Warren Buffett is Hands-On With Financial Literacy for Kids

With a growing recognition that financial and money management topics are not adequately covered in schools, there has been a growing awareness of the financial education void that currently exists among young people.  Amid this emerging understanding of the need for higher levels of financial literacy at early ages, billionaire investor Warren Buffett has become an outspoken and hands-on supporter of financial education for kids.

One of Buffett’s more notable ventures into the area of youth financial literacy is his “Secret Millionaires Club” which is an animated television series that includes twenty-six webisodes that appear on a website dedicated to this series.  Buffett is a secret mentor on the series to a group of kids who are taught practical financial lessons while engaging in various business adventures.  Each episode covers different business scenarios that young people often face in business, such as helping a business owner understand how to improve their business and raising funds for business capital. The moral of many webisodes is that the best investment the kids can make is an investment in themselves.

But Buffett is not a participant by name only.  Since the series was created, he has been an active, hands-on driver of the initiative’s development and success.  Buffett determines which important financial lessons the webisodes should focus on, while he also provides the voice for his cartoon image.  One of the more visible hands-on aspects to Buffett’s work with the Secret Millionaires Club is his personal meetings with finalists in the yearly Grow Your Own Business Challenge, which also is part of the series.

Warren Buffett’s activism in the financial literacy movement mirrors the fast-growing trend of celebrities, athletes, and other high-profile figures to espouse financial education as a major personal affinity to which they are dedicating significant financial funds and countless volunteer hours.  As the need for higher levels of financial literacy among young people has become more widely recognized, many contend that this trend of highly visible support will increase, which in turn should bode very well for financial education programs and organizations in the months and years ahead.