Let it be known, I am a huge fan of money mentors. That is people who are willing to share with a young person their highs and lows around all things money. It’s a wonderful way to cut the learning curve in a complex money world.

In my experience, rarely are the benefits of mentoring one-sided. It’s why I am so passionate about promoting the benefits of money mentoring.

At a recent speaking engagement, a twenty-something young man described how his grandfather was an invaluable money mentor. “Every summer my sister and I spent several weeks with our grandparents who owned a small grocery store,” said Matt. “Part of our daily routine was a short five-minute walk with our grandfather to the local bank where we would drop off the night-deposit bag that held all the day’s cash.”

While Matt and his sister loved carrying the “bag full of cash,” he said the value for him went well beyond that experience. “Looking back, it was so much more than that,” said Matt. “My grandfather also shared important life lessons on our walk – like what it meant to own a business; how to save for goals; and why it was so important to give back to the community. He understood that someday those mini-life lessons would benefit us as we started making our own financial decisions.”

And so it goes with money mentoring. One group transfers financial values and ideas to the other in the form of real-life experiences. What if millions of youth and adults were matched up in money-mentoring relationships within their immediate or extended families or their communities?

I believe the benefits would be exponentially positive. Not only would it foster intergenerational accountability (i.e. mentors and mentees learning from each other) but it would also address a need that is larger than the Grand Canyon – the growing challenge, and real economic impact, of financial illiteracy.