaming ecosystem today, right?

Like the likes of Fortnite or Minecraft, etc.

You guys have tokens, skins, um, I think you, you even have coins that you can exchange, digital items that you can exchange.

So that's exactly what the world of virtual assets is, except that you take it out of your virtual world into the real world.

So when you can exchange that suddenly for real world assets, real value, and use it as a store of value, store of value that not only grows over time.

Uh, can be saved and grow, of course, but also be exchanged, can be traded, can be utilized for, uh, for all your wants and needs.

That's essentially what the world of virtual assets intends to be.

It's not quite there yet, but it's progressing in that direction.

Here at the New York Stock Exchange, I'm surrounded by how people have historically used money.

It's so great to hear about how my generation will probably use it.

Um, what are the most important lessons you advise that parents teach to their kids about managing money, both traditional and virtual?

Look, I'll say this, right?

I, I, the, the reality today is, which is unlike the generation I grew up in, as I've already said to you, uh, money is not about, uh, uh, about cash anymore.

It's not coins anymore, right?

It is all digital, almost entirely digital, and I'll say I don't know if it's a statistic you're familiar with.

Nearly 70% of kids under the age of 17 today, um, have money or their pocket money being given in digital form.

That's an incredible amount, right, which essentially means your generation is definitely only going to come into a world that uses digital money.

Uh, so fundamentally, I would say one of the things that, uh, from a learning perspective, I would say there is, there are 3 things in my head, right?

One, money is finite.

It's a lot harder to think about something as finite when it's not tangible.

When you see a bunch of digits on a screen, it somehow feels intangible and it's somehow feels infinite, right?

But the reality is that pool of money is exactly what it would have been if it was paper cash lying on your desk, and you saw your little piggy bank going down in value, right?

But you don't relate to it with as much reality, uh, on a digital screen, and that's the first thing about it, right?

Money is finite, finite.

Number 2, the economic principles of it.

Uh, are not too dissimilar to what you see in traditional finance as the flow behind you, obviously, uh, depicts, right?

So money is volatile.

Um, there is a, a natural element of investment and maturity that comes with it.

I've got a finite number of resources.

I've got 3 things I'm gonna do with it, right?

I'm either gonna spend it, or I'm gonna save it, or I'm gonna share it.

And once I've exhausted those principles or my entire pool of money with any one of them, then I simply do not have enough to do the rest of what I really want to do.

OK, so that's number 2.

And therefore, you sort of need to have a little bit of an idea of how you want to invest this pool of money so that it actually gives you the freedom of choice, not so that you become a billionaire tomorrow.

It is not about getting rich, but it is about being able to do the things you really want to do with your existence on Earth, right?

And so that would be number 2.

And I would say the third part of it is security, the trust, right?

And security is one that you kids are probably way more familiar with than your parents are, uh, the, the levels of digital scams, hacks, the susceptibility of digital networks to a lot of fraudulent activity, and just to always be cautious, to be able to detect how to engage with these platforms, when to engage with them, and when to get out, most importantly, right?

So those would be the three things I would say would be my takeaways from this industry.

It's just so cool.

Um, and you already touched on this by talking about games, but I play a lot of online games, and these games have trading and in-game currencies, which means they are teaching financial lessons and sometimes it's hard to tell if they're good or bad.

So my question is, do you have any advice for parents who worry about children learning financial lessons that are bad through video games or virtual platforms?

So it's, it's a great question, right?

And I would say kids are curious.

I mean, I was when I was a kid, I'm sure your parent was when they were kids, and, um, and we only learn by making mistakes, right?

So from a parent's standpoint, rather than say no to children interacting with games that allow them access, I would almost see that as an avenue to learn.

Uh, to give you a chance to experiment and do things by yourself, take responsibility for your actions.

If you're given a finite amount of money or tokens to play on a particular game, uh, and your parent says to you, that's it, that, that's your allowance for the month, you can either use it here or lose it.

Uh, you will be more, more conscious, more careful.

You would, uh, basically say, oh, should I use it on this game today, here, now?

Or should I save up for it with a bunch of my other friends, and maybe, uh, by the end of the year we'll have enough to go to the Taylor Swift concert.

That sounds more appealing to me, doesn't it, to you?

So, all I'm saying to parents out there is, um, this is, this is really a question of giving children the opportunity to experiment, to learn from, and to experience things in the way they have been born into, in an era they've been born into that we did not have.

Uh, so what could be potentially wrong with it?

The only thing.

You would want to think about really, is the security side of things, right?

Just to make sure that um your, any money that's being spent can be traceable.

They have a visibility on your accounts, your spending capacity, and as also they have the parental controls when they're able or need to exert them.

That is really great advice.

Thank you so much.

Um, my last question.

Dubai has changed so much.

I visited last year with my dad.

It was awesome, and he said it looks nothing like it did 20 years ago.

How has Dubai managed to grow so quickly and become a global financial center in two decades?

Look, I'll tell you what, I came to Dubai 18 years ago, so pretty close to the, the timeline that's giving you, right?

And I moved here from Chicago.

So a little bit of a temperature difference, um, but beyond that, the city's dramatically evolved over time.

Uh, but think about this.

If somebody were to ask you, and you probably get irritated with older people coming up and saying, oh, you didn't, you, you look so different from what you did a year ago, I mean, of course you did, because you're growing, you're evolving, you're maturing, and you're becoming a, you're coming into a you, a new you, and a future you, and Dubai is exactly the same, right?

It is an evolving city, and it's evolved largely because of its ability to always think of itself as in a learning mode, right?

The leadership of this country is often said, there's the horizon, uh, and the word impossible doesn't exist in our dictionary, meaning that we're here to set a grand vision for our people and we're here to take away every single barrier in the, the, the line of attack of that vision and today's reality, so that our people can be better empowered in the future.

And to that alone, the city owes a significant, uh, debt of gratitude in where it's evolved today too.

I, I definitely have to go again.

Um, that is the end of my questions, Deepa.

Thank you so much for your time.

Um, it's been a truly inspiring conversation. welcome.

It was such a pleasure speaking with you, Dalia, uh, with you and your friends.

You should make a trip out to Dubai.

You can actually see this in practice.