With Financial Literacy month coming to a close, I thought it would be a great time to share with readers a nifty little personal finance education product by Nuru.  These personal finance cards simulate a portable finance book broken down into various categories, such as:

• Investing
• Budgeting
  
• Loans
  
• Insurance
  
• Retirement
  

I think this is a great product, particularly for someone in need of an introductory lesson on a broad range of financial concepts.  If you just read and absorbed one single concept a day for one month you’d be exposed to 30 different personal finance terms and products.

When I was in my early 20’s I knew very little about personal finance concepts, such as mutual fund investing, bonds, etc.  I spent a lot of time pouring over personal finance books trying to get a basic grounding in these concepts.

Too bad Nuru’s personal finance cards weren’t around back then!  I could have tossed them in my book bag and reviewed them during breaks in between classes.  The cards even come with a key ring, and the cards are punched so they can be loaded and transported together on the ring.

At $10 per deck, they are not necessarily cheap.  However, try buying a personal finance book (or books) that covers the range of subjects these compact decks cover for less.  They make a great gift for yourself, someone else, and as a bonus for fellow bloggers, these make an excellent reference when drafting posts on a particular subject.

I don’t do many product reviews here at Frugal Dad, in fact this may be my first one outside of books. However, I felt so strongly about this product that I wanted to share it with my readers, especially those with children. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Money Mammals creator, John Lanza. We exchanged ideas on the subject of kids and money, and John shared with me a link to his creation. He suggested my kids give it a whirl and let him know their feedback. Well, I did just that and what I found was an incredibly fun, insipirational way to reinforce solid principles of money management for children. I was blown away with the creativity and quality of their production. John was nice enough to send us a copy of the award winning Money Mammals DVD, which was equally entertaining and held my kid’s attention for the duration of the DVD. It even sparked some good questions from my daughter about the concept of sharing.

Money Mammals, the Baby Einstein of Financial Entertainment for Kids

Very few companies have tapped into the children’s financial education market, which is a bit surprising considering how desperately our children need a proper financial education. Perhaps it is because many still consider financial education a bit boring. I remember suffering through my share of borning finance classes in college, and can imagine the subject of money is even less interesting to a child. However, Money Mammals present their message in such an entertaining way that I suspect kids don’t even realize they are learning. The music, artwork and puppetry is masterfully done in a quality comparable to the popular Baby Einstein DVD series. I even found myself singing the theme song the day after…”We Share and Save and Spend Smart Too. We Share and Save and Spend Smart Too.” Trust me, it’s an addictive little tune!

The Money Mammals Website

The Money Mammals website offers a wealth of resources for both kids and their parents, including links to their online store, Club Money Mammals (which features several games for kids, all centered around the concept of money management), and video presentations. If you have kids of your own, or are a grandparent, aunt or uncle, I strongly recommend you check out Money Mammals today. This is just the kind of thing young kids need today. It would also make a great birthday present to help a little one become a frugal “money mammal!”

Additional Resources:

• Purchase the Money Mammals DVD at Amazon.com
• Club Money Mammals (customized for Rogue Federal Credit Union)
• Sarah Harden, financial consultant for Money Mammals, reviews the concept of sharing
• Product Reviews and Testimonials