Plot

Scrooge McDuck teaches Huey, Dewey and Louie the basics about money & its history, economics and investing.

Huey, Dewey and Louie stop by to see Scrooge McDuck and ask for advice on making their savings grow; he tells them the history of money and the basics of economics. There's also a segment on how large a billion is, and another on budgeting (both personal and governmental). Amazingly enough, Scrooge is a big fan of putting money to work, not just stashed in a vault (he claims his vault is just petty cash that moves in and out daily). He then explains investing, and sells the boys a share of Scrooge, Inc.—Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>

Huey, Dewey, and Louie visit their uncle Scrooge McDuck, who is currently playing with his money in his bank vault. The boys have collected the sum of 1 dollar and 95 cents in their piggy bank, and they want Scrooge to safe-keep it for them. Scrooge tells them that saving money is important, but feels that they should have a better understanding of money.

Scrooge starts with a history lesson on the salary. He reports that Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and that the English term "salary" derives from the Roman term "salarium", which was used for payments in salt.

One of the nephews then sees a Spanish "piece of eight" in Scrooge's collection, and describes it as a pirate coin. Scrooge delivers a lesson on how the piece of eight was split in smaller parts for use. He then demonstrates Ancient Greek obols, tiny coins which were kept in the owner's mouth. He explains how the Greeks used these in the marketplace.

Scrooge then shows them a giant stone wheel, which was used in stead of money in the Island of Yap. He then delivers a history lesson about trade and money. His story starts in prehistory, when cavemen traded with each other. They exchanged spears, tiger skins, and stone tools, but they had no money. Which meant that there were not yet generally agreed standards of value. The cavemen in the story realize that they need money, but are unable to resolve their problem.

Scrooge's story continues with humanity using various items and live animals (such as goats) as standards of value, which could be used in trade. They eventually settle on using valuable metals for trade: bronze, copper, silver, and gold. The next stage in the process was the creation of metallic coins, with images on both sides of the coin.

Skipping ahead in time, Scrooge explains about the creation of paper bills (paper money). As it became impractical to carry cash at all times, the next stages were the creation of cashier's checks and credit cards. In Scrooge's story, the need for money did not change, but the process of using money has changed.

The nephews suggest that printing more money could resolve monetary needs, and they seem to thing that a billion dollars is a reasonable sum. Scrooge tries to explain what an enormous sum a billion dollars actually is. He then explains that simply printing money would lead to inflation, and the devaluation of money.

Scrooge then proceeds to explain that "economics" derives from a Greek term for household management, which is essentially a matter of budgeting. He shows them a person's income in the form of a pie. Budgeting means that various pieces of this pie are used to cover the person's expenses, and that proper budgeting should help them cover all immediate monetary needs. He then reminds them that a piece of that pie is used to pay the income tax.

Scrooge proceeds to explain that taxes are the government's method of gaining an income, balancing its budget. He demonstrates the importance of these taxes in financing government-funded projects, such as schools, transport infrastructure, the police, and the fire department.

The lesson turns from talking about budgets to talking about investments. Scrooge explains that as ocean currents determine the planet's climate, money circulation determines the planet's economy. Leaving your money to stagnate is trapping yourself. The nephews point out that Scrooge is storing money, but Scrooge claims that the money in his vault are just "petty cash". He is actually constantly investing his money.

Scrooge turns the conversation to how the nephews should invest their money, and he convinces them to invest their money in one of his own corporations. He charges them a fee of 3 cents for his lessons and his advice, explaining that nothing is free of charge, With a few further comments on the importance of investments, the film ends.