Funding the future

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This article was published 13/01/2024 (876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Teaching kids about money can be a challenge — especially when many of us feel challenged by the almighty dollar itself.

Yet a Canadian entrepreneur has a financial literacy recipe to help: a graphic novel about mindfulness and money for children ages five to 12.

David Delisle — a Victoria-based father of two boys under 12 years old — is the author of The Golden Quest, about a boy and his dog on a journey to uncover a treasure — which turns out to be not gold and gems.

Rather, it’s knowledge that is the treasure, consisting of foundational wealth principles to help find richness in life without the relentless pursuit of money for money’s sake.

Delisle, still very much in the prime of his working years, is semi-retired in large part due to following these lessons.

A successful real estate investor, his investments largely support his family’s lifestyle while leaving him to pursue what is important to him, including writing The Golden Quest.

He recently talked with the Free Press about his views on wealth and money, and why he wrote the graphic novel, published in June 2022 and currently being updated, to instill basic financial literacy in kids.

“Underpinning the book is an emphasis on mindset and habits that isn’t talked about that much in the financial world, and these are messages that can resonate with adults — a little like Calvin and Hobbes did,” he says comparing the tone and even artwork (done by California-based artist Travis Hason) of The Golden Quest to the popular comic strip renowned for mixing humour, child-like wonder and philosophical insights.

Indeed, Delisle’s graphic novel is similarly imbued with child-like wonder while taking a philosophical approach to money that is both illuminating for kids and parents.

“Everything is loosely based on my family,” he says. “I’ve got two boys and in the book there are two boys, and the older one has a birthday party where his parents give him this treasure map to go on this hero’s journey.”

On that quest, he encounters mentors who provide him with lessons regarding wealth, including finding ‘the awesome stuff.’

By ‘awesome stuff’, Delisle means figuring out what is truly important and precious to us.

“What often happens is we don’t learn to define what is really important to ourselves, and so there is this endless chasing of more and more as a result,” he says.

“I see it all the time where people are pursuing a financial goal, only to move onto the next one after achieving it, with no real end and fulfillment.”

Through the book, Delisle hopes to instill reflection on what’s important — finding ‘the awesome stuff’— and, in turn, help stem the bottomless pursuit of more that often leaves many people never feeling truly wealthy no matter the tax bracket.

He points to the many real-life examples: social media influencers with superficially affluent, unsustainable lifestyles, or celebrities and pro athletes, who despite earning millions of dollars, face financial trouble because of an unrelenting pursuit of ‘stuff.’

“It’s not that more money is bad,” he says. “But what are you chasing with it?”

Certainly, everyone needs enough for a basic standard of living, Delisle adds, but beyond that —which applies to most Canadians — decisions around spending and saving often make or break our sense of financial well being.

“Most of us tend to buy a house or a car that is the most we can afford,” he explains. “And we wade into these things to our detriment.”

Beyond ‘the awesome stuff’, The Golden Quest offers fundamental lessons about saving and investing. Among them is underscoring the importance of starting both as early as possible to put money to work earning more money.

The book also has a focus on the importance of giving to others, citing a quote by Anne Frank that “no one has ever become poor from giving.”

The idea being here that the more we give, the more we get back.

Delisle is proof positive of the benefits of trying to adhere to these tenets to finding true wealth. He achieved long-term financial security in early middle age and is now able to spend more time with his family, helping others and pursuing his passions.

He doesn’t expect The Golden Quest to help children — or their parents — achieve the same goal. Rather, Delisle wants the book to help them define their own and recognize how their choices about money can support or hinder their ability to achieve them.

“Once kids start looking at everything as not, ‘I want this, and I can’t afford it,’ to ‘this is what I really want, and these are the choices I must make to attain it,’ it changes how they think about wealth… and build a truly rich life.”

joelschles@gmail.com