How Kids Can Learn Money, Crypto & Investing Early 

Hello everyone and welcome to FinTech TV.

My name is Daa Agostino and I am pleased to welcome Teresa Goody Guille.

Partner at Bigger Haw Settler and according to my dad, one of the best crypto lawyers there is.

Thank you for joining us too, sir.

Thanks so much for having me, and uh I'm a big fan of your dad, so.

A few years back, I started a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching financial literacy to kids.

Now, thanks to the help of FinTech, I get to interview inspiring business leaders to hear their views on money and advice for kids starting their financial journey.

OK, let's begin.

You read and understand really complicated laws and rules for work, which sounds hard.

Lots of kids and even adults have a short attention span and get distracted easily when reading long things.

What helps you focus when you have to read something boring or tricky?

Do you have any tips on how kids can learn to read better, stay focused, and not give up when something feels too long?

Yeah, I do, I do.

When I'm reading something very complex and long, oftentimes I'm not reading it from start to finish, like a book.

But I'm trying to understand a specific part of it.

And so a lot of that is first thinking about what is the problem that I'm trying to solve, what, what am I trying to learn?

Why am I reading this, um, what kind of decisions does it affect?

And I ask kind of the questions that I'm trying to answer, and then I go to particular parts of it, and, and I find um where the answer is.

And uh a lot of it is more about, I think, patience, something that Um, can be difficult because it's more like a muscle that you have to strengthen, and just like anytime you don't do something and you, and you start, it's, it's a little bit more difficult at first, and it gets easier as you strengthen that muscle.

So, um, You know, a lot of times you, I don't remember things that well until I actually write them, because it's, I interact with what it is that I'm doing.

And so whether um physically writing or typing or something like that can can help everyone, but I would just think about it as like a muscle, and so um if you train it just a little bit every day, you'll you'll see improvements.

Yeah, I think it's hard, especially for little kids, to stay patient and to read long things, but I, but I totally agree, and I feel like you need to start when you're young.

Also, writing stuff down, that's something I do, and that's something I think everyone should do because it really sets it in your brain.

Um, you work in technology areas like crypto and web 3 that change super fast.

How do you keep up with all the new stuff happening every day?

Are there any easy ways kids can stay up to date too, like videos, websites, or simple ways to keep learning about new tech without getting overwhelmed?

Yeah, it, it's hard and it's getting harder because, you know, everything is getting so much faster.

And everything is developing so much faster, so I appreciate that.

I have trouble keeping up too, uh, so don't be too hard on yourselves, but um, I think understanding exact all of the the fundamentals and the foundations make it a lot easier, because if you don't understand those, it's hard to keep up and understand how these different technologies are changing and how um foundational it is.

And so you don't kind of chase every little thing that you hear, but if you understand the fundamentals, you can see which ones are actually, you know, groundbreaking or moving.

Um, and if there's something particular that you're interested in, then, uh, you know, you can follow thought leaders in that area.

So I think it's a lot easier to follow different types of thought leaders like your dad.

Your dad is a great thought leader to follow, um, and then you can, uh, you can learn about it that way.

And so, uh, by, and also by staying so curious, uh, is the second thing that I think that, uh, I recommend to everybody, everyone I work with, my children, I have a 4 year old, and she's so curious, and um I think we, we tend to lose that over time, and so I encourage everybody to stay curious and try to focus on what it is that's that's actually changing, and you, so you can follow the ones that are that the changes in the technology changes that are gonna matter.

I think it's so important to know what you're watching and who it's by.

I know it can be very overwhelming because kids don't know how to distinguish what's real and what's fake as well as adults do, and because there's so much on the internet and so much of it is also fake, kids can get sucked into a whirlpool trying to.

Get all of that information, so I think it's very important you find a reliable source.

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

You know a lot about things like Bitcoin and other digital money.

If you had to explain what Bitcoin or digital money is to a kid, how would you describe it?

Why do people think it could change how we spend and save money in the future?

Maybe even our allowance.

Well, um, I, I think of it and how I explain it to kids is, um, there's a few different things.

So when my daughter was very even younger, I used puzzle pieces, you know, and I, and she had a book about blockchain, um, before she was born, and so she started, you know, one of her first books was a blockchain book, and, um, it's the kid's a little bit older, I, I think about it a little bit like a shared notebook.

And so, if you think about it, the difference between a teacher having a notebook and she writes everything down for you, and, and anytime, you know, that you guys exchange that, you know, anything in class, you a pencil, an eraser, or money, because it can be used just as a as a it's a record, right?

And so she records it in her notebook, and that's kind of like a bank, that you have this third party who is recording it.

And then uh with blockchain, all the kids in the classroom, they all kind of have a shared notebook, and, and they're all writing it in the notebook, and um you kind of, it could be, you could think of it like a Google Doc or something like that, where everybody is, is has uh they can edit the Google Doc, but everybody can see that, and then When they're doing it on their own, uh, they can't actually change everybody else's record of that.

So it's, it's something where, um, there's so many different records that you can tell which one, if somebody tries to change one, then it'll be different from everybody else's.

So if you, if you think of it as a kind of a shared notebook, I think that that's an easier way for kids to understand that.

And uh how it's verifiable, and it's something that everybody is a part of, and you can you verify it through uh through math, right?

And so, It's something that uh gives a lot more ownership and allows all of the kids to participate, and the kids to be a part of of the different transactions going back and forth, and they're not kind of blindly relying on the teacher to tell them what's true and what's not.

Does that if that makes sense.

I think, I think money is changing a lot, and it's very important that kids get an early start to learning, cause it's It only gets harder and there's it only gets more advanced, so it's very important that kids start early.

You help lead teams that work on things like NFTs and Dei, which sound really cool but also confusing.

If a kid wants to explore things like web 3 or digital money just for fun, what's a safe way to do that?

Are there games, websites, or learning apps so they can try it out without losing real money or making mistakes?

Yeah, I think the most important thing is, is you learn in ways where you're not actually spending money.

So learn in these kinds of safe environments, and you always wanna be Um, listen, you know, to your parents, and going to making sure that they're aware of any kind of the websites that you're on, and that they're aware of different things that you're doing on there.

And anyone that you're interacting with.

And so, I think that uh environments that are closed off, and, um, you know, people can't can't be communicating with you back and forth, but you can just really focus on the website, and you can focus on what it is that you're doing without spending any money, and you can just um kind of play.

So I don't I don't have a ton.

I've heard some good things about a tiny tap website, but it's not something that uh I've been on, or, you know, my daughter is ready to be on yet.

Um, but a lot of it, I think when you get um a little bit older than than she is, there's, you know, just kind of reading about it and watching videos about it can also be really helpful.

Things where uh you're not You're not gonna be um able to be taken advantage of by the website or by somebody else who might be interacting on there, but it's just really important to just play around, like, I can't emphasize enough, like stay curious and be curious and um ask yourself like, what is the purpose of this?

How would I use this?

Just continually ask your ask yourself questions about something when you're doing it.

And, and just keep that curiosity, and then you'll, you'll really understand things a lot better, um, and also stay very astute of anytime you're being asked to do anything or pay anything, and, uh, think about, you know, what else that could have access to.

And so, when you do interact with the, when you're on web 3 or even web 2 for that matter, you know, you're getting on something where people might be able to Uh, to take something from you, and so take something from your computer, or, uh, or ask you to do things.

So also, you know, be mindful and, uh, be wary of, of anybody or anything that's asking you to give access or send something.

Yeah, I think it's so important that kids stay curious because that's that's the only way they're going to want to learn and the only way they're going to learn well, which is why it's so important that they find some, they find a reliable source.

You work on really big deals involving companies like Binance and lots of money.

What is one lesson you've learned about money that a kid could use right now?

Maybe something about saving, spending, or making smart choices with their money, kind of like how we choose to use our allowance money wisely.

Yeah, so in business and um and in a lot of different areas, they have, you know, the 2080 rule, which is usually a pretty good and standard rule of doing, you know, 80% something with with and 20% with something else.

And so here it would be 20% savings, 80%, you know, spending.

And this is what you call paying yourself first, and so you, you pay yourself to put something in savings, and then savings is more, is again, it's, it's about patience and time.

And so, it's less about, um, you know, money right then and there.

And so having that that patience and paying yourself first, and as you start working with your parents, you can put your savings into something that kind of compounds, and so it it sits there and it grows over time.

And becomes bigger and bigger, and you're not doing anything other than letting it sit there.

And, you know, that's kind of how you let more growth accumulate.

And so with the 80, think about 80/20, so you get your allowance, and you put 20% of it in savings, and, you know, at some point, your parents I can help you with that, and, and you might earn, you know, some interest on that.

And so if you have $10 and you earn $1 of interest, then you have $11 and then you have $11 and then you're gonna earn the same the same percent of percentage of interest, and so you'll earn more than $1 interest, and so it continues to compound.

And compounding is basically earning interest on the interest you've already earned, which is how you continue to accumulate more and more wealth and more money, uh, without actually having more, or, or earning more.

And, um, and, and so savings is, is really important, and people, kids who start saving earlier.

You know, they realize all of a sudden in their teens or in their twenties, they have a lot more money than other people have, uh, along the the same age, and there's Uh, you can pull up pretty easy on on the internet now, uh, and you can ask your parents the difference between putting, you know, $20 a month, or $10 a month in a savings or in something that's earning, you know, 8% interest, or um one of these accounts your parents can help you open.

And see what it would earn if you started doing that when you were 20, as compared to 40, and where you would be at 60, and it, it will just automatically show you, and you'll have literally millions more dollars by putting uh $20 in the bank every month, starting, you know, a decade earlier.

Uh, so I think it's really important to understand the the impact of compounding and paying yourself first into savings.

Um, compounding is a topic that I that I um, I talk, I talk about a lot.

I would say time is our most valuable asset, and for kids, I, if you start early, your money is only gonna go, and that's why I, I, that's, I talk about it a lot, and I feel like that's a very important lesson.

That's great that you know that, uh, you're very impressive and so I'm, I'm very impressed that you do this and very proud that you do that, and I'm so happy and I want my daughter to listen to you and learn from you and all of the people that you talk to.

So this is, this is really fantastic and so much needed.

So thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you so much.

Um, well, that's the end of our questions.

I hope you and everyone watching has a great day.

Thank.