SNL meets Teen Finance: Weekly Family Finance Picks (#41)

We’re constantly scouring the Internet looking for articles related to family finances and teaching kids good personal finance habits. You can visit the FamZoo delicious page to see our ever growing list of family finance bookmarks. We’re up to 1239 now! Each week, we pick our favorite articles from the previous week and post them here.

OK, I have to admit: I was pretty uninspired by the family/kid finance articles over the past week. I had three candidates:

• A Texas news story on an elementary school instructor who teaches kids finance by creating a super engaging mock economy within the classroom fueled by fake-cash. But... I wasn’t overly impressed with the messages the kids were taking home with quotes like: “It feels like you’re gaining power over someone” and “I want to buy the whole room.” Uh oh. Sounds like a breeding ground for a bunch of aspiring Gordon Gekkos.
• A catchy piece on the five ways you might be stunting your child’s financial growth. But... despite the clever prose, I’m not sure it focuses on the right priorities.
• A Bank of Dad post by Dan Kadlec covering 3 sites that present money lessons in a medium that shows great promise when it comes to reaching kids — streaming video. But... while I love the Khan Academy (and have lauded it before), I have to say I was underwhelmed by the other two sites.

When I wandered down to the bottom of Dan’s post though, something in the comments caught my eye: M@d About TV. What is M@d About TV? Tween and teen targeted sketch comedy bits that seek to drive home one educational point at a time. Points about things like fitness, nutrition, money, and life skills.

What better way to describe M@d About than a quick video? The cast and producers describe the project in this Making of M@d About video.

Sounds intriguing.

So, in lieu of my three family finance article picks this week, I surfed the M@d About Channel on YouTube (beats workin’!) and produced this handy digest of the money related sketches (along with some square-old-Dad perspective from yours truly).

Frag Your Finances

FICAGRRL insists that CAPTAINBETTERTHANYOU74 earn compound interest on their “bootyloons”. “Geek” is a compliment where I come from, so I don’t know what all the incineration is about. By the way, MEGAINCINERATOR babysits just like my teens do.

Credit Card Protection

OK, this gives me a chuckle. I like the the blow dart in the neck. Welcome to credit card interest rates.

“Risky Love” — Spend vs Save

Yikes, 70s flashback. Is that John Travolta? Saturday Night Fever meets Twilight. Saving would look a heck of a lot more attractive with a shirt on; no wonder she goes for spending.

Priorities of the Panhandler

Dunno whether the wants/needs/priorities message sticks here, but I really love the the flip-card delivery - super clever!

Lord of the Taxes

Taxes are disturbing, and so is this video — especially the fishnet front on that dude(ette)! The message I’m getting: Taxes are about as appealing as a Lady Gaga male “in-hers-inator.”

Louise and Clark

Feels a bit like a bad SNL skit. You know, the ones in the second half hour. A loooooooong setup for the punch line (a wants vs needs message in this case). That said, I used to watch SNL every Saturday night as a teen (including the lame second half), so this might be completely on target for the teen demographic.

The Bottom Line

All in all, a big thumbs up from this old Dad. I applaud the quality effort and the mission. Still being quite juvenile at heart, I enjoyed the humor too.