Tuppence Invested Wisely In The Bank and Understanding Finance

Tuppence is two pennies worth of the British Pound Sterling. Many years ago, it was brought to my attention that this was a substantial amount of money which could be wisely invested in the Bank as savings or it could be squandered on the simple pleasure of instant gratification. Those of you who are fans of Walt Disney may recall this theme as the climactic and disturbing scene in the film,Mary Poppins.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Mary Poppins is a magical governess who arrives at the home of a London banker who has just advertised for a stern Nanny. The children wrote an ad that described a caring and loving woman which was promptly torn to shreds and flung into the hearth. The updraft of the chimney carried the shredded wish of the children to the attention of Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins floats in suspended from her umbrella as a sudden gale disperses the other applicants for the position of Nanny. She alone, is responding to the advertisement and reads the qualifications of the childish wish list baffling the banker who engages her services.

Following a week of fun filled adventures, Mary Poppins persuades the father that he will take the children to the bank for an outing the next day. Mary Poppins sings "Feed the Birds" to the children at bedtime suggesting the generous act of giving tuppence to the old bird lady for her needs in exchange for bread crumbs with which to feed the birds who must feed the little birds at home in their nests. The children are easily persuaded toward goodness.

Father has a different plan for Michael's tuppence. He wishes to ingratiate himself with the senior Dawes, an aged banker who knows only greed and profit. He confides to the "Directors" of the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, his employers, that his son wishes to open a bank account with tuppence.

Old man Dawes asks Michael for his coin, and Michael refuses saying "I want to feed the birds." A musical sing along of bankers describes the nature of savings, investment and compounding interest in images of power and affluence and stature which are beyond the knowledge and interest of children. They have no conception of delayed gratification for the sake of future security through profit by compounded interest. They want the instant gratification of having done a double good deed of helping an old woman and feeding hungry birds. (Both video segments are available for viewing in adjacent capsules.)

This film is an excellent tool for teaching children to be responsible with money and their financial affairs for several reasons. The fun and magic of Mary Poppins with the song and dance routines of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke is delightful and will hold the rapt attention of children today through repeated viewings as it has done since its release nearly half a century ago in 1964.

The Fidelity Fiduciary Bank can be used to explain the current global economic crisis that children have heard about but do not understand. Adults barely understand the causes of the collapse of the global banking system and there is a need to provide some simple explanation to children to at least explain widespread unemployment. Children need to feel secure in their homes and schools.

My children are grown. The simplest explanation is the best. Many bankers failed to keep the bank's money in safe investments. People put their money in banks and trust the directors to keep it safe and sound. There are rules that banks must follow to do this. Money can grow with interest slowly in safe loans and investments. Many bankers had a chance to make more money if they did not make safe investments.

Too many bankers made risky investments called "derivatives" because they were greedy and broke their promises to people and countries with savings accounts. Even though they made money for themselves, they disappointed all the people who trusted them all around the world.

They lost all the money in savings accounts and this caused many businesses that needed to borrow money from banks to close or to take away jobs from people who needed them. The banks then took money from governments as loans so there was money taken away from schools and hospitals which needed it.

Hopefully, the bankers have learned a good lesson that it is wrong to be so greedy when so many other people are hurt by greedy people and need their jobs and their homes and money for food and school. We must continue to trust bankers to keep our money safe and sound because that is what banks are supposed to do.

To contribute to the livelihood of another and to support wildlife at the same time is certainly getting one's " tuppence" worth, especially if you are a child who is easily persuaded toward goodness. We must all become as children if we are to find grace and serenity.

We must live within our means. If I have some, I have enough to share. We were not placed on this earth to be stingy and miserly. If my hands are clinging too hard to the things which I have, there is no free hand open to accept the gifts and wealth that is available through God's providence. Proper financial management should plan for charitable giving even if we must do without something that we want. It is only through giving that we receive.

It is difficult to resist our immediate wants and desires as adults unless we were taught well as children. Delayed gratification is a skill and a discipline. If we are not taught as children to deny ourselves, we will fall into patterns and lifestyles of self-indulgence and excess.

Suffering is a lifelong condition of all of mankind, Buddha taught.  "Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems." wrote M. Scott Peck, M.D.,The Road Less Traveled.

The principle element of financial planning is developing the discipline to live within one's means, whatever they may be.  The easiest money to make is the money you save. If you need it , abandon the pride of brand names and buy the thing secondhand or as cheap as practical. If you want it, but don't need it, then save until you can afford to pay cash for the thing you want. and remember the Great Depression adage, " Waste not, want not."

Money has ruled the existence of mankind since ancient times. It is the fact of life of all of us. It is not surprising that "money" has become the subject of so many fine songs in our popular culture. Money dictates the quality of our lives and the lives of our children.

There are video presentations of our thoughts about money. "Money makes the World Go Round" in the Chocolate Factory, originally Caberet, with Joel Grey and Liza Minelli. There was an old song called "Love makes the World Go Round" but I guess that's out of fashion.

The Beatles sing about money but Michael Jackson's thoughts about money have a darker focus. Dire Straights have their own thoughts which are here for your listening pleasure.

Two of our musical icons who left us much too early, Freddy Mercury and Michael Jackson, perform a duet raising the question of the purpose of our lives being beyond money.