Cash Camps for Kids

Independent Means Inc. (www.independentmeans.com) provides on-the-ground programs, camps, seminars, books, newsletters, games, and other activities for kids, parents, and mentors, and the companies that serve them. Independent Means offers gender specific financial education, including programs like their DollarDiva and MoneyGuys Workshops, which give young people a chance to develop economic self-confidence without worrying about the pressure to perform for the opposite sex at a pivotal stage in life. It also delivers added-value seminars, newsletters, and more to financial advisors, including a financial-competency assessment, Money$core, for 5-to-25-year-olds.

The American Dream Planner (www.americandreamplanner.com) software was conceived as a means to keep track of the choices made as an individual works to achieve financial success. It provides information and analytical tools to test whether these choices are sound or if problems might occur. In other words, users can test investment choices and create alternative scenarios to later compare side-by-side, with instantaneous feedback. Advisors can also use it with families and kids, and get right to the point. You can show kids different rates of return and the impact of different spending decisions. Some advisors build guessing games and multiple-choice games around it. Download the free demo from the Web site to test it out.