The ticker 'crawl' tells all

A new novel by Pepperdine University finance professor Craig Everett aims to teach children financial literacy concepts subtly. He tells the tale of a Connecticut boy who discovers secret messages encrypted into the stock ticker “crawl,” which moves across the screen of a financial news channel. “There is no silver bullet that instantly endows people with all the financial literacy training they need, so the best approach is to expose kids to these financial concepts in as many ways and at as many times as possible,” Mr. Everett said. “Eventually, it will stick.” “Toby Gold and the Secret Fortune” (Fiscal Press, 2012), published Oct. 18, is aimed at children age 9 and over. Financial advisers take many different approaches to teaching their clients' children financial literacy. A number of advisers first try to reach out to children in their teens. Terry Kingsbery, principal of Investment Counseling Services Inc., said that he regularly sits down with his clients' teenage children to teach them about the importance of saving and investing. But he doesn't just explain what a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund is, he said. Mr. Kingsbery recommends that teens open an account with a small investment and then discuss their results monthly or quarterly when they get their statement. “If it comes in the mail with their name on it, that's ownership,” he said. “Then you've got their interest going.”