I love this quote by CUNA president Dan Mica:

The task of changing financial attitudes and behavior later in life is like altering an asteroid’s course toward a collision with Earth. The earlier we apply our influence on its path, the less effort it takes to redirect it.

Mica was speaking about the importance of financial education for the very young when he made that statement. It got me to thinking about the concept of thrift and the credit union movement’s dedication to keeping its members’ spending in line with their earning.

Credit unions have the potential to become leaders in the pursuit of the next generation’s financial literacy, and several of the products we make available to credit unions are perfectly positioned to help bring thrift back en vogue. 

Cash may be king, but let’s face it, it’s not the safest tool for teaching financial education. With card products like TMG’s ATIRAreload prepaid card, credit unions provide parents with a safe, convenient and continuous instrument for teaching responsible spending. 

The card, which can be loaded by anyone – the child himself, parents, grandparents, even an employer – is designed to teach kids how to use plastic responsibly (and minus the risk of overspending).

Parents can track purchases, monitoring their child’s financial behavior for any red-flag moments that will require attention. This gives the child the necessary autonomy to make a few mistakes yet keeps the parent in the loop and ready to greet those mistakes with a conversation about how to prevent them from reoccurring.

It’s the perfect blend of high technology and good old-fashioned parental guidance, and one that every credit union should consider providing its parent members.