Paul Caginivalu is a Year 2 student of the Assemblies of God Primary School in Nasinu. He enjoys playing rugby with the children in his neighbourhood in Kinoya and reading action storybooks. He has a keen interest in animals and watching cartoons. Paul especially enjoys cartoons that teach him something new and he loves the animated TV program Cha-Ching that will be airing again this year on Fiji TV’s Get Set program. He likes Cha-Ching because it encourages him to think about properly managing his money, saving and spending wisely in a fun way.

Paul has been collecting his savings in a money box since he was in kindergarten. His aunt, Seraseini, has been teaching him to save, spend wisely and share using the Financial Education materials that were developed through the Ministry of Education and PFIP’s FinED Fiji Project. Through Financial Education, all students in Fiji schools are learning about managing the money in their pocket in existing subjects like Maths, English, Social Studies, Commercial Studies, Accounting and Economics.

Since Paul started saving in kindergarten, he has now filled three money boxes. The first money box was used to open his Unit Trust of Fiji account in January last year. Before school started this year, Paul went into town with his aunt Seraseini to top up his investment from his third money box in Unit Trust. Paul was very excited when his money boxes were opened at the Unit Trust of Fiji. He was so excited as they counted out his savings that he could not keep still.

Paul decided that all the money from his three money boxes were to be used to buy units. At 7 years of age and through his careful savings, Paul is now the proud owner of 380 units in the Unit Trust of Fiji. Paul wanted to put his money into units because he says these are a safe place to put money and to watch it grow. He would like to see his money grow, so Paul has asked to have the income he earns from the units, called dividends, to be reinvested regularly with his main savings.

Paul says that studies after high school will be expensive and so he needs to start saving now towards his tertiary studies. He is also thinking about what he wants to be when he grows up and he is thinking of the type of lifestyle he would like to have too. Paul thinks that maybe a doctor might be an interesting career to pursue as the type of work would be exciting…and as he says, “The pay should be good too!”

Paul’s older brother has already started working and after watching Paul saving regularly and seeing his younger brother invest his money, he too is planning to start investing in units. Today, Paul’s aunt, Seraseini as well as his five primary school-age cousins who have been watching Paul saving over the past two years, now have a money box each and they are all trying to spend wisely and save too.