Power couple Ciara and Russell Wilson never miss an opportunity to give back to their Seattle community.
With Financial Literacy Month winding down, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback and his superstar wife took the opportunity to surprise hundreds of middle school students in their city with savings accounts to teach them a valuable lesson about investing and the value of money.
According to The Seattle Times, Wilson and Ciara donated over $35,000 so each West Seattle Public School student could seed their own savings accounts with $40.
The couple’s surprise arrangement was created in partnership with their Why Not You Foundation, the NFL Players Association and family fintech company Goalsetter.
The Seattle Times reports that Goalsetter CEO Tanya Van Court started off the virtual lesson, alongside The Wilsons, teaching students about how to create wealth for themselves.
“After these kids see or hear Russell Wilson in their classroom, I want them to see that they don’t need to aspire to be in the NFL to be as cool and as financially successful as him,” Van Court told the outlet. “But every kid in Seattle can be him on the financial field.”
The lesson titled, “Building Wealth – A Blueprint to Financial Freedom Inspired by Hip Hop,” provided a brief case study on how Hip Hop icon Jay-Z became a billionaire outside of his music career by taking his earnings and investing them.
The Wilsons also dropped a few gems midway through the lesson participating in financial trivia and sharing the news about the savings accounts.
“Financial literacy and building wealth is so important,” Wilson told students as he recalled he and his wife’s personal finance journey. “Ciara and I really wanted to talk to you all because we didn’t come from much and we had big visions, we had big goals, big dreams.”
Some major keys he and Ciara shared included encouraging students to contribute to causes they believe in, researching their investments and also investing time in themselves, their craft and communities.
“All these things can pay back tremendously if you invest in them in the right way,” Ciara added. “Investing is very powerful and it will also allow you to create an opportunity to build legacy for your family.”
According to The Seattle Times, each student who received funds to start their savings accounts cannot touch them until they turn 18-years-old.
Each student is also set to receive a debit card that is “designed for teens and tweens that have game-based financial literacy quizzes attached to its use via the Goalsetter app,” the outlet shares.
Every Sunday, students’ money will freeze unless they partake in their financial literacy quiz for the week, and friends and family members will also have a chance to add extra funds to the unique accounts.
