Press
The Disclosures’ new financial ed album aims to strike chord with kids
MADISON, WI (December 10, 2013) — The credit union industry’s musical duo, The Disclosures, have released a financial education album for kids called “The Secret to Being Rich”, which is now available for purchase on the band’s website and all major digital music stores.
The album features ten original songs for ages 10 and under, written by band members Christopher Morris (National Credit Union Foundation) and Chad Helminak (Wisconsin Credit Union League), that incorporate core financial literacy concepts including saving, responsible spending, the importance of charity, dangers of “too good to be true” advertising and even the basics of how loans work.
Furthermore, the album’s overall theme ties into its tongue-in-cheek title, which is meant to conveys to kids that being ‘rich’ takes hard work and discipline, and that you can also be wealthy in friends, family and other things in life that can matter much more than the money in your wallet.
“‘The Secret to Being Rich’ album has lyrics rooted in money and life lessons but we’ve mixed in stories about pirates, superheroes and non sequiturs that kids should have fun singing along with,” said Helminak. “Of course, our hope is that other age groups will enjoy the music too.”
The album has been a year in the making for Morris and Helminak, whose experience in producing credit union songs, videos and presentations helped them to realize an opportunity to deliver money lessons through music.
“We’ve found that music and humor can be very effective ways of reinforcing learning,” said Morris. “Since we both work closely financial education programs in our day jobs, we knew this was an important direction to take our music in and help a wider audience.”
The Disclosures have also developed discussion materials for teachers and parents, as well as a classroom performance which they’ll be debuting in a Texas elementary school tour in February, 2014.
For this second album, Morris and Helminak looked to step up their game their by having Squirrel Trench Audio mix and produce the album – who those in the credit union industry might know better as Morriss Partee of EverythingCU.com – and also Sissybird Design to create the album artwork, which is Lesley Clark of Tinker Federal CU.
“The credit union industry has been very supportive of our music since we started, so we thought it was important to ‘keep it in the family’ and were fortunate to call on the talents of Morriss and Lesley to improve our sound and look for kids,” said Morris.
“The Secret to Being Rich” album is available for download on all major digital music stores such as iTunes, Amazon and others. Physical CDs also can be purchased at cdbaby.com, and The Disclosures will also be processing bulk orders of CDs at discount for purchase by financial institutions, schools or youth organizations. All ordering information and additional resources can be found on thedisclosuresmusic.com.
Earlier this year, The Disclosures released “Thank My Piggy Bank,” the first single and video from the album.