Rock band Gooding performs in Philadelphia as part of its Funding the Future tour, sponsored by the Page Group of Raymond JamesHow can we encourage children and young adults to become financially literate?

Make it rock.

That is where the Los Angeles-based indie rock band Gooding steps in. For a few years, Gooding has combined a blues-rock sound, an electric stage presence, and lessons on financial literacy in tours of shows visiting middle schools, high schools and colleges.

This year, Gooding’s ongoing tour has taken a multi-day jaunt through Philadelphia, with many of its dates sponsored by the Jenkintown, Pa.-based Page Group of Raymond James.

“All generations need to know about financial literacy,” says Danielle Page, senior vice president of investments at the Page Group. “It was something my father, who founded our team, always instilled in us as a family when we were very young: You need to earn money, budget it, and then you have to save. We want to contribute to that for generation after generation.”

While many commentators have called for personal finance to be taught in more American schools, they likely haven’t considered the attention span of the average student, who is ready to forget everything they’ve learned about integral calculus and diagramming sentences as soon as their scholastic career is over.

“Every young adult likes and remembers music,” says Page. “Music stimulates your memory — so using a rock band to activate your memory and click it into financial literacy is a great way for young people to learn.”

The band’s act usually consists of a short 20- to 30-minute set of songs — not necessarily about money — before shifting to speeches about financial planning, which has its frontman performing double-duty as singer and motivational speaker.

“Music makes the medicine go down,” writes the band's lead guitarist and frontman, whose name is also the mononym Gooding. “We are very lucky that since we dress like most of the kids, and since music is a sixth sense that almost everyone enjoys when it is put forth passionately and honestly, the students forget that we are there to tell them something their teachers and many school board want them to understand.”

Gooding’s speaking engagements cover issues like same-day loans, misconceptions about lottery winners, the pitfalls of rock ’n’ roll and professional athlete incomes, self-reliance and the importance of saving early. Throughout the presentation, he shows images of celebrities who went bankrupt after squandering millions of dollars.

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