Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109685 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Janet Bodnar is a wife, mother, household manager, author and deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.  As a nationally recognized expert on family finances, she is a popular speaker, is frequently quoted in the media and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, The Early Show, and Good Morning America.  Janet also pens a column for AOL's Coach program.

Customer Reviews

What a parent needs to know to help their kids understand money
With each generation the children seem to have more money available to them than their parents. With this should come responsibility and learning how to spend or save wisely. The problem is that most just learn to spend as soon as they get it, get it by begging parents or an allowance with no responsibilities involved or similar. Enter Janet Bodnar, deputy-editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, mother of three, and writer of the Money Smart Kids column in Kiplinger Magazine. This is not a collection of hard and fast rules to force good finance habits onto kids but a framework within which parents can use good common sense to handle any situation. The book starts with a quiz to test your money smarts. This quiz is excellent and presents most of the potential situations you are likely to encounter with children and money. The author even includes examples of questions kids ask and how to answer them. One of the insightful sections is one on how kids think about money and how to deal with these concepts from preschool to teenager. Ms. Bodnar even includes a fascinating chapter on questions and answers about money's history, composition, and dozens of other miscellaneous facts. Prepare your children to know how to deal with money when they are grown. Raising Money Smart Kids is highly recommended.

Allowances, Jobs, and Other Money Issues Parents Need to Address
Too many children think their parents have an endless supply of money for them to tap into. When denied a purchase, they think the parent is being mean. Setting up a structure and helping your child understand and respect money is a chore, but it will pay off in the long run.
I like that the author advises against credit cards for teens and that she gives advice for dealing with adult children returning home.
Here's what is covered in the book:
Quiz: Test Your Money Smarts
Chapter 1: The Perils of Being an Expert [or The Perils of Giving Advice, or something else]
Chapter 2: A Kid's-Eye View of Money
Chapter 3: The Adman Cometh
Chapter 4: The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree
Chapter 5: Small Change: The Preschool Years
Chapter 6: Surviving with 'Tweens
Chapter 7: Why Is Money Green?
Chapter 8: Allowances: A Hands-On Experience
Chapter 9: Penny Wise: Kids & Saving
Chapter 10: Your Kid, the Investment Guru
Chapter 11: Of Lawnmowing & Milkshake Stands
Chapter 12: Teens: The Early Years
Chapter 13: To Work or Not to Work?
Chapter 14: Off to College & On Their Own (Sort of)
Chapter 15: Giving & Getting with Grace & Gratitude
Chapter 16: Lost Wallets & Other Sticky Situations
Chapter 17: Money-Smart Grandparents
Chapter 18: Mission Nearly Accomplished
Chpater 19: They're Back. Now What?

Keep your highlighter handy...
This book is an easy educational read, providing parents with different options to handle financial decisions when raising their children. Keep your highlighter handy because you will want to use this book as a reference book. Use your highlighter to mark ideas along with websites so you can refer to them easily. (Probably all this book is missing is a quick resource listing all the websites in one place.)

One of my favorite chapters was "A Kid's Eye View of Money" which gives a glimpse of how children think. Devoting an entire chapter to this subject might surprise parent's, get our attention, and make us think twice. (I consider my children above average when it comes to their financial education but one day, one surprised me when she said, "Mom, the banks don't USE our money...") In this chapter, Janet Bodnar highlights many other examples where children's view of personal finance may need just a little more clarification from adults.

Some chapters are distinguished by age, but I recommend parents be sure to read all chapters. Many ideas are applicable to children of all ages. So, don't skip chapters thinking, "My child is older so I don't need to read that." You do and will be glad you did.

There is hardly a dull moment because topics are presented with both humorous examples and letters the author received from both parents and children. Readers will likely relate to more than one of these tales with a, "Been there, my child's done that..." and, "Oh yeah, we still have to address that..." attitude. This book provides issues for parents to think about along with many choices for solutions. It should be part of every family's home library.