POSB adapts fairy tales to push for financial literacy in children

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POSB Singapore is helping parents play a more active role in getting their children ready for their financial future with its three-part POSB Pocket Stories - Tales of Money and Sense. This is the first in a slew of strategic and creative plays to address financial literacy across different age groups throughout 2022.

Done in collaboration with The Secret Little Agency's (TSLA) in-house production team and Singapore illustrators 8eyedspud, the tales feature familiar characters with a twist, suitable for kids aged four to 12 years old. The stories feature Alice, who learns the value of sharing in Wonderland, Jill (instead of Jack) who learns the virtue of spending and saving after being enchanted by Magic Beans, and finally concluding with Caleb and the Candy Factory, wrapping up the series imparting the values of saving, spending wisely and the joys of sharing. Fun and interactive Instagram Stories were also created, incorporating elements of financial literacy for parents to share and read with their children.

The tales, which can be found on POSB's parent-centric page and POSB's Instagram page, aim to instill core principles that will form building blocks for a healthy relationship with money among the younger generation. These include the value of sharing within your means, saving for what you desire, and spending wisely.

Jean Yeo, SVP, POSB CBG-Marketing (Consumer Banking Group), DBS Bank, said POSB has provided generations upon generations of Singaporeans their first step into financial access and it wants to support parents in teaching money matters and financial literacy to their children through fun and engaging materials. "Conversations about good money management should start early as this will have compounding impacts on children as they grow older," Yeo added.

Meanwhile, TSLA's business director, Fiona Heng, said fairy tales are an ever familiar and cherished facet of childhood that has for centuries been an important tool for imparting life lessons and morals in children. "We wanted to retain that magical quality while still imparting very crucial and practical knowledge for children that will stay with them through to adulthood, as they navigate their future - a future we have yet to be familiar with and can only prepare for,” she explained.

As part of efforts to target parents and children, POSB and TSLA also launched an animated storybook adventure in 2020 in the form of a film featuring the Po family. Read like a children’s storybook, the film follows a mother, Adithi, and her son, Timmy, as they navigate today’s worries and tomorrow’s ambitions for retiring well together. According to a press statement then, POSB saw a 187% increase in leads generated compared to 2019, and surpassed targets in less than two months into the campaign.