Caryn Boxer, Ph.D. and Gail Duner are the co-founders of LearningCents, a
company dedicated to helping families teach children money values right from the
start. Their combined professional expertise along with their personal desire to raise
their own kids’ financial IQ led them launch this “momtrepreneurial” venture in 2005.
Caryn Boxer, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with
children and families. She holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters
from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute.
She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two children (ages 11 and 8).
After Caryn became a parent, she discovered that she needed to put the money
discussion into practice in her own home. While running errands with her young son,
she often had to contend with the ongoing whining of “mom, can I please have
[name the toy of the moment] —I promise to behave.” It didn’t matter if it was the
latest Power Ranger superhero or a light-up ball point pen. He wanted anything and
everything! She realized that she needed a way to get her very cute, but very
persistent son to stop asking for everything that he saw and to learn that money did
not just magically come out of her wallet.
Meanwhile, a similar situation was happening over at the Duner household. Gail
Duner has been in the business world for 20 years as a sales & marketing executive
with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company and as the principal of her own
consulting firm. She holds a BA from Stanford University and a Master’s in Business
Administration from Harvard University. Gail also lives in Atlanta with her husband
and two children (ages 12 and 9).
Gail’s epiphany about needing to add money values to the family curriculum was the
result of hearing money questions popping up around her house, beginning with
requests for allowance and wanting to know the cost of different things, from toys to
electricity in the home. She also came to find that her otherwise brilliant son (then 9)
was pretty clueless about how money worked. When she took him to the bank to
deposit money into his newly established savings account, he wanted to know
where his “cubby” was located that stored his money—just like Harry Potter’s
account at Gringott’s Bank.
As Caryn and Gail hatched their plan for their company and for the LearningCents
Bank, they wanted to ensure that they incorporated the concept of “giving,” an
important family value they both share. They wanted to teach kids about their
responsibility to help others and to empower them to do so with their own
resources. They are proud to put this into practice and to see their kids choosing
where to make donations that are meaningful to them.
Boxer and Duner are energized by the reception of the company’s first product, the
LearningCents™ Bank, which was launched in early 2006, and which has won
several toy industry awards. It is currently being sold in several hundred specialty
toy stores around the country.
Their combined knowledge and enthusiasm for their subject matter have led to the
duo to be invited to do several speaking engagements around the Atlanta metro
area. They’ve been ask to share their tips on teaching children money values and
they offer many practical ideas on how to do it. They will be continuing their speaking
engagements throughout 2007, expanding their reach beyond the Atlanta area.
They will soon be launching several additional products to meet the needs of a
broader age range of kids, so that all kids can have some ways to increase their
financial IQ!
