Kids learn financial literacy thanks to new comic book

WASHINGTON - A new comic book, "Sammy The Saver," aims to teach children the value of saving and budgeting. 

"Sammy The Saver" is the creation of Carl Brown, executive director of D.C.’s small business development at Howard University. Brown says teaching children about financial literacy helps them make sensible purchases and be financially responsible. 

"Our children need to know about financial literacy. We’re trying to teach them how to use money appropriately for things that they really need, as opposed to things that they want," said Brown. 

Brown says the book focuses on teaching children the importance of budgeting. 

"What we did in this book is talk about investing, saving, earning and budgeting. These are all things that they need to know and, of course, debt," said Brown. 

The book also aims to teach children about the concept of money through a simplified approach. Browns says the book has also been well received by the children. 

"Every kid that we’ve given it to just loves it. As soon as we give them the book, they just take it from us and start reading," said Brown. 

As children are going back to school, Brown believes it’s important to teach them how to effectively use various financial skills, as handling money is a lifelong journey of learning. Brown says parents with young children should start talking about money early. 

"Start talking about saving and spending money with your children. You should also teach them about what money really does, which will help them prepare for the future, and live debt free," said Brown.

The book introduces four characters: Sammy the financial literacy hero; Katrina, the voice of reason who helps Sammy when he gets in trouble; Cash Money Carl, who is flashy and have expensive tendencies; and The Spendthrift, which serves as the voice in your head that encourage you to make bad financial decisions. The book can be found in all the libraries in Washington, D.C. and on the book’s main website.