Smart Money, Smart Kids: Brilliant Blueprint for Teaching Your Kids Good Money Habits

As the founder of a money management site for families, I’ve been studying and implementing strategies for teaching kids good money habits full time since 2006 (and as a father of 5, I’ve been dabbling in the area long before then). Suffice it to say, I’ve read just about everything written on the topic of kids and money. After reading Smart Money, Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze, I can confidently say it’s now among the top two on my recommended reading list for parents (the other being The First National Bank of Dad by David Owen).

Smart Money Smart Kids is wonderfully practical and thoughtful. Its concepts are conveyed through real stories that keep the text engaging and memorable. Even if you don’t consider yourself a Dave Ramsey devotee (I’ll admit that a few of his stances drive me crazy) or you aren’t coming at this from a Christian perspective, you’ll get a lot of value out of 99% of this book. At minimum, reading the book will force you to systematically think through how you are teaching (or plan to teach) your own kids about money at each stage in their development. I guarantee you’ll find the book helpful if you’re interested in teaching your kids good money habits.

Some of my favorite themes from the book include:

4 Big Things Your Teen Can Save For

When it comes to big expenses, most of us parents are giving our teens too much credit and too little credit, all at the same time. How so? On the one hand, we’re giving our teens too much credit (in the form of dollars) by covering big ticket items for them — often when we can’t even afford them ourselves. On the other hand, we’re giving our teens too little credit (in terms of respect for their capabilities) by assuming they can’t handle paying for at least a portion of these major expenses on their own.

This dawned on me last week while reading Smart Money, Smart Kids. (Why am I reading the new book by Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze? See the first post in this series here.)

Here are 4 big expenses that your teen is perfectly capable of paying for, despite your assumptions otherwise:

Striking a Balance with Kids and Money

The truth is somewhere in between.

That phrase comes to mind a lot while parenting. (If you’ve ever sorted out the claims of two bickering children, you know what I mean.)

It also comes to mind when teaching kids about money.

Spending. Saving.

Limits. Leniency.

It isn’t just one or the other. It’s about balance, and that theme shines strongly in the Spending chapter from the new book Smart Money Smart Kids. (Why am I reading the new book by Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze? See the first post in this series here.) In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see the theme of balance so prominently represented throughout the book. Why? Let’s be honest, Dave Ramsey has a reputation for being, well,... harsh. But Dave has a real soft spot when it comes to kids. As he puts it: