For many children, money is something they learn to spend long before they learn how to manage it.
The difference between a want and a need, the value of saving, how money can be invested and even how a hobby can become an income-generating venture are lessons often left until adulthood.
One Guyanese initiative is seeking to change that by introducing financial education much earlier.
Wallet Wisdom Youth, founded by Mikhail J. McKenzie, is a financial literacy and behavioural programme targeting children between the ages of six and 16. It aims to help young people understand money management, entrepreneurship and investment while developing healthier financial habits from an early age.
Its first digital pilot, Smart Money Mastery, is scheduled for August 17–21, 2026, via Google Meet.
The five-day programme will feature five missions, real-life money skills and interactive challenges, built around five themes: Think Smart, Spend Smart, Save Smart, Earn Smart and Grow Smart.
The programme costs $5,000, with spaces limited.
For McKenzie, the need for financial education stems partly from his own childhood experience.
“We were always taught that money is a tool that you can use to acquire things. But most of it, we realise, is just liabilities, the main things that people wanted to acquire. Fancy clothing, fancy cars, which are nice,” he explained.
Wallet Wisdom, he says, is about changing that mindset.
“The gap we’re trying to get is the fundamentals of money management and how you can actually make that money grow in order to get some income-generating assets, so that you can live a well-invested financial life,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie believes the earlier children are introduced to financial concepts, the more likely those lessons are to stay with them.
“The younger they are, the more their brains are like sponges. They learn and develop their skills. So targeting young children or kids really helps embed those fundamental principles. So as they get older, it stays with them,” he said.
Wallet Wisdom divides participants into three groups: six to nine, 10 to 12, and 13 to 16, allowing lessons to be adapted to different stages of development.
But the programme goes beyond traditional financial literacy.
McKenzie describes Wallet Wisdom as a financial behavioural business, focused on changing the way people think and behave around money.
“We target individuals and help them change their behaviour and the relationship towards money. It’s not just something that you can use to buy what you want, but it’s also something that you can use to leverage things that you want and end up growing your assets so that you can have a much brighter, profitable future,” he said.
Entrepreneurship is another major component of the programme.
McKenzie says even young children often have ideas about how they can make money.
“Lots of times when we have these kids, they are kids which are seven, eight. They have business ideas. They want to be able to make money,” he said.
Wallet Wisdom uses those interests as a starting point, introducing children to saving, spending and investing, while older participants can learn about profit and loss, cash flow and business planning.
“The kids, they love money. So what we do, we help tap into understanding what it is that they love and how they can turn it into something that they can generate income,” McKenzie said.
He believes their hobbies can provide an early foundation for entrepreneurship.
“Most of the hobbies, if not all they have, they can turn into a viable business idea and generate income,” he said.
McKenzie, who has a background in banking and experience working with small businesses, also wants children to understand what it takes to eventually access financing.
He says entrepreneurs need more than a good business idea. They need proper records, a business plan, updated financials and an understanding of what makes a business investment-ready.
“You have to ensure that you have your business plan. You have to ensure that all your financials are up to date,” he said.
That knowledge, he believes, could help prepare young entrepreneurs to eventually access loans and grants.
But he also sees a major problem among some existing small businesses, what he calls the “cake shop mentality”.
“You just get money and then you just spend it,” McKenzie said.
Wallet Wisdom teaches participants to separate business and personal finances, set aside money for expenses and savings, and understand their cash flow and banking statements.
“The critical thing is understanding your cash flow, understanding your banking statements, and understanding what it is that makes you ready for a possible loan or a grant,” he said.
McKenzie says financial education is not only about knowing financial terms.
People’s relationship with money can be shaped by their background, culture and environment, making behaviour an important part of the equation.
“What makes people behave like this? What makes these persons think or act like this? The relationship with money. We dive more into the psychological aspect first, and that gives us a more accurate outcome of understanding how to help these persons in order to achieve their goal,” he said.
He says this can also help people identify what he calls “money leaks” — spending habits that drain finances without creating meaningful value.
“Lots of persons, their money is leaking but they don’t understand why,” McKenzie said. “But once we have that and understand that, their business can take off exponentially,” he added.
For children between six and nine, McKenzie acknowledges that traditional financial lessons may not hold their attention.
Wallet Wisdom therefore plans to use characters, colours and animation to make the lessons more engaging.
The first programme will be delivered digitally as a pilot, allowing the organisers to assess the response before expanding.
“We just want to make sure we give them the start. Sometimes you just have to give them the start, see how it goes and take it from there,” McKenzie said.
The programme also plans to bring entrepreneurs who have grown businesses from small beginnings into the sessions as special guests, particularly for participants in the 13-to-16 age group.
McKenzie says Wallet Wisdom is not intended to be a one-time workshop.
“You see that you go to school and you go through various grades. That is our goal — taking them through understanding behaviour, changing their behaviour. So as they continue to grow, we’re always with them the right step of the way,” he explained.
The organisation is looking to partner with schools during the current academic period, including through financial literacy clubs and other school-based programmes.
“We are really passionate about financial literacy,” McKenzie said.
He is also clear that Wallet Wisdom cannot make children wealthy.
“We cannot make a child physically rich. That’s on them. But we give them the tools, we give them the understanding,” he said.
The broader goal is to change how children view the things they want to acquire and encourage them to think about assets that can generate income.
“If from a young age now you can train them, okay, liabilities are fine, but we need more assets, income-generating assets,” McKenzie said.
For Wallet Wisdom, the hope is that children who learn those principles early will eventually enter adulthood with a different relationship with money — one built around saving, investing, creating value and making informed financial decisions.
The immediate opportunity is the Smart Money Mastery pilot, running from August 17–21, 2026, for children aged six to 16.
The programme costs $5,000, and registration is available through Wallet Wisdom Youth via WhatsApp at 624-6759.
