Q: Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? A: Because then it would be a foot.

Corny jokes usually aren’t found in newsletters distributed by mutual fund companies. In this case, the above joke was one of five corny––yet cute––jokes included in the recent quarterly newsletter sent to children of investors in the Monetta mutual funds.

Monetta, a small, family-run no-load fund shop based in Wheaton, Ill., consists of three mutual funds: the Orion-Monetta Intermediate Bond Fund (MIBFX); the Monetta Fund (MONTX), an actively managed large-cap equity fund; and the Monetta Young Investor Fund (MYIFX), a hybrid active and passive large-cap equity fund.

Monetta Financial Services founder, president and portfolio manager Robert Bacarella says he has long been a big believer in educating young people about finances. It started with his own kids, one of whom, also named Robert, is now vice president and portfolio manager at Monetta.

In the mid-’90s, Monetta started an informal program asking its portfolio companies to send items that could be distributed to shareholders’ children. One such company was the maker of Crayola crayons; another company published a Leonard Nimoy-authored sci-fi comic book.

“Kids love getting things in the mail, and it was a trigger to make them say, ‘What’s this all about?’” Bacarella says. “It’s a first step in acclimating them to think about money and returns.”

 

Today, Monetta’s efforts directed toward the children of its shareholders have moved beyond crayons. For starters, it has partnered with SAGE Scholars to offer a College Tuition Rewards Program to any shareholder who enrolls in the program. Reward points earned can help offset tuition costs at more than 330 participating colleges nationwide. Each registered child gets 500 points in tuition rewards at sign-up, and each year on the children’s birthdays their accounts will earn additional points (each point is worth $1) based on their age. The way the point system works, a child who starts the program at birth can earn up to 12,000 points, or $12,000 in tuition credits.

Monetta pays a fee to participate in the program based on the number of accounts and participation rates. Colleges view the program as a potential recruiting tool to attract future students.

Monetta also has created an educational component to educate young people about finances that includes a 24-chapter investment tutorial for older kids, a quarterly newsletter, and various online games and activities with prizes for various age groups.

The quarterly newsletters mailed to holders of custodial accounts (they’re also available on Monetta’s Web site) are eye-pleasing, colorful documents done in-house. “The topics we do are meant to teach, but at the same time make it fun,” says Bacarella, who writes content for the newsletters. The “Laughing Studio” jokes section in each newsletter comes from the Monetta team, while marketing manager Keri Cronin handles the graphics design.

The most recent edition talks about earnings-report whisper numbers, profiles Oprah Winfrey as an example of a successful entrepreneur (each issue spotlights a famous self-made person and the inflection point that launched his or her career), provides company trivia about Southwest Airlines, contains a savvy shopper section and, of course, dispenses jokes.

These newsletters take time and money to produce, but Bacarella says they’re a creative outlet and a labor of love for him and, most important, are a way to address financial literacy for kids. “I enjoy doing them,” he says.