Barefoot Goes to Brazil

She leaned in and whispered, “If you want the good stuff … you really need to go to … Brazil.”

I was speaking to the ‘Queen’ of global financial education: Elaine Kempson, from Bristol University.

She was telling me about a groundbreaking school money program in Brazil that she urged me to see for myself.

“Not only is it the largest study of its kind in the world … but it’s absolutely world’s best practice” she said.

So, later that evening over dinner, I leaned in and whispered to Liz: “I need to go to Brazil”.

At the time, my four-year-old was necking the tomato sauce bottle and my two-year-old was flinging mashed potato.

I thought Liz was going to lean in and give me a Brazillian.

“So what makes Brazil so special?” she deadpanned.

I explained the painful truth: a lot of the money spent on financial education is wasted.

Yet what was different about Brazil is that their program focused on teaching the kids and their parents.

Guess what happened?

The school money program showed a ‘trickle up’ effect on the parents’ financial knowledge and behaviours.

I’ve always said that your money behaviours and values are learned around the dinner table from your parents. Yet it turns out that the skills of good money management can also come from the kids.

And that’s why my Barefoot Money Movement schools program is based on the following principle:

‘Teach the kids. Help the parents. Change the Nation.’

So I’m off to Brazil to see what I can glean and bring back here for our kids.

If what they did in Brazil really is world’s best practice, our kids deserve nothing less.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Tread Your Own Path!