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Moneybox Kids founder, Jodie Brown, chats with the Barefoot Investor team in the Sunday Territorian, the Northern Territory's #1 Sunday newspaper!

We talk about the importance of teaching kids about money and why every State needs to get on board with the Barefoot Investor's quest to get financial literacy into every Australian school. 

"The decision on if the Territory will adopt a financial literacy program, developed by best-selling author of The Barefoot Investor Scott Pape, hinges on whether it can be adapted to suit remote students. 

In 2019, Mr Pape launched his campaign, the Barefoot Money Movement, a program to teach schoolchildren practical money management skills and understanding, in an attempt to boost financial literacy.

The finance guru is now attempting to recruit all states and territories to adopt his program.

The NT Department of Education is in discussion on whether the program would be suitable in the Territory.

“The Department of Education is considering the program and whether it would benefit students across the Territory, particularly in our remote settings,” a spokeswoman said. “Effective teaching and learning, needs to be engaging, culturally appropriate and contextualised to each child and the community in which they live.”

The spokeswoman said aside from lessons outlined in the Australian curriculum, a large number of Territory schools over the years had engaged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s MoneySmart program. Governments in Victoria and New South Wales are looking at Mr Pape’s recommendations for a “Pocket Money Challenge”.

Jodie Brown and husband Andrew, who are travelling across Australia but are currently living in the Territory, taught their daughters, Lauren and Ashley, financial literacy using Mr Pape’s methods. They used the jam jar system, which educates kids in day-to-day spending, saving long-term and collecting to give back to the community.

Mrs Brown said it helped her daughters understand the value of money, make mistakes and experience the emotions that come with realising their money could have been more wisely spent.

“It worked well with our family and talking about money with our kids has made such a big difference in their lives,” she said. “They need to use money and make mistakes, that’s how they learn. It’s better now with a $3 purchase than with a $30,000 car in their 20s.”

Mrs Brown said all schools should adopt Mr Pape’s methods."