Why (and What) You Should Name Your Money

I'm helping my teen daughters and their similarly-aged cousins with some saving ideas, so I thought I'd share one idea that has helped me out.??

For actual financial advice, make sure to check out someone like Michelle Singletary, but I hope this will help some people - especially my kids, nieces, and nephews- with a good initial financial financial mindset.

In his book Made To Stick, Dan Heath (along with his brother Chip) makes the case that names make things stickier to?remember and identify with.? The book even uses a money example.? A nonprofit was struggling to get donations to buy land for conservation, then got the idea to start naming the parcels of land.? Donations skyrocketed.

This works for more than money.? Hurricanes have been named forever, but The Weather Channel, realizing the power of naming things, started giving names to winter storms and tropical depressions to get people hooked on?their?stories.

In talking to the teens/20s, I recommended that they should pick the name of their favorite sidekick.? I've gone with things like Red 5 (that's Luke Skywalker's best-friend and wing man Biggs Darklighter, for those among you who are nerds) and then changed to Sallah, Indiana Jones's wingman. (By the way,?John Rhys-Davies does voice-overs for corporate event videos. I would love to book him for one of those if anyone is interested.)

Sidekicks are also inherently likable. You want to help them and make them stronger.

The kids came up with second fiddles like Chewbacca (a more famous Star Wars character) and Lane, Rory's best friend on The Gilmore Girls.? The best was from a nephew who is as big a nerd as me, who went with his favorite 18th-century British exchequer.?

After they named their money, they had to figure out how much money they made in a year and break that down to a day.? So, if you make $2,000 in a year babysitting or mowing lawns, that's $5.48 a day ($2,000 / 365).??

Your goal is to save and invest your money to see how many days worth of money your sidekick - Chewie, Lane, or Sir William Wyndham - can make for you.? If Chewie makes you $38 from what you invest, he's given you a week's pay.? If you 'feed' Chewie even more,?invest even more, he'll?keep growing until he makes as much as you do someday. Not bad for a walking carpet.

If you want to try this yourself, here's a list of famous sidekicks:?https://ew.com/gallery/50-greatest-sidekicks-ever/

There are some great ones in there- Goose, Dr. Watson, George Costanza, Art Garfunkel, Garth, Flo, Piglet, and Rerun.

My money is #47, while the cousins have #38 and #4. (Sir Wyndham didn't make the list, sadly.). I do disagree with Entertainment Weekly's #1.? "He's the Robin to your Batman" is a much more popular phrase than "He's the Ed McMahon to your Johnny Carson."??

So why give your money a sidekick name? In books and on the screen, sidekicks exist to support the hero reach his or her goals.? You're the hero and the sidekick/money is there to help you reach those goals.? Always remember that your sidekick is not in charge. You are the hero of this story.

From 2002-2007, I wrote a weekly comic strip that appeared in about 40 small publications in the US, Canada, and Israel. If this is a newsletter, we might as well have a comic each week, too!

Brian Lord is the President of Premiere Speakers Bureau and the host of the Beyond Speaking Podcast. A 28-year speaking and entertainment industry veteran who started his first agency in his dorm room, Brian has done everything from running a non-profit and writing a comic strip to coaching youth softball and competing for TeamUSA in the Duathlon Age Group World Championships in Romania in 2022. He and his wife Krista enjoy raising their four kids outside of Nashville.