Question: Teaching children to save money can pay lifelong dividends. Besides parents and schools who may be involved in such education, is there anything the banking industry offers?

Answer: While personal finance instruction has increased in schools, most young people are still not receiving enough education to be financially confident and capable. According to a recent survey, only 32 percent of American parents talk to their children regularly about personal finance.

In addition, 42 percent of Americans give themselves a grade of C, D or F when it comes to personal finance, according to another recent survey.

Bankers had been making classroom presentations for decades. (The American Bankers Association) has been tracking information on personal economics presentations from as early as 1977. However, the majority of those personal finance lessons — budgeting, saving, checking accounts and the basics of banking — were made to high school and junior high school students. The ABA established (the Teach Children to Save) initiative to help bankers educate young consumers about something they’ll use every day: money.

Q: When was Teach Children to Save started, and how did it originate?

A: Teach Children to Save is a national program that organizes banker volunteers to help young people develop a savings habit early in life. National Teach Children to Save Day was first held in April 1997. It initially focused on providing savings education to kindergarten through third-grade students. The impetus: The sooner youngsters learn about the concept of saving, the difference between wants and needs, how to choose between spending and saving, the benefits of saving — and the broader lesson of delayed gratification — and put that knowledge into practice, the greater the likelihood saving will become a lifelong habit.

Q: Do banks sign up new customers through the program?

A: Yes. The American Bankers Association is challenging banks to open 100,000 children’s savings accounts in 2013 as part of the 17th anniversary of Teach Children to Save, and many banks are taking up the challenge — to help turn education into action.

Q: Which Hawaii banks have participated in recent years?

A: Several Hawaii banks participate in the program each year. Our 2013 banks include Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank and Hawaii National Bank.

Q: How are the virtues of saving taught?

A: The classroom lessons cover the basics of saving, how interest makes money grow, how to create a budget and how to distinguish needs from wants. 

Q: Where can people find more information about the program, including how to get involved?

A: More information about Teach Children to Save Day and ABA’s other financial

literacy programs, such as our upcoming Get Smart About Credit Day on Oct. 17, can be found at aba.com/ABAEF/Pages/default.aspx.