Welcome to Our

Virtual Café

Want to exit the pandemic with money-smarter kids? Pick a week and serve up any or all of our nine Conversation Starters.

And don’t forget Dessert where we highlight additional activities, resources, and Thought Leaders.

Grade School Specials

Want to do more than talk at dinner about topics like where money actually comes from? Check out our Suggested Side Dishes – activities you can do with or without your kids.

Day 1

Where does money come from? You know the magic plastic cards your kids see you using have to be funded, but do your kids know?
10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Show them a bank or credit card statement, which has a line for every swipe you’ve made in the last month. 10 mins

Day 2

What’s the difference between wants and needs? The fact that we are all living in a world where only “essential” goods and services are available is a great start.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
List all the items you haven’t been able to get during social distancing.  10 mins

Day 3

How is a penny saved a penny earned? Who knew not being wasteful had real-life purchasing power? You!  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Can the oldest items in your pantry still be used?  30 mins

Day 4

Recall your favorite childhood memories. This almost always reveals that the best things in life, aren’t things at all.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Start thinking about Mother’s and Father’s Day Cards right now!
30-60 mins

Day 5

Involve the kids in small household financial decisions. Because the best way to gain money smarts, is to practice.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Let your kids spend the weekly fruit budget.  10 mins

High School Specials

Want to do more than talk at dinner? Check out our Suggested Side Dishes – activities you can do with or without your teens.

Day 1

Discuss some of your memorable “firsts”. Lay the foundation for MPE: Money Privilege Empathy. 10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Do you still have photos or memorabilia from your “firsts”?  Unlimited!

Day 2

Discuss the jobs you had in High School. A conversation with mercifully low expectations this year.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
What was minimum wage in 1992? How many hours of work did it take to buy basketball shoes back then?  30 mins

Day 3

Discuss your very first job as an adult. Spoiler alert – there is no time in life you can sustain unlimited spending.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Drag out your very first T4 or W2. Talk about all the boxes other than income.  30 mins

Day 4

Can you involve your teens in a pandemic survival plan? Empower your teens by asking for their input.  10 mins

Suggested Side Dish
Older kids can surprise you when they identify expenses that can be curtailed.  20 mins

Desserts