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.
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Halloween is just a week and a half away. This is the time of year for witches, ghosts, candy, and kid money lessons. Wait, kid money lessons?
Yep.
We all know how Halloween night is supposed to go. Kids get dressed up in costumes, and they go door-to-door ringing bells, saying “Trick or Treat,” and get some free, delicious Halloween candy.
What if, instead of just giving candy, the response was “cash or candy?”
If you cheated and didn’t go read the article, then:
Shame on you
I’ll give you a little summary
Jaffe has played games with kids where they either forgo candy or trade candy they already have. In return, they can have a guaranteed cash prize and/or a chance at a bigger cash prize.
The idea is simple… get kids thinking about value.
Almost all the kids took the money when the offer was simply cash. That makes sense; they can get candy from every other house. Over the years, the kids visiting Jaffe’s home seem to know he’s “the money house.” The kids almost always take that option, even when it’s just a gamble. And why wouldn’t they? It’s fun.
What if kids were given big candy bars? Everyone knows that the houses that give out the big bars are rare. They’re more valuable.
Experiment: Would Kids Choose Cash or Big Candy
I found this YouTube video about how one house offered kids a $2.50 giant bar or a dollar bill. Clearly, the giant bar of candy has more value. However, kids can still get candy from everyone else, and cash is rare. It turns out that about 25% took the dollar bill. There are a few other interesting things that the person learned. I don’t want to give it all away, so watch it below:
Final Thoughts
I’d love to try out some of this stuff at Halloween myself. However, we only get two or three groups of trick-or-treaters every year. I’m not sure I’d learn too much or increase the financial literacy of too many kids.
One of the more interesting side effects of Cash or Candy is that kids walk away with less candy. That’s less sugar, cavities, and obesity.
Finally, if Cash or Candy isn’t your thing and you find yourself with too much candy, you can always try “Cash FOR Candy.” This program run by HeathyWage will give you cash for sending your candy to overseas troops. They have limited cash to give, so you need to act fast.
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.
Many adults need to learn how to budget. If they don’t, their lives can become more difficult as they build debt. That means they spend much of their paycheck simply paying interest to the bank.
Fortunately, when you start teaching younger kids, they can build good budgeting habits before bad ones set in. One of the problems with teaching budgeting is that it can be quite boring to kids. Kids are often a little interested in how much things cost, but they don’t really want to know where the money goes.
They’d rather play a game. So let’s give them what they want – a game!
Budget Project for Kids
In my son’s fourth grade class, the teacher used this specific Wants and Needs Budget Project. It’s free from Teachers Pay Teachers. Since this one is free, maybe I should call it “Teachers Don’t Pay Teachers.”
The student is “hypothetically” dropped off on an island. They are given $1450 to spend but must get needs (shelter, clothing, food) and wants (entertainment such as internet access, game station, tablets, streaming service, Legos, dolls, etc.)
The shelter has three options: a mansion, a house, and an apartment. The mansion has entertainment, such as a movie theater and playground. However, it eats up most of the budget.
There are two clothing stores: a fancy store and a normal store. According to my son, very few students picked the fancy store. Given the context of being dropped off on an island (presumably alone), why would anyone choose the fancy store?
Next, the kid has to pick out food to bring to the island. Most kids will pick a lot of their favorite foods.
The problem with the food and clothing instructions is that there needs to be an indication of how much to bring. You have to eat and wear clothes for a month. If you choose to spend $6 on bacon… is that going to last a month? It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to know exactly how many shirts or pants to buy. Does the housing have a washer and dryer for laundry? Shoes are a clothing option. Do kids need to buy shoes? Or can they skip them since they are likely already wearing shoes when getting dropped off on the island?
The teacher (or parent) should provide some guidance on how much to buy of each. Perhaps the food should be normalized to a 30-day supply. Or maybe the food should be simplified into three choices: a meager (bread and water) tier, a middle tier, and a fancy tier (a 30-day supply of their favorite foods)
Finally, there is the “Want” store. This is the fun stuff that kids love. Kids can buy art supplies, game systems, tablets, internet access, streaming services, Pokemon cards, Legos, books, etc.
I wish I knew what my son picked for his “wants.” Maybe he remembers, and I’ll update this article later. If it were me, I’d go with the Kindle, internet access, and a streaming service. I would choose Netflix, but I bet both kids would choose Disney+.
Final Thoughts
The creator of this budget project specifically noted that it’s useful for math. I think the idea was to create an interesting scenario for kids so that doing all the addition isn’t dull. That’s probably why all the foods are listed separately rather than three plans. It’s more math to add up the cost of bananas, chicken, and bottles of juice than it would be to choose one price for a tier of a food plan.
There may be better tools to teach financial literacy than this budget project. However, it’s a great introduction to financial literacy.
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.
Ask a kid if they want to start a business, and you’ll probably get a mixed response. Some kids are excited for a new adventure. Other kids may see it as a lot of work. A kid with either opinion is correct: Starting a business is both an adventure and a lot of work.
If you have a tween kid who is motivated to start a business this is the book for you. Kid Start-Up was written by Mark Cuban, Shaan Patel, and Ian McCue. I speculate that Patel and McCue may have done most of the writing, and Cuban lent his name to give the book credibility. I have difficulty believing he carved out a lot of time from his hundreds of business ventures to write a kid’s book.
I believe there are two clear-cut ways to make your kid a millionaire. One follows traditional personal finance methods such as saving, earning, and investing. Teaching compound interest will take them a long way. The second way to make your kid a millionaire is to teach them to be entrepreneurs. Kid Start-Up is the perfect guide for that path.
Kid Start-up Summary
Kid Start-up was written for kids. While the authors claim that kids ages 8 and 9 can follow it, I think it might be better suited for kids who are a little older. In fact, some of the advice is perfect for adults. I’m going to go through each chapter and highlight what is covered:
Chapter 1: What is an Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is someone who starts a business to make money. To be an entrepreneur, you must have an idea and take action on it. For example, I had the idea for Kid Wealth over five years ago. I only took action to make it a reality about a year and a half ago. Of course, right now, Kid Wealth isn’t much of a business – it doesn’t make money. Maybe it will make money and become a business someday. In the meantime, I enjoy the hobby of writing it.
One of the important things to know about being an entrepreneur is that they fail. Some of them fail a lot. Failure can be a good thing. As Jake from Adventure Time says:
The good thing about failing as a kid is that you get started on that first step to being good early.
Successful entrepreneurs have five main traits. They are hard-working, enthusiastic, creative, flexible, and motivated. I feel enthusiasm and motivation go hand-in-hand, but the authors decided to write about them separately.
The main thing that an entrepreneur aims to do is to create value for someone else (usually a customer). You help them solve a problem they are having. For example, imagine you are a parent of a kid who wants to start a business. You want to help your kid learn how to start a business, but how? The authors of this book solve that problem by putting it all in the Kid Start-Up book. You spend a few dollars to give your child the knowledge of several successful entrepreneurs.
The authors of the book created a business that sells that knowledge. If people have problems like their grass growing too fast and crazy, kids can create a business that mows lawns for neighbors.
Chapter 2: The Kid Entreprenuer
Kid entrepreneurs have a few advantages that adults don’t have. The book repeats the message that by starting, young kids have more time to learn from the mistakes they make. However, the book is realistic. Kids are in school a lot, so they have to plan their time outside of school well. That can mean cutting out video games and not watching Mr. Beast on YouTube. Kids need to use that time to build their businesses. There will be time later when they’ve made their millions.
Kid Start-Up makes the great point that when time is limited, people become more efficient. For example, if you have three months to read a book, you might take all three months. If you have three days, you’ll divide it into thirds and attack it a little each day. This chapter gives kids some basic productivity tips.
Success kid entrepreneurs say the following quotes every day:
“One Day at a Time”
“One Task at a Time”
“I Will Make Money”
“Two Hours for Business”
“My Reward Will Be…”
“My Goal Is to…”
The book also gives you the best predictor of success for entrepreneurs. Curious what it is? I’m not going to give it away: Buy the book to find out.
Chapter 3: Discovering Your Business Idea
The main idea of this chapter is to identify a problem in your daily life. You can’t help someone without some kind of problem. Once you have the problem, invent a solution with a product or service. Sell that solution and profit!
What’s the best business idea? It’s a business that you are good at and gets you excited about working hard. You need to have both of them if you are going to be successful.
Chapter 4: 10 Businesses Any Kid Can Start
This next chapter is just what the title says. It’s ten business ideas that kids can start. The two ideas that interested me the most are the scented soaps and making and selling duct tape wallets. One of my sons loves to cook, and the scented soaps would be up his alley. The other kid loves making things. He’s already made wallets out of construction paper just for his own amusement.
This chapter not only gives kids some concrete ideas but also walks them through the pricing examples. Kids will learn the cost of goods and how much profit they’ll make for each sale. Kids will also learn how and where to sell the products and services.
Chapter 5: Nuts & Bolts of Launching Your Business
This chapter walks kids through the technology that can be used to sell most products and services. Kids will learn how to make flyers, use social media, build a free website, and sell on eBay.
It finishes with a page on legal tips.
This chapter often recommends that kids work with their parents. In reality, very few of the ideas in this chapter make sense for an eight or 9-year-old. Parents will need to do nearly everything in this chapter.
Chapter 6: Successful Kid Entrepreneur Interviews
This chapter consisted of six interviews with six kids with successful businesses. These stories are motivational, but I don’t know how useful they are. The answers are often very specific to that specific kid’s business. They may not translate to a different business.
Chapter 7: 10 Business Principles Any Kid Can Follow
This chapter serves as a summary or reinforcement of the previous chapters. It brings it all together.
1. Business Ideas are Easy
Kid Start-Up stresses that coming up with a business idea is easy. I agree. I have at least ten business ideas that are just sitting around. What’s difficult is executing the ideas. It didn’t take me long to come up with the idea of a website that helps parents and kids learn about personal finance. It was a lot more work to find the domain, write the articles, promote it on social media, etc.
An important thing to note is that you shouldn’t guard your business ideas. Most likely, no one else has the time to execute your idea.
The section finishes with a template designed to guide kids to create an action plan.
2. Do What You Know
The best business to start is in a field that you already know. If you don’t have a dog and have never walked one, a dog walking business may not be a great idea. If you have no experience, you don’t know if you’ll be enthusiastic enough to work hard at it.
3. Don’t Expect to Win the Lottery
Starting a business is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It can seem like famous people on social media make money overnight. It’s extraordinarily rare to go viral on social media and also extraordinarily rare to make a big profit in your business right away.
Slow and steady wins the race. It will take some time to get your name out and for business to come in. Try to set some goals, such as making your first $100 in the first month. Then try to make $200 in the next month. Keep on trying to grow the business and profits.
4. Save Money to Make Money
You do not often see a frugal mindset mentioned in an entrepreneurial book. However, it makes a lot of sense. If you can keep your costs low, that’s less risk and more profit!
5. Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond
It’s better to do business in a small town with less competition. You wouldn’t open up a fast burger place right next to McDonalds. It’s better to find someplace with no McDonalds, even if fewer potential customers are there.
6. Make Money in Your Sleep
Be careful about trading time for money. It can work for some highly paid professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and plumbers. If you start an online business, you can make money in your sleep. For example, I could add advertisements to this website and make a little money throughout the day. However, my traffic is very low, and you might not want to look at advertisements. I’d prefer you email a friend or share Kid Wealth on social media. That’s more likely to happen if you have a great experience here.
(Are you having a great experience here? Let me know by leaving a comment.)
7. Just Start
This is perhaps the best advice in the whole book. The biggest thing is to get going with something. You can always change/modify/evolve it.
The only problem with this section is the assignment. It asks kids to take an online business idea from the previous section and build a website along with a payment system. At least it tells the 8-year-old to ask their parents to help with a PayPal account. The advice is to advertise the product or service even if you haven’t created the product or know how to do the service. I don’t think that’s a smart idea.
8. Be Obsessed
This may be the second most important advice in the book. If you are obsessed with your business, you will think about it every waking minute. That means you will want to work on it and improve it.
Kid Start-up separates passion from obsession. Obsession is much stronger than passion for something. It suggests writing some things that you are obsessed about. My oldest is obsessed with Pokemon. My youngest is obsessed with anything related to Legos. Maybe they could each have their own YouTube channel.
9. Give Something to Get Something
The advice here is to give away something for free to hook your customer. For example, you can offer the first car wash for free. I could offer a free ebook for Kid Wealth in exchange for your email address. Perhaps when I create a product (such as an online course), I could sell it to you.
In fact, the example they give is to create an eBook to give away. However, I don’t know how many 8-year-olds can write a 10-page eBook.
10. Start a Service-based Business
Finally, Kid Start-up suggests selling a service-based business instead of a product-based one. It feels like they ran out of ideas and just wanted to make an even number of ten business principles.
Chapter 8: Extra Content
The extra content is a page on affiliate marketing, which is completely inappropriate for a kid under ten. Next, there’s a glossary, which is a lot more valuable. Finally, there’s a list of software and online resources that can help you get going. Some examples are art programs for designing flyers or free website hosting services.
Final Thoughts on Kid Start-Up
Mark Cuban and other Kid Start-Up authors
Kid Start-Up is the best book on entrepreneurism for kids. The only nitpick is that the suggestions often go beyond the target ages of 8-9 years old.
It’s very difficult to imagine a book on entrepreneurism because it can be very vague. Kid Start-Up has to cover the process of creating any type of product or service. Yet it does it very well. I felt like I was ready to start a new company after reading it.
“Kid Start-Up” is not just a book; it’s a call to action for the next generation of entrepreneurs. It encourages kids to dream big, work hard, and take the first step toward creating their future. Mark Cuban’s passion for entrepreneurship and dedication to empowering young minds shine through every page, making this book a must-read for kids and adults alike. It’s a roadmap to success that starts with a single step, and who better to lead the way than Mark Cuban (or writers working with him)?
If you enjoyed this book review, please check out our guide to the best kids money books.
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.
There’s a tremendous community of personal finance content creators. I started blogging my own financial journey in 2006. I quickly realized other bloggers had the same idea: Take control of your money, and it will take care of you.
Nowadays, blogs might not be as popular to learn about personal finance as they once were. There’s a lot more content now. There are short-form and long-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube. There are social media platforms like Facebook and whatever Elon decides he wants to do with Twitter/X this week. Podcasts are extremely popular.
All of these different forms of media fall under the umbrella of content. There’s only one awards show in the world of personal finance content. It’s not like television or movies with awards like the Emmys, People’s Choice, and Screen Actor’s Guild.
The Plutus Foundation does a lot more important work than running the Plutus Awards. You can read more about the Plutus Foundation mission here
You may have noticed that I haven’t created new articles in the past few months. I had been working on a push to close out the year, but now I’m even more motivated.
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.
Raise your hands if you are having a great Shark Week so far? I know I am.
Kids love sharks. Especially baby sharks (do do do do-do-do). I hope kids are learning lots about sharks. Did you know that sharks can teach you about money?
I found a shark who will teach your kid (or you, if you are a kid) how interest works. I’ve got an easy job of putting just a few words of an introduction together. The great people from Nex Gen Personal Finance are doing all the work. I love it when I can work smarter, not harder. Thanks, Nex Gen Personal Finance!
A couple of weeks ago, I was searching for something unrelated on the internet and stumbled upon this gem from the Nex Gen Interactive Library. You get to play the “bad guy” as you try to maximize profits from all the delicious victims that enter your office looking to borrow money.
I made it so that you either click on the title or the image to play the game. It isn’t as easy as you think. I got a few wrong. I think it might be best for kids in the 4th grade or higher, perhaps ideally in the 5th or 6th grade.
I’m keeping it short today. It gives you more time for learning.
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.
My ten-year-old thanked me for making him read the American Girl: Smart Girl’s Guide to Money the other day. I thought it was weird because he had read it last year. I only made him read it because he needed a “free read” for school at home and rejected so many of our other books. Even though it’s a book geared towards teenage girls, a 9-year-old boy can find value in it.
I probed deeper to find out why this is interesting now. It turns out that one of his school friends gets $12 a week for allowance. My ten-year-old only gets $5/week. This friend travels all the time – she spends more time at Disney World than Mickey Mouse. She has many opportunities to buy from gift shops where my son doesn’t.
My son remembered that the American Girl book wrote that asking your parents for a bigger allowance was fair. He knew that it was wise to mention her as a comparison. He wasn’t whining but just making a logical argument.
I said, “So you want to negotiate a bigger allowance? Let’s talk about it.”
One of the best parenting books about money is The Banks of Dad(Review). In that book, author David Owen suggests that the kids should apply for it in writing.
That’s exactly what I asked my son to do.
I’ve seen him write a few dozen sentences in a school paper on some fictional adventure. However, when it came to this – something that might impact him more – he mustered three sentences. They weren’t persuasive at all. He said that he’d do his summer reading. That’s no big deal. He’s supposed to do that. He even forgot to mention his friend’s allowance in the paper.
The sentence about doing his summer reading gave me an idea. His school gave summer reading “suggestions” – award-winning books in the last year. However, they wrote that anything that seemed interesting was fine.
So I thought, “He had a positive experience reading a money book. What if I give him a fun one that covers a little more? Better yet, I’ll create a whole ‘Fun Kid Personal Finance Course'”
I decided he could earn one dollar a week by reading Grandpa’s Fortune Fables and completing the code at the end of every chapter. Unfortunately, the code is like Wheel of Fortune, and he was able to complete it by the fifth chapter. I had to explain that finishing the book was the requirement – not the code itself.
He read it in a couple of days.
Complete the Money Time Kids Course
I reviewed MoneyTime in the past. In fact, my son, who was eight at the time, gave it a test drive. The course was designed for 10-14-year-olds, so it was challenging. He got through a few topics, and I got enough detail for my review, so we moved on.
MoneyTime has a total of nine topics. I decided he could earn a quarter for each “topic” in the course for a total possible earnings of $2.25. I only asked him to do the ones he hadn’t done before, but he misread my instructions and did them again, so it was reasonable to adjust my system to include that.
He got through three topics fairly quickly. It will be a little slower now that he’s back in camp. One benefit of this approach is that he’ll find the time if interested.
Watch Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaire’s Club
I wanted him to learn entrepreneurialism. One of the best ways to learn about money is through television. Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaire’s Club is a cartoon that is a perfect fit for both.
My other requirement was that after watching all the episodes, he would have to write a paper about what he’s learned.
My 9-year-old is now interested in negotiating an allowance. I want to sync them up, so they can watch this together and write a better paper together. I don’t know about this one because the writing ability of a pre-fourth grader is different than a pre-fifth grader.
He can earn $4.25 in allowance from these tasks, bringing him to $9.25/week. It’s less than his peer’s $12/week, but he could get more than he asked for because of…
Allowance Bonus: Compound Interest
After completing all the previous tasks, he unlocks a special bonus. By now, he should know the power of compound interest. Using the concept in The Bank of Dad, I’m going to pay him 1% a week. This is around a 68% annual interest rate. When he has $50 saved and gets an extra 50 cents each week for doing nothing, it’s similar to earning $9.75 a week in allowance.
It will cost me a few extra dollars each week – more than $200 a year with the compound interest bonus. Between the two kids, it might cost me more than $500. They’ll make money mistakes and they will learn.
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.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a real life money story about my son using his debit card to buy some arcade games and candy for his friends. I guess this isn’t normal for a ten-year-old.
Today, I’ve got another money story. As you can tell from the title, it’s not quite as positive.
My kids love Guardians of the Galaxy. They love that it has the action of a Marvel movie, but also that it’s very funny. They also love the music, which is a big win for me. We were at Walmart picking up a few things, and my 10-year-old (the oldest) spotted a Guardians of the Galaxy magazine as we were going through the checkout. He grabbed it and said that I could subtract it out of his FamZoo account. It sounded good to me. I encourage reading over video games and YouTube any chance I get.
We got home, and it was late, so we went to bed. The next day we were both in for a surprise. I looked at the receipt and saw that it was $13.99. So I asked my son if he knew how much the magazine was. He said that he didn’t. I bet it wasn’t advertised very well outside of the little price in the lower-left corner. I don’t think many kids would know to look there for the price anyway.
The tragedy is that $14 at Walmart goes a lot way. You can get a decent toy and have money left over for a good amount of candy. While he loved the magazine, I think he realized that it wasn’t the best use of his money.
It was a great lesson, and it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t let my son control his money with the FamZoo account. By empowering my son to make money mistakes, he is learning. In a related story, I have an update on the $7 shark pen my youngest son bought in that article. He came home at the end of the school year with it, and it was broken. The shark’s jaws wouldn’t open or close anymore. I asked him if he thought he got $7 of value out of it, and he said that he did. Maybe it wasn’t a money mistake after all. Maybe he is still learning some of the costs of things.
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.
A Chair For My Mother is a children’s book written and illustrated by Vera Williams. It is a heartwarming story of a young girl, her mother, and her grandmother, who work together to save money and buy a comfortable chair for their new apartment after losing all their possessions in a fire. The story highlights the importance of hard work, perseverance, and saving money to achieve your goals.
A Chair For My Mother Summary
The story is told from the perspective of a young girl who lives with her mother and grandmother in a small apartment. The family lost all their possessions in a fire, which also destroyed their apartment. They had to move to a new apartment, but it was empty and needed furniture. The mother worked hard as a waitress at the Blue Tile Diner, saving all the coins she earned to buy a big comfortable chair for their home. The girl and her grandmother also helped by earning coins and storing them in a jar. The family’s goal was to save enough money to buy a chair that they could all sit in and be comfortable.
The touching story covers the family’s journey and the many obstacles they face along the way. They persevere through hard work and grit. They encounter financial setbacks and difficulties in their new apartment, but they learn to work together to overcome them. The young girl also learns the value of community and how people can come together to help each other in times of need.
Kid Money Lessons
One of the book’s central themes is the importance of saving money. The mother works hard to earn coins she saves in a jar. The girl and her grandmother also contribute to the family’s savings by making money from various sources. The story teaches children about the value of money, the importance of saving, and how to work towards a financial goal. It is an excellent book to teach children about financial literacy concepts such as saving, budgeting, and earning money.
Finally, it’s possible to use the fire in the apartment as a warning of what happens when people don’t have adequate insurance. However, this topic may be too advanced for the book’s intended audience.
Reading Level and Awards
The book is appropriate for children in grades K-3. The reading level is approximately second grade, with simple sentences and easy vocabulary. The book’s illustrations are colorful and captivating, drawing the reader into the story and helping to convey the characters’ emotions. The book’s length is just right for young readers, and the story is engaging and easy to follow.
A Chair For My Mother has won numerous awards. The biggest one is that it is a Caldecott Honor Book. It also has won the Notable Children’s Book by the American Library Association and the Parents’ Choice Award. These awards recognize the book’s literary and artistic excellence and its ability to engage and educate young readers.
A Chair For My Mother Read-Along
A Chair For My Mother has a few read-alongs on YouTube. This one seemed to be one of the best:
Other Books to Consider
Similar books to A Chair For My Mother include The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. These books also teach valuable lessons about resilience, community, and the importance of kindness.
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.
I’ve been on a planned vacation for a little while. It’s the unplanned time before and after that made it so long since I’ve written. I hope to be back more consistently like I was last year.
Just before I left, my 4th-grade son was invited to a bowling play date with classmates. A great time was had by all. He even scored higher than I usually do (with guardrails) and got the confidence to try without guardrails. At least, this is what he told me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the play date.
He told me he bought his friends cards to play video games and a little candy (with the kids’ parents’ permission). He went over with his Famzoo card put it in the reader and typed in his pin. He’s bought about a dozen things with me, so it’s easy for him now.
He said the parents of the other two 10-year-old kids couldn’t believe it! I’m starting to think that I’m in the minority in wanting to teach kids money skills. Maybe other parents are busy with other things. In any case, that’s why I have this blog, and they don’t.
I was hoping that the other kids would ask their parents to be able to do it, and the parents would ask me about it. Unfortunately, I have yet to receive a call.
The whole event made me very proud. I always say that kids should be allowed to make money mistakes. It’s even better when they don’t make mistakes and spend their money to generously give to friends.
While we were on vacation, the kids bought souvenirs, carefully budgeting their money. My nine-year-old hasn’t gotten as much practice using his FamZoo card. I had forgotten the pin, but his older brother helped out. He has the benefit that I tend to do similar things for both of them at the same time because they are close in age.
In the future, I’ll look to share more of these real-life money stories whether they are good, bad, or ugly.
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.
I’ve been watching The Parent Test on Hulu over the last couple of weeks. It’s pitched as a competition of parents with specific parenting styles to see which one comes out on top. This shouldn’t be a spoiler, but there’s a lot of “it depends.” My parenting style mixes almost all styles at one point or another. Most often, the parents praise the other parents’ style – the opposite of what you see in most “competition” shows.
The show puts parents and kids through tests to see how they do in certain stressful situations. In episode eight, there was one that caught my eye:
The $20 Hustle Challenge
The $20 hustle challenge is a test to see if your kid(s) could make $20 in an hour without their parent’s help. I KNOW my kids would fail. That is quite sobering, given that I have this website, and they’ve read a number of financial books. Most of the kids that passed this test ended up calling family, friends, or neighbors and asking if they could do something. In one case, it was baking them some cookies. In another case, it was washing an RV.
The successful kids had a mix of four or five kids of various ages working together. One only child was successful, but only because his father failed the test and guided him through the process of coming up with ideas.
I felt that much of the success depended on having a network to sell to. My kids sell popcorn for the Boy Scouts, which is similar, but not the same, as that’s a very controlled situation. We know a few neighbors well enough to try something like this, but I’m not sure my kids would know who best to go to. I imagine that they might try a Lemonade War style lemonade stand.
It’s an interesting challenge. Do you think your kids could pass? If they couldn’t do it in an hour, could they do it in a day?
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.
