When New England Patriot wide receiver Wes Welker isn’t busy training and setting records, he’s out there making the world a better place. I’ve written in the past how he’s motivated me. When he’s not doing New Kids on the Block songs and dances for charity (see the previous link), he’s teaching children in Hawaii the value of personal finance.

Welker passes along the kind of advice that we’ve been preaching for some time in these parts – things like “save 10 percent of their income and ‘make sure to put away substantial amounts for rainy days ahead.'” as well as “As far as shopping… I just to pass that on to them… you can’t spend more than you have coming in.” What’s his encore, bring about world peace?

I’m giving Welker all the credit here simply because I’m an extremely biased Patriots’ fan. The larger truth is that San Francisco 49er Patrick Willis is spreading the word with him. However to be completely fair, the credit should go to Visa for sponsoring the event and coming up with a way to make personal finance fun. They created a personal finance quiz game. It’s loosely based on football where you move the ball down the field with each correct answer. The kids in this video seem to love it.

I played a round of the online game and didn’t share their enthusiasm. It seems to be a two player game. While it was fairly easy for me to score with the Patriots (except for the silly question of how much does 500 one-dollar bills weigh), I found myself intentionally choosing the wrong answers when the Colts had the ball. I would have liked to played some defense instead, but that’s just me. And while I found the questions on the easy side, for the age group (and someone not a personal finance nut) it may be appropriate and something that I’d introduce my children to (if I had kids). It would be interesting to see if they could beat dad on the gridiron.

I’ve said it in the past make personal finance a fun game and you’ll see change.