September 2022

Kids’ Money Books

Leave a Comment / Book Review / By Brian MacFarland

Last April, I put together a quick list of money books for kids to read for financial literacy month. Today, I’ve published a new version with a quick synopsis, money, lessons, appropriate ages, and a rating system.

I recommend kids read at least one money book every couple of months. Warren Buffett once said:

“Sometimes parents wait until their kids are in their teens before they start talking about managing money — when they could be starting when their kids are in preschool.”

As you’ll see, this list is far from complete. I still need to review a lot more of these books. I recommend starting with an age-appropriate book, then reading the quick synopsis to see if it sounds interesting. From there click the book title to read my review or the Amazon link to check out the reviews there. For the books that I haven’t read, the title takes you directly to Amazon.

Title/Review	Ages	Stars	Money Skills	Synopsis	Amazon	Words
M is for Money	3-6	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Money Words	This alphabet book introduces kids to money words. There are multiple money scenarios. Kids featured are from many nationalities.	See at Amazon	General
If You Made a Million	5-8	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Coins, Banking, Interest, Financial Independence	This books takes readers on a trip from the basics of coins, through how banks make money, to financial independence of living off of interest	See at Amazon	General
Grandpa's Fortune Fables	7-13	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Comprehensive Variety of Money Skills	Fourteen chapters cover a variety of financial topics such as saving, investing, taxes, debt, charity, and home ownership. The book has a code at the end of each chapter that can be used on the author’s website.	See at Amazon	General
The Golden Quest	8-12	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Smart Spending, Savings, Compount Interest, Philanthropy, Financial Independence	The Golden Quest is unique because it is a graphic novel. Kids will generally want to read it if you leave it lying around. Most kids can finish it in a couple of hours.	See at Amazon	General
American Girl’s Guide to Money	12-16	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Entrepreneurism	American Girl’s Guide to Money is perfect for a teen girls who are interested in starting their own companies.	See at Amazon	General
Rich Kids	12-Adult	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Few Money Skills, Life Skills	Rich Kids is not the typical book to teach kids about money. Instead it teaches other traits for success. It’s a great supplement book for when your kid has read too many money books. The target audience, whether it is for kids or adults is unclear.	See at Amazon	General
Investing for Kids	10-14	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Investing	Investing for Kids is a great book for tweens and teens looking to learning one thing: investing. It covers bank, stock, bond, and start-up investing well, but barely touches real estate investing.	See at Amazon	General
A Boy, a Budget, and a Dream	Kids				See at Amazon	General
A Chair for My Mother	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Curious George Saves His Pennies	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Give It! (A Moneybunny Book)	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Harmoney & the Empty Piggy Bank: A Book about Money, Budgeting, Entrepreneurship, and Persistence	Kids				See at Amazon	General
If Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Where Does it Grow?	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Make Your Own Money: How Kids Can Earn It, Save It, Spend It, and Dream Big, with Danny Dollar, the King of Cha-Ching	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Malik's First Job: Financial Tips for Teens and Young Adults	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Milton the Money Savvy Pup: Brings Home the Bacon	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Molly Earns Her Pie	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Money Plan	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Moneytopia: Earning: Financial Literacy for Children	Kids				See at Amazon	General
No, No, Sonny, Save That Money! A Fun Rhyming Book about Money, Saving, & Investing	Kids				See at Amazon	General
One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Pennies for Piggy	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock	Kids				See at Amazon	General
The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money	Kids				See at Amazon	General
The Four Money Bears	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Three Cups	Kids				See at Amazon	General
Ultimate Kids' Money Book	Kids				See at Amazon	General

(Originally Published: Apr 4, 2022)

Brian MacFarland

Brian MacFarland has reached more than 10 million people on his personal finance journey to financial independence. He’s been featured in the Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, and Lifehacker.

Read more on the About page.

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Ten Ways to Make Your Kid a Millionaire!

Leave a Comment / Kid Wealth News / By Brian MacFarland

Most of the articles at Kid Wealth are designed to make your kid a millionaire. However, here are ten specific ideas. One of the significant advantages of writing for kids is that they’ve got time and moldability. It’s harder for adults who have responsibilities, less time, and are more set in their ways.

1. Learn and Use Compound Interest

Regular readers know that teaching compound interest was going to come first. In particular, a kid Roth IRA can compound for five or six decades and be withdrawn tax-free.

If you don’t want to wait several decades, there are some ways to speed up the process.

2. Choose a High Paying Career

I love teachers. Unfortunately, their pay very much compared to architects and engineers. Some studies show that engineers have lifetime earnings of $4 million, while teachers are half that.

When you make more, you can save more and invest more.

3. Avoid Debt

Debt is compound interest working against you. You can’t save and invest while paying off a mountain of debt.

Not all debt is bad. Some debt, such as starter homes or state school college, can pay off down the line. Be very cautious about six-figure student loan debt – make sure it’s a top-earning career like a doctor or lawyer.

Avoid McMansions.

4. Limit Your Biggest Expenses

Why avoid McMansions?

Housing and transportation typically combine for half of people’s expenses. Big houses lead to more furniture, have higher property taxes, and require more energy to heat and cool. There are more maintenance costs.

McMansions also typically cost more money. That means taking out a bigger mortgage and more debt. A smarter money move would be to buy a tiny house and invest the savings. That may be a little extreme, but there are many types of house hacking, from getting roommates to live-in house flipping.

Buying an older used car without all the bells and whistles is also intelligent.

Most kids don’t need to worry about big expenses until they are legally adults, but it’s wise to build this foundation at a young age. I know many young adults who get their first job and spend too much on a first house. Similarly, many kids spend too much on a car when they get that first paycheck.

5. Maximize Assets and Limit Liabilities

Kids should learn the difference between assets and liabilities. For me, this was like flipping a switch in my brain. I stopped buying a lot of “stuff” unless it was shares of stock.

If you had $400 when Apple released the first iPod, you could have bought an iPod that would most likely be in a landfill – or you could have bought Apple stock that would be worth nearly $180,000 today.

Of course, no one knew that Apple would be the fantastic success story it is today, but it’s a strong example. Kids may not know what an iPod is, but this is an excellent chance to give them a quick history lesson.

6. Start a Business

Get kids motivated to start a business. Once they start thinking about how businesses work, they’re more likely to explore side hustles.

7. Increase Social Capital

I have helped a few friends find jobs, and I’ve had a few friends help me find employment. Some jobs are paid well, and we’ve all been happy with the arrangement. In fact, I’ve almost always been hired through word of mouth.

So teaching kids how to network can certainly pay off.

8. Learn More by Getting a Book

Here’s a list of kids money books. I’ve written several reviews to help you decide which book is best for you.

Of course, you could also get the book, Make Your Kid a Millionaire. I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it.

9. Learn More by Watching a Video

Looking for more ideas on how to make your kid a millionaire? Check out this video:

10. Be Lucky

Let’s end on a fun one. There will always be stories about someone who made it big through some quirk. Maybe they won a lottery. Perhaps they created a YouTube that went viral. Okay, that takes much more than luck, but luck is involved.

There’s a famous quote: “Luck is the residue of design.” All the above items are part of a design. When you have a good plan, good luck is likely to follow you.

The most likely way to make your kid a millionaire is a combination of the above. Maybe your kid isn’t getting a full scholarship to Harvard Medical School. Perhaps your kid is better suited for live-in house flipping. Since you are reading this site, I know you can set your kid up with investing and compound interest at an early age.

Brian MacFarland

Read more on the About page.

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The Golden Quest (Book Review)

Leave a Comment / Book Review / By Brian MacFarland

I recently went to a financial literacy conference and met many fantastic creators. One of them is author David Delisle who was selling his book, The Golden Quest.

It caught my eye more than any other book at the conference for one reason. It’s a graphic novel. My kids, ages 8 and 9, love graphic novels – especially Captain Underpants and Dog Man by author Dav Pilkey. They prefer graphic novels so much that getting them to read standard books can be challenging. I don’t mind, because any reading is good reading.

David Delisle has a great trick… taking personal finance to a format that kids are happy to read. As much as I like all the money lessons in Grandpa’s Fortune Fables, it’s hard to get them to read “Dad’s money books” (Ugh!) A graphic novel eliminates that pain point.

Not only will the kids want to read it, but they’ll also probably do it in one sitting.

The Golden Quest Good

Getting the kids to read a personal finance book is 80% of the battle in my experience. What kind of book review doesn’t cover the remaining 20% – the concepts that the kids learn. Fortunately, The Golden Quest excels in this area covering the following:

Spending on the important stuff
This is a lesson that even adults could use. By adults, I’m talking about the man in the mirror, at least. I have bought way too much less-than-awesome-stuff.
Pay yourself first
I’ve always been good at saving. I’m not sure if my kids are more savers or spenders at this point. We’ll have to experiment more. I’ve got some ideas, and they’ll be part of an article in the future. In the short term, we’ll continue with giving an allowance and letting them make money mistakes
The power of compound interest
The day after reading the book, my 9-year-old said he could be a millionaire by age 77. The book explained that savings could double in 7 years through investing. I wish I could say that he did the math to learn that $500 doubling 11 times is a million. The book did the math for a half million in 10 years and then made the leap of the next year.
It was incredible that he brought this up to me! It started a conversation, and I explained that he could invest another $500 yearly to get there even faster. I also said that while $500 seems like a mountain of money at his age now, he’s already had much more than that saved from his birthdays. He also has a lot more in his kid Roth IRA. He’s already got a couple of decades of $500 doubling done.
Giving back
Many books talk about giving but don’t cover some of the advantages of giving. This book explained that not only do you become emotionally rich when you give, but you also build social capital.
Financial Freedom
What good is only spending money on important stuff and saving and investing if it’s just a number in a bank account? The answer is that you can buy your time and experiences… and, of course, that awesome stuff.

These are some of the most important money lessons.

The Golden Quest Bad

One of my kids said it was about a five on a scale of one to ten. The other kid rated it a four. At first glance, those aren’t good ratings. However, these are kids, and they don’t live in a world where nearly everything from Amazon to Uber to Rover dog sitters gets perfect grades for delivering on basic expectations. They look at it as Dav Pilkey novels earning nines. If you grade on the curve of personal finance books, I’m sure it’s their favorite.

My oldest had a notable nitpick – the hero didn’t have a name. He said, “How can you name the dog and not name the main character?” I didn’t even notice it. I think it was intentional so that the reader can imagine themselves as the main character.

I had a minor nitpick as well. A page showed an Albert Einstein cartoon character with the chapter heading “Compound Interest – The most powerful force in the universe.” This phrase is often attributed to Einstein, which is heavily implied on this page. However, there’s no evidence that he said anything like that in his lifetime according to this extensive Snopes research. This minor criticism probably says more about me and has nothing to do with teaching kids about money.

Final Thoughts on The Golden Quest

When I first read The Golden Quest, I thought, “That’s great, but now there needs to be a sequel to teach everything else that it didn’t cover.” After re-reading it and writing this review, I’ve changed my mind. It covers the most essential points of what kids need to know about money entertainingly. I can’t understand what a huge win it is.

The Golden Quest is the kind of book that should probably be re-read at least once a year for a few years. It has tremendous value with a time commitment of about an hour. I would recommend reading it before Grandpa’s Fortune Fables to pique kids’ interest in money.

Brian MacFarland

Read more on the About page.

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Buy This… or That?

Leave a Comment / Money Smart Kids / By Brian MacFarland

We got back from a Disney cruise a couple of weeks ago. My kids thought it was the best time of their lives. They couldn’t wait to do it again next year.

The only problem is… Disney cruises are very, very expensive. Going every year isn’t in the budget. I explained to them that it costs us nearly $1,000 each day when you count the cost of flying, excursions, ground transportation, and other incidentals. They were able to understand that it is a big number. However, they don’t have a reference to compare it to.

That’s when I realized I had to give them a comparison they’d understand. I explained that Great Wolf Lodge, a long weekend they loved before the pandemic, was closer to $250 a day. I said that we could spend nearly two months at Great Wolf Lodge for what we spent on the Disney Cruise. My oldest responded that he’d prefer that longer vacation at Great Wolf. My youngest disagreed – he liked visiting Norway and the other countries.

I often like to ask them about alternative ways to spend money. In this case, I said we decided on the Disney cruise because mom and I haven’t traveled to Europe for more than a decade. We get more value from visiting Westminster Abbey than the cute upselling wolf. We also can’t take two months off from work. I also explained that we chose Disney because we knew it would be a good vacation for them too. Everyone gets a little of what they want.

I’ve been looking into next year, and it seems that Royal Caribbean has a cruise that costs only about one-third of the Disney one. We found some videos online, and they looked like they had fun stuff for kids to do too. They said that they’d be interested in that cruise too. We’d be able to go on that cruise, a road trip to Hershey, PA, and have some money left over for a weekend or two at Great Wolf Lodge.

As we ended the conversation, I explained that one of my jobs is to write about making money choices. Spending money wisely is as important as earning it.

It’s hard for young kids to know about all these options. They don’t have the life experience and access to the tools to evaluate costs. These “buy this… or that?” conversations are critical for helping them grow their money skills.

Brian MacFarland

Read more on the About page.

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Rich Kids (Book Review)

Leave a Comment / Book Review / By Brian MacFarland

Happy Labor Day! This is a great weekend to watch the Teen Titans Go episode Labor Day. It’s perfect for teaching kids the value of hard work. (Of course, we’re big fans of the Teen Titans Go!’s money lessons, so check those out too.)

In other news, we are back from our vacation. One great thing about having wealth is that we can take our kids on a European Disney Cruise. I bet there aren’t too many American kids who get to see Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, and England. Disney cruises aren’t cheap; we’ll probably do Royal Caribbean next time. I’m extremely grateful that my parents helped me learn about money from a young age. There wasn’t much downtime, but I did manage to read Rich Kids by Tom Corley.

I learned about the book while reading CNBC’s website one day. The author had studied the habits of a few hundred millionaires and distilled them into a book called “Rich Habits.” I looked into that book briefly, but when I saw he had a book, “Rich Kids,” I focused my attention there instead.

The Structure of “Rich Kids”

Rich Kids has an unusual structure. The author is taking his 12-year-old son on a long road trip. His son confesses that he looked in his dad’s secret journal that he carries everywhere and is curious about it. That begins the author’s story about his summer when he was 12 years old. That summer was the best summer any kid had in the history of the world. I’m barely exaggerating.

When Tom was twelve, his parents sent him to spend the summer with his grandfather, J.C. Jobs, who seems to be a fictional character. You can think of him as a Tony Robbins figure – an inspirational speaker with more money than he can ever spend.

The book is 180 pages, but it reads very quickly because there are about 40 chapters, each making at least a blank page. The story goes back and forth between various life lessons and tall tales of J.C. and Tom’s adventures – dinner with the President of the United States with J.C.’s picture in the Oval Office. Emeril Lagasse made Tom and all his friends dinner after they traveled to New Orleans from New Jersey. There are helicopter rides, hot air balloon rides, etc. J.C.’s so rich and doesn’t work all summer – except for that one speech for the President at the White House.

If you remove the ~~filler~~ entertainment parts, there are probably about 70 pages of helpful content. Because the chapters were short, it felt like a series of great list-based blog articles. One example is a four-page chapter on health covering diet and exercise. It’s a good enough summary of the main points and helps emphasize that diet and exercise are essential to living a life of wealth*. There are also a lot of chapters on positive thinking and attitude. There’s a chapter on rich emotions like love and gratitude. There’s a chapter about avoiding poor habits like watching television and playing video games for more than one hour.

One chapter that I particularly liked has you write detailed letters to yourself about what your life looks like in one year, five years, ten years, and an obituary. The obituary might be too far for a kid, but long-term planning is important. I found that keeping and maintaining a “things I like” list can help as well.

Nitpicks of “Rich Kids”

I found only two things a little annoying in Rich Kids.

One brief mention of multi-level marketing (MLM) as a way to make some extra money. Over 99% of people in MLM lose money. Rich Kids was written in 2014, a little before the gig economy started to take off. A kid could make more money mowing one lawn than the vast majority of people will ever make in MLM.
There wasn’t much mention of financial literacy or personal finance. With an author who is a CPA and CFP, you would expect some basic information about investing or compound interest. Many more pages are spent on the fictional J.C. Jobs’s luxurious spending than explaining how he built and managed his wealth.

Final Thoughts about “Rich Kids”

Every book for helping kids with money has been evident in who its intended audience is… except for Rich Kids. The subtitle is “How to Raise Our Children to be Happy and Successful in Life,” so one would think it is aimed at parents. However, the material about J.C. taking Tom on trips seems aimed more toward keeping kids interested. Some parts of the book have detailed lists that may be better suited for posters or another medium that can be reinforced repeatedly over time.

Rich Kids is a very good book for supplementing the financial literacy books we typically cover at Kid Wealth. When we focus so much on money, we can lose sight of the character traits that are important in anyone’s definition of a successful life.

Brian MacFarland

Read more on the About page.

If you enjoyed this article please Support Kid Wealth

Kids’ Money Books

Ten Ways to Make Your Kid a Millionaire!

The Golden Quest (Book Review)

The Golden Quest Good

The Golden Quest Bad

Final Thoughts on The Golden Quest

Buy This… or That?

Rich Kids (Book Review)

The Structure of “Rich Kids”

Nitpicks of “Rich Kids”

Final Thoughts about “Rich Kids”

Kid Wealth is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. I am not a financial adviser. Kid Wealth content is for educational purposes only and the information should not be construed as professional financial advice.

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