Charles Schwab Foundation
Since 2004, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Charles Schwab Foundation have partnered to help teens gain critical financial literacy skills through Money Matters: Make It Count, the financial literacy program designed to help teens develop money management skills that lead to financial independence and well-being.
Promoting Financial Responsibility and Independence for Teens and Tweens
The Money Matters: Make It Count program promotes financial responsibility and independence through the latest in financial curriculum, integrating financial literacy skills with economic concepts and youth development best practices. Money Matters has reached more than a million Club teens, helping them gain the skills they need for a successful future by providing a jump-start on sound financial decision-making.
- Money Matters – A curriculum that includes 22 experiential learning sessions that encourage teens to examine the impact their current financial decisions and behaviors may have on their future selves.
- Money Matters for Tweens – This adaptation strives to provide youth ages 10-12 with financial literacy skills that will help them conceptualize money in terms that are relatable to them at their stage of adolescence and development.
- Reality Store – An interactive, hands-on group experience that demonstrates the importance of budgeting, and how decisions about education, career and family impact financial decisions.
Money Matters Ambassador and Scholarships
Each year, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Charles Schwab Foundation recognizes teens who have excelled in the Money Matters program and actively demonstrate their newly acquired financial knowledge. A national Money Matters Ambassador, awarded a $10,000 scholarship, is selected to represent the program and advocate for financial literacy across the country. Four additional students competing for the title receive a $5,000 scholarship.
Read about the 2025 Money Matters Ambassador, Juliana:
Learning Dollars & Sense: Juliana Takes the Fear Out of Finances
Discover how Juliana, Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2025 Money Matters Ambassador, learned how to control her money instead of letting it control her. Read more →
“When teens have the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their money, it opens the door to a brighter financial future.”
– Kristine Dixon, Charles Schwab Foundation executive director
Bringing Budgeting to Life in the Reality Store
Reality Store provides an interactive experience in which teens learn how the choices they make regarding career, managing income and expenses, saving, and investing will affect future outcomes. To start, teens draw a salary based on a specific career and manage basic living expenses like housing, utilities, and groceries for themselves and a family. They envision the lifestyle they would like to have, explore a career, receive a checking account “deposit” equal to one month’s salary, and spend their salary in the Reality Store on necessities and extras. They also handle some of life’s unexpected events and discover whether their occupation provides the financial resources needed to sustain the lifestyle they want.
News & Stories
From budgeting to scholarships, Boys & Girls Clubs gave Mohammad A. the tools to pursue his dream of graduating college debt-free on his way to becoming a dentist.
Financial literacy for kids can prepare young people to avoid debt, understand money management and be ready to budget.
Any grownup will tell you: adulting is hard. Which is why many teens these days are interested in life skills not taught in school — from knowing how to save money to navigating relationships. Read on for some essential things to know before graduating.
About Charles Schwab Foundation
Charles Schwab Foundation is an independent nonprofit public benefit corporation, funded by The Charles Schwab Corporation and classified by the IRS as a charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is neither a part of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC) nor its parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation. Its mission is to educate, volunteer and advocate on behalf of those in need so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve financial well-being. More information is available at http://www.schwabmoneywise.com/foundation.
