Financial Literacy Begins at Home

This morning, my six-year-old son Solomon was having breakfast and watching his favorite TV show, Really Wild Animals. (It’s a great show, National Geographic cinematography with quippy narration by — I kid you not — Dudley Moore.)

Apparently the same commercials come on the show every morning, because I heard Solomon reciting along with one commercial as it played:

“Whether you’re buying a new home,” Solomon was saying, “or refinancing.”

Then, to himself, he muttered: “Whatever that is.”

Since Solomon is nice enough to explain to me the differences between an alligator and a crocodile, I explained refinancing to him.

He wasn’t that interested.

He is still trying to understand sales tax. He has been saving up to buy a new Webkinz, the first one he’s buying with his own money, and at first he was horrified to hear about the 8.375% he had to pay above the sticker price. Then when he found out that his money helped pay for police, firemen, streets, and the American Museum of Natural History, he quickly became a fan of taxation.