Rob Gardner and Gunnar Baldvinsson
The Icelandic edition of the financial literacy children’s book, Save Your Acorns, written by former co-chief executive (CEO) of Redington Rob Gardner, has been published.
Like the original UK version, which was published in Britain in 2016, the Icelandic version of the book, Geymdu akörnin þín, aims to teach four-to-seven-year-olds about compound growth – and follows a family of squirrels who learn what happens to the acorns they save and grow.
The book – launched by the Central Bank of Iceland at a financial literacy event held this week – is now on sale in Hagkaup supermarkets across Iceland.
The Icelandic pensions system is perhaps one of the strongest in the world and has the highest mandatory contribution rate in the OECD at 15.5% of total salary, split between employers (11.5%) and employees (4%).
But, while Iceland teaches its children about money in its secondary schools, there is very little aimed at primary age children, which leaves the job to parents, most of whom were never taught it either.
Gardner said: "Iceland isn't translating a British children's book because Iceland has a pension problem, they are doing it because a good pension system isn't enough on its own.
"Someone still has to teach a seven-year-old what money is for, and I hope one day every child understands the importance of keeping and growing their money for their future selves."
Almenni Pension Fund CEO and former Icelandic Pension Funds Association chair Gunnar Baldvinsson agreed: "I have spent more than thirty years running a pension fund, and the lesson I keep coming back to is that good outcomes depend as much on what people understand as on what the rules require of them.
"Financial literacy doesn't begin when someone opens a pension. It begins with the first money a child ever holds. Save Your Acorns explains compound growth to children as young as four-years-old without ever making it feel like a lesson, and we're delighted Iceland will be making the book available for families across the country."
Save Your Acorns was published in Britain in 2016. The book has already been translated into Spanish and Cantonese but, while Icelandic is the book's third translation, it is the first time the title has been rolled out nationwide in a country other than the UK.
Gardner is also the creator of the family card game Silly Monkeys and the classroom game Built to Last.
They say there is never any positive news in pensions… "Good News Corner" is Professional Pensions' occasional column supporting the charity and not-for-profit efforts of our industry. Tell us your stories by emailing Jonathan Stapleton at [email protected]
