The temptation to spend money is everywhere, and Americans are paying for their inability to resist overspending and their failure to save for the future.

The Consumer Federation of America reported that in 2001 the credit industry issued more than 5 billion solicitations to consumers, including college students, and the American Bankruptcy Institute said that last year there were a record number of bankruptcy filings, totaling nearly 1.5 million.

While millions of adults struggle to pair down their credit and repair their credit ratings, groups of educators and business people are working to teach children good money habits to prevent them from falling into similar budgetary problems.

The Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a public-private partnership formed in 1995 in Washington, D.C., which established an Iowa office in 2000, determined that high school graduates lack basic skills in money management. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and have no insight into the basic skills of earning, spending and investing.

Read to Save, a new program at Moulton Elementary School in Des Moines, is teaming bankers and youths with the hopes of fostering literacy and fiscal responsibility.

Created by Denise Martin-Foley, vice president and community development officer for Bankers Trust Co., about 200 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students at Moulton are being paid to read and taught how to manage their money in the process.

Before she started the program in September, Martin-Foley intended to focus on improving children’s literacy. But after visiting the school to teach financial literacy for a day, she realized the need to improve students’ education in both fields.

“I wanted to find a way to improve the literacy rate of children, especially for kids in the inner city,” she said. “Many students don’t know how to read after graduation, and one day is not enough to teach children how to write a check, balance a checkbook and teach them the importance of having money for a rainy day and not to spend money on frivolous things.”

With the help of grade-specific lessons and a curriculum developed by the American Bankers Association, Martin-Foley’s designed a textbook for teaching students about money matters while motivating them to read. It includes activities and budget exercises that youths can relate to, like “Buying a Scooter” and “Living in the Real World.” Approximately 10 employees of Bankers Trust volunteer to teach a one-hour class once a month at Moulton, which includes 30 minutes of interactive instruction and another half-hour of book reports.

“Employees are willing to volunteer, and they have a lot of great ideas,” Martin-Foley said. “Our company encourages employees to give back to the community.”

Students in Coralie Cosgrove’s fourth-grade class recently played a round of “Banking Jeopardy.” The game’s categories were time frames between 1775 and 1907 and focused on the history of banking in the United States. The questions were tied in with the students’ studies.

To entice participation, Bankers Trust employees Jodi Pardekooper and Cindy Williams handed out a total of five one-dollar bills to students who picked the “Double Jeopardy” questions. Though most of the excitement (and disappointment for some) was generated by the prospect of collecting money, the students learned about a variety of banking issues by reading and answering questions.  “The kids get excited about the money,” Pardekooper said. “But we want them to get used to saving their money.”

Afterwards, several students recited book reports for nearly a half-hour. Bankers trust pays students a maximum of $3 a month for book reports, $1 for each book report they present in front of their peers. Bankers Trust helps students open a savings account where they deposit the money they get in class as well as money from allowances and odd jobs at home.

“We give them money as an incentive to read,” Martin-Foley said. “But we show them how to save their money.”

Teaching children how to handle their money wisely is critical said Martin-Foley. She said many young people fail to manage their income and credit and stumble through their lives learning by trial and error. Early intervention can help them avoid such bad habits.

“I believe that they’ll grow up and remember this when they’re 18 years old,” she said.

Martin-Foley said she is learning how to teach and how to improve the program along the way. She hopes the school will continue the program next year.

“I’ve learned that children are still excited about money and that there is a need for financial education at an early age and it needs to be a continual thing,” she said. “Even if we get only one child to make wise credit decisions when they’re older, it was worth it.”