Max was the next to show his map. There was a new car on it, a tablet and a hoverboard. The last to display their masterpieces were brothers Stanislav and Daniel. They both had a cottage by the sea where they both wanted to live, mountain bikes and a theme park that looked like Disneyland.
Great drawings! Robby Star praised them. Your dreams turned out to be so colorful and amazing that I want to have some of these for myself.
Then join in and start dreaming with us. Let these dreams be yours as well, Lera suggested.
Thank you, I will think about it, the Mobile thanked her.
And now, friends, choose your top-level dream and trace it with a marker, drawing number one next to it, Larry asked. Try to make this red line bold enough, like this. Ready? Then put number two next to your other dream, the little less significant one. Do the same with all your dreams down to the last, smallest one. Done it? Great! Now your dreams have become clear-cut and turned into goals, the importance of which you have just determined. The first step is taken. But please, mind: you will have to work hard in the nearest future to achieve these. Perhaps, you will come across some temporary defeats and disappointments, but be sure they are only your point of leverage for the further achievements and success. Give me a lever and Ill move the Earth, Archimedes, the Ancient Greek scientist once said. Ordinarily, only determined people gain success, not afraid to fail or look ridiculous and different in the eyes of others. Those who believe their dreams can be real. You definitely know such people Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and many others.
Coca-Colas creation history is a clear example of how one man could fulfill his dream about creating a unique drink, and the other man had pursued his by creating one of the largest companies in the world.
How did they manage to do it? Daniel asked.
Robby Star started his narration:
In the distant year 1886, an American pharmacist John Pemberton dreamt of inventing a multi-purpose medicine from all diseases and becoming famous. However, persistent experiments have finally led to the creation of Coca-cola drink. It was called this way because its main ingredient was the tincture of coca leaves mixed with the extract of tropical cola tree nuts. Coca-Cola has turned out to be a powerful tonic. The problem was, its taste had been quite unpleasant in the beginning, so Pemberton had to work hard, mixing ingredients and updating the formula for multiple times. In the end he succeeded in improving the taste, but unfortunately, John Pemberton wasnt able to live to the moment when Coca-Cola became popular among the people. Long after his death, a talented entrepreneur Asa Candler had found a Coca-cola manufacturing company, and also registered the trademark. Coca-Cola has been acknowledged the most valuable brand in the world for multiple times. For many years this company has been bringing sufficient income to its shareholders.
Cool! I had no idea Coca-Cola had been invented so long ago, more than 130 years already, Stanislav said surprisingly. Wish I could have that much success and own a company that huge!
Success doesnt come to you by itself. You are the one walking towards it, Larry explained. By the way, the road to success is not always smooth. But you should know, that first of all, you need money and other material possessions to gain more freedom and do more good deeds in benefit of your country and the world as well. Also, one should never forget that money could never replace solid friendship and true love.
I suggest stopping here and going beyond rhetoric, or rather say, getting down to work, because only with the help of labor ones dreams can possibly be achieved Bobby said, interrupting his friend Larry.
Chapter Two
Where the mobiles tell us stories of labor and production
Labor is human performance in creating the essentials of life, Bobby explained. Its most important criteria is called labor capacity. If you work at the candy factory and pack candies, the bigger capacity will belong to those who will pack more candies within the same time period. For example, one hour.
And my favorite proverb goes like this: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, Larry joined in.
Things are quite simple on Earth. Those who work for others are called employees, and those who work for themselves are entrepreneurs, Bobby continued.
From the word enterprise? Stanislav asked.
Correct, Larry replied. Entrepreneurs deal with manufacturing and selling things or providing different services. When you attend personal dance classes or the swimming pool, know that it had all been organized by entrepreneurs who receive tuition fees from your parents.
Now lets get back to employees. Employees are people who sign labor contracts and work for others, for example, companies or entrepreneurs. When applying for a job, they take a special paper with them a resumé. It is written down there where the employee had been studying and working and what he or she is good at.
You can have some help in finding a good job with recruitment agencies, such as HeadHunter, Bobby continued.
Headhunters? Bounty hunters, you mean? Daniel asked again because he knew English quite well.
Right. They were called this way because they seek the qualified employees for the companies and entrepreneurs, the best minds, so to say.
Father had told me and Stanislav that the employees salary depends on what they do, how well they can do it and how difficult it is to replace them, Daniel said.
There are many people able to sweep the streets, but those who can design spaceships are really hard to find. Their job is difficult and demanding with lots of responsibility. Its not easy to replace them with other employees quickly, so their labor is paid in a much better way, Stanislav explained.
Its all correct, Larry confirmed. And now lets talk about production. Production is a process of creation of different essentials.
Production includes three factors. First one the human factor is labor. We already know that people with proper knowledge and labor skills are required to start production. Second factor the means of labor tools, machines and different equipment. And factor number three the subject of labor. It is a thing or a combination of things a person can adapt for his own needs. For example, it could be a wooden workpiece processed with the help of a milling machine.
Handle money like Grown-ups
Financial education for Kids from the Mobiles
Aleks Gridin
Illustrator А. V. Skorokhodov
Translator A. A. Semichakova
Translator А. V. Gridin
© Aleks Gridin, 2021
© А. V. Skorokhodov, illustrations, 2021
© A. A. Semichakova, translation, 2021
© А. V. Gridin, translation, 2021
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Aleks Gridin
Most parents want their kids to be successful, happy and financially independent when they grow up.
But how can it be achieved? What should we teach them? How to teach? When should such education start? We have found answers to these and many other questions for you.
The book you are holding in your hands right now is unique. It is the key to your childrens future success. There are fairytale characters in it the Mobiles who will tell us how to learn to fulfill your dreams, set life goals properly and manage your personal finance. Its pages provide the basics of financial knowledge in a very simple and engaging manner, explaining the complicated economical terms and giving recommendations about how to preserve the family budget.
The book is intended to be read by parents and their children from 7 to 13 y.o. Read it to your children or read it together with them. But keep in mind: just reading a book will not lead to any results. It also requires constant work on a childs own mind and putting the gained knowledge into practice. You should stay close to your children at such moments and help them with it.
This book contains certain tips following which your children can truly become rulers of their destiny.
Good luck!
Introduction
To how and where kids got acquainted with the mobiles
Have you ever heard anything of the Mobiles, dear friends? Nothing at all? Very strange indeed. It seemed to me that all kids knew they existed because, after all, most of us own mobile phones. Well, if you really know nothing about them, let me tell you.
Somewhere very far away, in another dimension, there is a magical world where mobile phones come alive and turn into the Mobiles. Yes, just imagine, mobile phones are able to walk and talk, and each of them has a name of its own. Besides, they know many interesting stories everyone should listen to.
Well, it just so happened that, by an incredible coincidence, a girl named Lera from the 4th B grade and three perfectly ordinary boys named Stanislav, Daniel and Max had made their way there. Finding themselves in the world of the Mobiles and realizing they had got lost, friends have met a funny Mobile looking like a robot on their way, whose name was Bobby. He walked them to a huge city built of mirrors called Terapolis where he introduced them to his friends Robby Star, Larry, Donna and Mia.
Robby Star (who was the most brave and courageous of them all) has introduced Bobby to the kids as well. As for Larry, he was the one familiar with all kinds of things in the world and even gave classes at the Mobile academy.
Despite the serious look his glasses gave him, Larry turned out to be a kind and responsive Mobile. Later, his knowledge would help him come to the rescue to his friends and clarify the most various and tricky questions for them.
Next Bobby had introduced two pretty Mobile girls to the kids Mia and Donna. Mia, who was slim, tall and covered head to toe in shiny rhinestones, was completely the opposite to short, plump Donna whose purple shell looked quite formal in style. Yet the friends just would not stop chit-chatting and it seemed that nothing in the world could put the end to it.
The Mobiles invited our kids to visit their favorite spot Mobby-café located on the 88th floor of the skyscraper. To get there, they had to use the special neo-gravitational elevator.
They served various mobby-cocktails at the café, but instead of real ice drinks there were devices with new programs and apps in the serving tubes, which were successfully downloaded through Wi-Fi by the Mobiles.
Conveniently having settled down on soft couches, Lera and the boys avalanched the Mobiles with questions.
We are not able to move in the human world, yet we notice and understand everything. We are also there to help our owners by pitching ideas with them as replies to their inquiries. Only at night, when the whole world falls asleep, we whoosh through the time tunnel back into the Mobile world where we can all come as we are. Time ticks faster in here. One hour only equals to a few minutes in the human world, Larry told them.
But still, we took you here for a different purpose, he continued. Youve got an incredible chance to know about one more world world of finance.
Curious, Lera said, its the first time I hear of this world. It must definitely belong to some other galaxy.
Too funny! Stanislav exclaimed. To some other galaxy! Ive heard something about it from my parents before. Finance is everything we own: money, things and different assets.
And plenty of other stuff, Robby Star added.
This world has an incredible effect on your life and the lives of all people on Earth, Larry explained to the kids.
We also used to know nothing of this world ourselves. But thanks to the new app we have installed, each Mobile knows about it more than any university professor now.
Finance is a tough issue in my family: my parents are short of money all the time, Max said. Our old car wouldnt start up for three days in a row and so we couldnt visit our granny in the countryside. It would be so great if things changed and my parents could afford a new car for themselves and an electric scooter for me.
It will be so, Larry replied. It is especially for this that you are here. We will tell you how to develop an ability to achieve success and treat your financial resources right. And most importantly you will learn to make your dearest wishes come true. To have enough money, people need to strive to increase their assets that generate income for them and also plan their expenses wisely.
Speaking of family budget, by assets we mean anything that brings you additional money. The opposite to assets is liabilities. This is what leads to loss of your finance, what takes your money away from you. And now let me reveal an interesting rule to you. It is, actually, a law and not a rule. The law of cause and effect. The core of this law is, your thoughts represent the cause while your status represents the effect. What you dream of, what you strive to achieve, would be likely to come true.
Yes, it is true, Stanislav said. Listen, just during my swimming contest I wanted to be the winner so much that I constantly thought about it, imagining I had already won and had been awarded with a medal. And guess what? I have done it!
Good job, Larry said. But you were using one more tool you did not know about, which is called visualization.
Visu what? Lera asked again.
Visualization. It is simple. You think of something you want to have and, at the same time, imagine you already have it. For example, Max, imagine you already have the modern black electric scooter and you are riding it feeling absolutely happy. Once you have pictured a dream in your brain, think of how it could be fulfilled, what could possibly be done about it, and take action. Because if you do nothing about it, nothing else will come around. When you expect something good might happen to you, it often turns out the very same way. And when you are afraid of something, like getting a splinter in your toe while walking barefoot, you can be sure the splinter would be just there.