Hosted by Kai Ryssdal

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Listener Kaitlyn was talking to her dad about investments and things strayed into the world of Ponzi schemes. Kaitlyn’s wondering what they are and how they work — good question! Bridget and Ryan want to answer Katilyn’s question but the topic conjures up some bad memories for Ryan. Luckily they get some help from Brenda Hammer, lead investigator from Bridget’s favorite show, “Scam Slammers!” Brenda uses her expertise and investigative skills to help Ryan pick out where he went wrong in the past and give some good tips for avoiding scams our listeners (even young ones!) might encounter in their everyday lives.

Tips for grownups listening to “Million Bazillion” with kids

Money Talks

Let’s keep the conversation going! Try some of these Money Talks prompts with your kid(s) at home:

1. What do you think about the idea of “investing” money after listening to this episode?
2. What are some of the signs that someone might be trying to scam us? What information might they ask?
3. Bonus Not So Random Question: What’s an okay amount of allowance to get as a kid?

Tip Jar

• The reason we call certain types of investment scams “Ponzi schemes” is because of Charles Ponzi. He scammed people out of millions of dollars in the 1920s. Look through this list of some of the biggest swindlers in history and talk about why or how they got people to trust in their scams.
• Not all investing is bad, if your kid is interested in investing, explain treasury bonds to them and how they work.
• Demystify some of the language around investing, from “risk”, “stock market,” “rate of return,” and of course “Ponzi schemes.” Check out this glossary on investing to look up these terms and any others you may come across in the future.

Gimme Five

Grownups — did you try to explain an economic or money concept to your littles and it only left them with more questions? Tell us about it using this online form.

This episode is sponsored by Greenlight. (For a limited time, get $10 when you sign up for a Greenlight account at greenlight.com/MILLION).