Raising Financially Confident Kids

I’m trying to finish my stack of bought, unread books before I go to the library. We’ll see how long I last.

financiallyconfidentkidsI just finished Raising Financially Confident Kids by Mary Hunt, founder of Debt-Proof Living. I picked it up at Ollie’s last month (a great place to find books!!!). I know money management is important, but I feel almost at a loss for how to teach David financial matters.

I enjoyed reading how Hunt and her husband gave their boys a monthly “salary” from which the boys could choose how they’d spend their money. (This was essentially the money that they had been spending anyway on their boys.) Each year, the boys would receive more money, but also more responsibility (more areas that they’d have to pay for – clothing, school supplies, etc.)

Hunt also included very practical tips such as ways to work with children and money at their developmental ages. She recommends that when going shopping with your preschool children to always use cash instead of a card, so they don’t get the idea of a “magic card” that gets you whatever you want. This is something I will have to work on. I always seem to be without cash.

Some parts of the book were a little long-winded and repetitive for me, but there was enough practical food-for-thought for me to keep this on my bookshelf.