JUDY WOODRUFF, Now teaching kids about money. Economics correspondent Paul Solman has our story. It's part of his ongoing reporting, Making Sense of Financial News.
Welcome to Sesame Street. Oh, look what Elmo has. His very own dollar. A new financial literacy initiative from Sesame Street.
Money tips for tots, starting with saving. Elmo's going to save every day. It's okay what I say. Elmo's going to save.
Yeah, Elmo's going to save. If Elmo's going to save, that would distinguish him from a host of grown-up Americans. More than a third of whom have a mere $1,000.
or less socked away. In total, 29% of us report not having saved one penny for retirement. Related, perhaps, we can't calculate our way... out of a paper bag. Get this.
Americans 50 or older were asked, suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2% per year. After five years, would you have more than $102? Exactly $102 or less than $102? 2% interest, five years. What portion of the country didn't know that more was the blindingly right answer?
Half. Might explain why. 1.5 million Americans filed for bankruptcy last year alone.
No clue, no cushion. The toughest concept is really the idea of starting early around financial education, and particularly the concept of saving. Because, says Jeanette Bettencourt of Sesame Workshop, saving is self-control, with which we all wrestle.
So the way you can start with young children is identify something that they would want. And saying that you can't have it it immediately because it's something that we have to build toward. JEFFREY BROWN, In Elmo's case, that something is a hotly hyped, irresistible object, a stupendous ball.
Since commerce on Sesame Street runs on a purely cash basis, if you want a stupendous ball $5 apiece and you've only got, say, $1, you can't borrow. You have to save up for it. Tough sledding for Elmo, or even the street-hardened Grover, age six or so. How hard is it for you personally to save instead of spending your money right away on something you want?
You know, we are not born knowing all these things. No, no, I had to learn them from my friends and my mommy and my daddy. They taught me a lot.
Sometimes people do this test with kids your age. They say, I'll give you a marshmallow now, or if you wait a little while, I'll give you two marshmallows. But only if you wait. Two marshmallows. Would it be hard to wait?
It would be very hard to wait, yes. You know, just looking at this marshmallow. right now makes me want that marshmallow right now. PAUL SOLMAN JR.: Leaving aside the dubious charms of the food stuff, the marshmallow test is actually among the most famous and replicated in the history of psychology.
There's a marshmallow. You can either wait, and I'll bring you back another one, so you can have two, or you can eat it now. I'm full.
Okay, I'll be back. PAUL SOLMAN JR.: The self-control experiment was first run on 600 preschoolers at Stanford University in 1972. Most wolf down the little pillow of pleasure. But one-third delayed gratification long enough to get another. Follow-up research found that the more temperate tykes had higher SAT scores as teens. More recently, an ongoing study of a thousand random New Zealanders from birth to now their 30s yields even stronger findings.
Those children have become the thousand most most studied people in the world. Stunningly, their self-control, or lack of it, by age three has almost perfectly predicted their future prosperity. Duke professor Terri Moffitt. TERRI MOFFITT, Duke University of Michigan, So the children who are of very low self-control are in deep financial trouble by their 30s.
Those who are very high self-control are doing really well. They're entrepreneurs. They have got retirement accounts.
They own their own homes. And those who are average self-control are right in the middle. PAUL SOLMAN, Does it correlate with their initial socioeconomic status?
ANNE BELL, Self-control is clearly more important than the socioeconomic status of one's family, the amount of money that one had growing up. And it's more important than school grades, academic achievement, and it's more important than scores on intelligence tests. Says fellow Duke professor Dan Ariely, there is no more crucial struggle than the rational, long-term self against all the competing, short-term players within.
Saving. Good for the future. Right now I want something else. Exercising.
Good for the future. Right now I want to eat another slice of pizza. Think about sex. You can think about the amount of political leaders. RAY SUAREZ, Former President of the United States of America, Who have taken dramatic falls over immediate temptations.
RAY SUAREZ, Former President of the United States of America, As for Sesame Street's new push... ARIELLE CASTILLO, Former President of the United States of America, The idea of getting kids to go into the habit of saving earlier than we currently do, and the idea of giving them some rules of thumb about what's appropriate is incredibly important. RAY SUAREZ, Former President of the United States of America, Ariel has his own rules.
He gives his kids old-fashioned allowances, with spending constraints. since the kids are exposed to the usual come-ons of American culture. Amitush, what's your favorite TV show?
My favorite TV show? Power Rangers Samurai. Ariely tries to counter the culture by nurturing self-control. What would you rather do?
Watch one show now? And then go and do all your homework? Or do all your homework now, and later get two shows of Power Rangers Samurai? Two shows later. Okay, Amitush, if that's your choice, go and do your homework now.
Eight-year-old Amit, about Grover's age, dutifully trudges off. It's Netta's turn. At four, she's about Elmo's vintage. So what would you rather do?
Play for ten minutes now. And then go and clean your room? Or to clean your room first, and then come and play for 20 minutes?
Play for a long time. A daughter of Dan Ariely, Netta has already learned the key lesson. Okay, so go and clean now.
No. Come on, go and clean. You said that's what you prefer.
No. Ah, so here we have, this is not a hypothetical, once you make it concrete. This is generally a problem that self-control sounds like a good idea, even to kids in principle.
When you have to act on it, it's a bit more difficult. difficult, but essential, says psychologist Terri Moffitt. TERRI MOFFITT, This generation of children is going to live to be, on average, far beyond 100 years old.
And that means it's absolutely essential for every child to learn how to develop self-control skills so that they can avoid dependency, poor health and poverty. In old age. And avoid the siren songs of the world's increasingly crafty pitchmen. The people who are 15 now will have an even harder time dealing with deputation than you and I are. You think?
Yeah. I'm certain, because as technology develops, what is technology going to do? Technology is going to help them delay gratification or have more things to spend their money on now. So are the brains of most of us now overmatched by the brain?
brains of some very able people who have an incentive to get us to act in the here and now. ELMO RASKIN, I think so. There's really kind of a very strong imbalance about how much we can tempt people and how much people can actually resist temptation.
PAUL SOLMAN, And that, of course, is where Sesame Street comes in. Elmo works various jobs to come up with his $5 for the Stupendous Ball. ELMO RASKIN, Savings is not a natural concept. It's something we all have to learn.
ELMO RASKIN, I think that's a good point. If I'm a preschooler, I need examples on how to work towards that saving. You model it, you show them, and you do it during your everyday experiences as well. PAUL SOLMAN, In the end, Elmo earns the five bucks, but then shares a dollar with his literally irrepressible pal Cookie Monster.
For more than 40 years, an icon of excess, reminding us, we're not alone. that though restraint may be the key to prosperity, Here's one dollar for a cookie. financial and otherwise, it's a daunting challenge for Muppet and man alike. Elmo, that was really a nice thing you did. Oh, thanks, Louise.