Teaching kids about money—yours and theirs

Nov 24, 2009

Okay, I had this idea over 10 years ago: http://www.hrblockdollarsandsense.com/ so I think it’s about time someone in the financial industry is using it to make themselves look good while engaging young customers. The company has partnered with a student business organization and a personal finance publisher to educate high school students about money. Instead of tax code tutorials, the Dollars & Sense program is a kind of Sims knockoff that lets participants find their way through the financial challenges of young adulthood—rent, car payments, student loans, etc.

If I were H&R Block, I’d be thinking hard about demonstrating exactly this kind of engagement at every customer touchpoint, so we could become the financial literacy brand to America’s youth instead of being represented by storefronts in forlorn strip malls and the horrors of April 15.