Super Money Kids: Courtney Hale’s Big Idea That May Change The World In The Next Few Years

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Listen to your customers. This is easier said than done, but it is important to pay attention to the signs and messages that we receive directly or indirectly.

As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Courtney Hale.

Courtney Hale is a dreamer, a social-entrepreneur, financial literacy advocate and adjunct professor. However, his most important title is Father to his daughter Ever. Courtney is the Chief Hope Dealer of Super Money Kids, a social-enterprise that creates experiences to improve the financial literacy of youth.

Through this work, Courtney has helped young people save over $300,000 and set over 1,000 personal financial goals. Courtney hosts financial literacy workshops, serves as a financial literacy consultant and speaks at universities, schools, camps, churches and community organizations with the goal of developing a financially knowledgeable, responsible and empowered next generation.

Courtney has been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show, recognized by brands such as Red Bull and received several awards and acknowledgements. Courtney is from Nashville, TN and an alum of the prestigious HBCU, Tennessee State University. Courtney is forever inspired by the life of his wife, Tia Barbour-Hale who passed on May 18, 2020.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I grew up in a household with 2 parents who had contrasting approaches to pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. My step-dad was the “risk it all, do whatever it takes” type. However, my mom was much more conservative. She was fine with dreaming as long as it didn’t interfere with her ability to provide for her 3 children. Ultimately, the contrasting beliefs would lead to their divorce and would prolong our decades of financial struggles.

When I became an adult, I’d often reflect on my experiences as a child. I was working in the financial services industry and I’d often compare the life stories of my clients to my childhood. For years, I’d try to reconcile the events of my youth and one day it hit me. My dad wasn’t wrong for aggressively pursuing his personal goals. And my mother wasn’t wrong for wanting to make calculated decisions to protect our family. The problem was that they did not have access to the training and education needed to start a business and manage their personal finances in a way that would support their goals.

The tragedy was that I was having this revelation almost 20 years after my parents divorce and nothing in society had changed. Financial education is not easily accessible for adults and almost non-existent for youth who face far greater financial challenges than my parents did when I was a child. Having the professional background and personal motivation, I decided to create a solution. And that’s where Super Money Kids comes from.

Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

One of our values as an organization is that money is a tool that powers us to our goals. We don’t teach empty habits. We don’t teach behaviors that result in anxiety. We focus on dreams and how money can get us there. Sometimes this is a difficult idea to get our students and the public to understand. However, one Summer there was one student’s goal that made this idea crystal clear for everyone.

In all of our programs, we require students to set a financial goal. Two of the qualifications that we give students for their goals are that they must specify an exact dollar amount which they’d like to save. And they must specify what they are going to do with the money. We teach students that we save to create opportunities for our future selves. So, when students specify what they want to do with their savings, that thing must create opportunity for their future self. It can’t be something like “I want to buy an infinite amount of Fortnite skins.” That’s not gonna cut it.

That Summer, we had a student who saved $700 to hire an immigration attorney for her mother. That was a goal with a purpose. You don’t quit on that goal. You don’t get frustrated with working towards that goal. That’s not saving $25 a paycheck just because someone said that’s the right thing to do. That student set a goal that created opportunity for her entire family. It was one of the many reminders for why I love this work.

Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?

There are 3 philosophies that have guided my life and career.

1. Pursue passion driven work.
2. Create the change you want to see.
3. Morality and profitability can coexist.

We’re on Earth for a short period of time so we should make best use of our time here. Our hearts bring us more joy than our wallets ever will, so I believe we should pursue work that we love, that’s fulfilling and makes the world different than how we entered it.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?

In an era of great financial innovation, Americans are still learning about money through trial and error. There are very few resources that teach kids about money. My big idea is that financial education should be taught at every grade level from elementary school through post-secondary school. With more education children will understand the functions of money and be better prepared to plan for their futures. Additionally, students will be confident in their decision making and less likely to remain in poverty, fall to the pits of poverty or lose the wealth accumulated by previous generations.

My “tool” to get financial education in schools is the Super Money Kids brand. Super Money Kids is a financial literacy brand that introduces the world of personal finance to kids. The curriculum we develop not only teaches financial lessons but it also supports students higher levels of thinking, exercises numeracy skills and future modules will improve achievement in literacy.

We don’t need more subject mandates which is highly bureaucratic, slow and inefficient. We just need themes of financial literacy incorporated within the subjects our students are already required to learn. Super Money Kids does that. Plus, it is fun and relatable.

We created a in-home bank as a tool that allows students to take their knowledge home. It is also used as an instructional tool with the curriculum. It is designed to help students put money in its place literally and figuratively.

How do you think this will change the world?

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?

I wish financial literacy was that complex. Absolutely not!! We’re breaking cycles of poverty. Giving hope to communities that may not have had it before. We’re changing the way we educate our children.

Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?

Yes, there was definitely a tipping point. I worked in the financial services industry for several years and I saw people do amazing things with money and I also saw people do some terrible things with money. No matter how good or bad the story, I’d always have the same thought; Someone should be teaching our kids this stuff. I would search for solutions, but my searches would often end up empty or insufficient. So, at that time I started asking all my smart friends what they thought about me embarking on a journey to start a company focused purely on youth financial literacy. All my smart friends were on board. And quickly I realized that I was the solution that I had been looking for. I was the change that I was seeking. These conversations helped me build the courage to start something new.

What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?

We’re at a place now where I believe the only thing we need is more visibility. We’ve never had a student complain about our content. We’ve never had a school lack interest in financial literacy. We know how to find sponsors for our programming. So now, our biggest obstacle to widespread adoption is getting on people’s radar.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.

I actually believe that I received every piece of advice that I needed to start this business before we launched. Below are the most important pieces of advice I received:

1. Start how you want to end.
2. Use technology to scale.
3. Charge more.
4. Think globally.
5. Build a team.

The problem was that I wasn’t ready to receive the advice. Early on, I was unsure of my company strategy. Ironically, I was figuring things out on the fly. Things changed at the point my financial literally work transitioned from a passion project to the primary way for me to make a living.

Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?

Success Habits:

1. Listen to your customers. This is easier said than done, but it is important to pay attention to the signs and messages that we receive directly or indirectly.
2. Rest. Fatigue has some dire consequences. Negative thoughts, slow mental processing to name a couple. Not good for running a business.
3. Take a different route home to exercise your creativity.
4. Ensure your teammates are working in roles that they’re passionate about and best aligned with their talent.

Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

Super Money Kids is a brand that is not stopping at digital financial education. We are merchandising the brand to one day include books, animations and other products that promote financial literacy. Think of us as “Sesame Wall Street”

How can our readers follow you on social media?

@supermoneykidsco

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.