Military Youth Saves — Success Stories

Military Youth Saves is a social marketing program designed to encourage kids and teens to develop good savings habits at a young age. We want you to be a responsible saver but we also want you to spread the savings message to your family and friends!! Our Military Youth Eagle has a name... "Skyler, Soaring with Savings".

Relevant Finance from First National Bank

With weekly visits to their local community center to give personal finance lessons, First National Bank at Tinker Air Force Base has made a real commitment to the youth in their community.

"Seeing young people eager to learn ways to responsibly manage their money is one of the highlights of our program," explained Tammy Snyderm of First National Bank. "It makes laying the financial education foundation for young people rewarding."

From Get Smart About Credit Day in October 2008 through Military Saves Week in February 2009, participants learned the financial facts of life. Lessons were focused on check writing, understanding the stock market, credit cards, differentiating between needs and wants and budgeting.

In one session First National Bank personalized the ABA Education Foundation’s Teach Children to Save Money Tree lesson with an emphasis on saving. The lesson taught students how to manage money and pay bills while saving.

To make saving money even more rewarding, students took the America Saves pledge and were given a piggy bank. The child with the most money saved in their piggy bank was given a hundred dollar savings bond.

Snyder added, "With children in school all day it is important that we make learning about money interesting. Helping young people understand money matters that their parents discuss or that they see on the television makes learning personal finance skills relevant."