DAYTON, Ohio – What better way to inspire kids to save than teaching them how they can earn money?

During National Credit Union Youth Week Universal 1 Credit Union demonstrated to young children age six to 12 (and attending parents) that it is never too early to find a job -from doing chores around the house and yard and taking care of pets, to practicing their music lessons there are plenty of opportunities to earn and save money.

The children were wide eyed as they began the fun of creating “chore ticket” books. They had an assortment of stickers and art supplies to use to illustrate the chores they would perform, and they worked with their parents and the credit union marketing team to assign chore fees. They also crafted a special deposit envelope to collect their chore money in between trips to the credit union.

For teens Universal 1 CU hosted a real world experience at the mall. Hoping to provide teens a glimpse of life after high school, Universal 1 training and marketing departments joined forces to create the board game “Life After High School.” Depicting typical life events in a calendar month, teens drew cards for their life status, weekend splurges, ATM usage, and tracked their income and expenses on a monthly budget worksheet.

They grew anxious towards the end of the month as everyone wanted to have money in their savings and/or checking account after all the bills and expenses were paid. Parents report their teens talked on the drive home about how much they learned from the game and their surprise at how easy it was to overspend.

Universal 1 Credit Union staff will be using “Life After High School” in future youth financial literacy courses. Area high school teachers have already asked to borrow the fun interactive game to teach their students valuable financial life skills.