You may have wondered what our name, Money Not Magic, means. To be honest, when we were first brainstorming potential names for our community project, we came up with a lot of names (some good, some bad, and some that were already taken). We had long names, like "A Penny Today, Two Pennies Tomorrow." We had amazing names that we already taken, like "Ready, Set, Go Finance." We had obscure names, like "A Little Change" (it was supposed to be a pun because change can mean some coins but it also refers to how we want to change people's mentality towards finance).
The list was getting really crazy, so we had to reign it in. We went back to our roots and really considered why we were creating the-soon-to-be-named-Money-Not-Magic.
In our mission statement, we talk about how we aim to spread financial literacy among youth, but at the core of it, what we were doing is stripping away the mystery around finance.
Finance is such an "adult" word that the idea of teaching kids about investing seems absurd. Kids don't even have a job and income to apply any of the things we teach about personal finance—but that's where the issue lies.
Most people learn about finance out of necessity. As they are going to college, finding jobs, and figuring out what they want to do for the rest of their lives, they either pick up some personal finance skills or begin the dreaded cycle of debt. Wouldn't it be better if they knew what to do before they are thrown head-first into the adult world?
So that's when we came up with the name "Money Not Magic." The name reflects the idea that finance isn't as hard as adults seem to paint it. Finance isn't just magically conjuring up money from midair; there's a methodology that anyone can learn.
They say that good magicians never share their secrets. So it's good that finance isn't magic.