Raising Money Smart Kids Book Review

Raising Money Smart Kids: What They Need to Know about Money and How to Tell Them (Kiplinger's Personal Finance) by Janet Bodnar is a kids money book geared to help parents teach their children how to be money savvy. Since children today have more power to spend money thanks to credit than any generation before, it is more important than ever to teach children about the importance of saving and spending wisely.

Bodnar helps parents understand how to teach their children about money. She starts the book by giving a “Money Smart” quiz. By having the reader take the quiz, there is a base understanding where the reader is starting off in their own money use knowledge. At the end of many of the chapters, the author gives several questions that children often ask and some reasonable answers to them. “Are we poor?” and “How much money do we make?” are some questions that kids ask that tend to be a little tricky. Bodnar helps navigate the conversations for a smoother ride. Teaching children about money frugality, saving, and investing is what this book is about.

Because Raising Money Smart Kids is a little longer in length, it offers more in depth details and scenarios. The author is a well renounced expert in the subject of finance and a mother to three so she is well equipped to speak on the subject of finance and kids. Bodnar takes a practical approach to questions and how to answer them.

One of the best features of the book is that the book starts out with the money quiz. This helps the reader understand where they are at in terms of financial literacy. Some concepts may need to be grasped fully by the parent before trying to relay the information to the child, although a great way to learn as a parent is to take on the task of teaching your child.

It is helpful that Raising Money Smart Kids starts out with a quiz so the reader can judge where they are in terms of financial literacy. It also helps that Bodnar is an expert on the subject as well as a mother. She has the schooling and book knowledge as well as practical application from being a parent. The author is not afraid to tackle the difficult and often uncomfortable questions, but rather has practical and reasonable answers suited to the child’s age and maturity level. This is a well written book that has helped many parents ensure their child is financially literate.