With the end of the year quickly approaching, a lot of us are thinking about charitable giving for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s year-end tax planning. Or perhaps we have a family tradition of giving back to the community in a special way during the holidays. For that reason, I thought it would be fun (and hopefully interesting!) to have a few conversations on the podcast about why families in particular (and ok, MY family in particular!) engage in charitable giving. This short 2-part series is an opportunity to chat about how kids and their families can make a difference in a community and support causes they love not only now but throughout the year. We’ll discuss what's the best way to start conversations about generosity, community, legacy, and what really matters to your family. We’ll also talk about how parents can use these types of conversations to promote a wider understanding of savings and financial responsibility.

This first episode is a conversation between my son JD, a 12 year old 7th grader at Centennial Middle School, and Autrina Martindale, of Primerica Financial Services, and the creator of the educational webinar “How Money Works for Kids”. In this episode, you’ll hear a 12 year old’s thoughts on why giving to charity and growing the “ripple effect” of charitable awareness is important to him. You’ll also hear a bit about Star Wars and an incident with a cheetah eating an antelope in front of JD and why that was awesome.

In the 2nd episode in this short series, we’ll bring back JD and also have him joined by his 17 year old sister, Thandiwe, and his grandparents Gappy and Baba, also known as Karen O’Meara Pullen and Desmond Pullen and my mom and dad. Join us for this latest episode of "Looking Forward. Giving Back."!