Community Corner | Prince Dykes on Financial Literacy
April is Financial Literacy Month, and SugaBear and La Molly sat down with Prince Dykes, Chief Investment Officer of Royal Financial Investment Group, to give our listeners some financial insight. A retired U.S. Navy Chief, four-time award-winning children's finance author, and co-founder of the Global Children's Financial Literacy Foundation, Dykes brought his signature no-nonsense approach to breaking down money, investing, and breaking generational cycles around wealth.
Dykes has spent over a decade making financial education accessible to young people through his Wesley Learns book series, named after his now 15-year-old son. Dykes’ core message: Do not wait.
"We're all consumers," he said. "You have to start at the youngest age possible."
His recommendation for parents is practical and low-pressure: Open a custodian account or Roth IRA for your child, redirect a portion of birthday or holiday gift money into it, and invest in broad-based index funds like the S&P 500 rather than trying to pick individual stocks. Even five dollars a week can lay a foundation that most adults wish they had been given.
Dykes pointed to a troubling reality: Americans are carrying more debt than ever before. A big reason? Our phones. Between social media algorithms, one-click shopping, and food delivery apps, we are being marketed to around the clock, spending freely without ever leaving the couch. His advice is simple in theory but tough in practice: look at your credit card statement honestly, find where the money is actually going, and start redirecting even small amounts toward investments.
Dykes was direct about the importance of participation. People who own homes are building equity. People who own stocks are riding market highs. Those who are renting and not investing are on the outside of a system that keeps growing. His solution is to make investing tangible, especially for young people. When a kid can watch their own account grow and receive their first dividend, even if it is only ten cents, something clicks.
To celebrate Financial Literacy Month, Dykes has also secured a City of Denver proclamation officially recognizing April as Financial Literacy Month locally, building on his work giving investment accounts directly to children since 2019.
To learn more or grab a copy of the Wesley Learns book series, visit GCFLF.org. Books are available in English and Spanish, with all proceeds supporting the Global Children's Financial Literacy Foundation.
