For many children, money management is a foreign concept.
Allowance money is tucked in a jeans pocket. Money earned from mowing lawns is tossed in a shoe box or accumulates in a dresser drawer. It's spent as fast as it's earned, and few children can explain where their money's gone.For a few years, Linda Hackett watched her sons go through money like water goes through a sieve. So the Salt Lake mother decided to devise a system to help her children manage their money. Thus, the Ca$h Keeper was devised.
The Ca$h Keeper is a binder that contains transparent pouches designated for spending, charitable donations, savings and miscellaneous expenses. The binder also includes a record-keeping section to help budding financiers manage their cash.
"The reason I did it was, my kids would earn money and they had no idea where it was most of the time. It just didn't work because they hadn't written anything down about it," Hackett said.
Hackett developed the Ca$h Keeper for her sons' use, now ages 10, 9, 6 and 4. "They've used it for a couple of years. They keep pretty good track of their money, and they know where it goes," Hackett said of her older children.
"People who saw it said, `We need that for our kids.' "
Hackett sought out Salt Lake companies to print and silk-screen pouches for the binder.
The binder also includes a booklet titled "Ca$h Keeping Sense," a guide to using the Ca$h Keeper. The booklet suggests ways children can earn money by baby-sitting, running errands for shut-ins, working a golf caddy, cleaning houses, working as a mother's helper or walking dogs.
"Ca$h Keeping Sense" recommends placing large amounts of cash in a savings account at a bank or credit union where it can earn interest.
The Ca$h Keeper helps children learn to keep records, a skill needed throughout life, Hackett said. "If they learn it young, it will stick with them."
The Ca$h Keeper sells for about $17.50 at Deseret Book, ZCMI, The Quilted Bear and slightly higher at The Children's Hour Book & Toy Store.
Hackett's goal is to sell the rights for the Ca$h Keeper to a company that would manufacture and distribute the binder nationwide, providing her with a royalty.