Here’s a book for mentoring kids about money that will “blow you away.” Highly readable, complete, practical, actionable. For “kids” from 5 to 18 . . . and beyond.

How do I like this book? Let me count the ways.

I am impressed with how Joline Godfrey has analyzed her subject.

Take her introduction, alone. Beginning on page 5, with “The Ten Basic Money Skills,” she continues with a brief overview analysis of the “Key Stages of Financial Development” (from age five till past retirement), and concludes with “The Life/Money Map.”

Just so you get an idea of what I’m talking about (or, rather, what Godfrey is talking about), let me show some of the details.

First, what are the Key Stages of Financial Development? She suggests looking at life along these lines:

• Apprenticeship (Ages 5-18)
• Starting Out (Ages 19-30)
• Taking Charge (Ages 31-50)
• Looking Ahead (Ages 51-65)
• Third Wave (Age 66+)

Raising Financially Fit Kids, of course,deals almost exclusively with the Apprenticeship stage.

So what does Godfrey see as the Ten Basic Money Skills–i.e., the primary things she believes parents need to teach their kids about money?

1. How to save
2. How to keep track of money
3. How to get paid what you are worth
4. How to spend wisely
5. How to talk about money
6. How to live a budget
7. How to invest
8. How to exercise the entrepreneurial spirit
9. How to handle credit
10. How to use money to change the world

I think that’s a pretty solid list!

But where Godfrey really shines is with her Life/Money Map, where she divides children’s development into four stages of social/emotional development and then lists what very specific skills she thinks are appropriate for children at that level to master.

Stage One is ages 5-8; Stage Two, ages 9-12; Stage Three, 13-15; Stage Four, 16-18.some odd survey shins Godfrey makes about social/emotional development for Stage One:kids at that age are “curious”; they have a “short attention span”; they “may have very high energy.”

Kids in Stage Three “[focus] primarily on the present; [have] only a vague sense of the future.” — Godfrey makes for additional significant comments about Stage Three kids, but I think you get the idea.

And what are some of the “appropriate money skills” Godfrey suggests? Well, Stage One kids need to learn how to “[count] coins and bills”; “[learn] to differentiate between wants and needs”; “[begin] to develop a sense of ethics”; and so forth.

But, as I said, what I’ve described is merely the introduction to the book. The biggest value in the book comes later, when Godfrey lists specific teaching objectives, teaching activities, and resources you may want to reference in order to teach your children the specific skills she describes for each stage in their development in each of the 10 overarching skill sets.

Again, just to give you an idea, here are just two of the suggestions for teaching Stage One kids (age 5-8) how to save:

• Establish three containers for weekly allowance: spending, saving, and giving.
• Put a money message under your child’s pillow or in his schoolbag every other month (see sidebar on page 68 for suggestions).
• And so forth.

It’s funny, I just happened to turn to page 68 where the “Money Messages” are. Here are two of them: “Being stingy is mean but giving money away too easily is silly!” “Find and save 20 nickels and I’ll give you a crisp new dollar bill and a quarter!” — I’d say there is quite a bit of wisdom there.

Godfrey provides similarly thoughtful and helpful input for each of the other three stages in children’s lives as well.

And then (I couldn’t resist this!), there are four great chapters in the back of the book: “Money and Gender,” “Raising Rich Kids,” “Raising Young Philanthropists,” and “Yikes! My Kid Won’t Leave Home! Now What?” There is good solid content in each one.

Godfrey is wonderfully engaging.

On the first page of the introduction (page 1) alone, I found myself gasping aloud in surprise and a sense of revelation. Several times.

“I’ve heard every kind of story,” she begins. And then she summarizes several of those stories. Here are just two:

• There was the mother who asked me, “What can I do? My 16-year-old is way over her limit on her Neiman Marcus card.”
• A14-year-old pulled me aside to say, “My parents won’t stay out of my piggy bank. How can I get them to stop stealing from me?”

A few pages later, in chapter 1, she begins to describe some of the fundamental, what I’ll call, “money personality” types. For example, “The Hoarder.” “This is the child with a secret stash of money that she hoards assiduously. She may have no purpose other than knowing that the pile of money as they are and wanting to watch it grow. The hoarder is a child who, when you suggest that she split the cost of you for the new toy she wants, will give up the toy rather than cut into her horde.”

Or “The Hustler.” “This is the child who sees a ‘deal’ in every transaction. An allowance may be just a starting point for this kid, who will try to double, triple, and then leverage any financial gifts or income in as many ways as possible. With all the signs of an accomplished negotiator, this child may be money savvy, but may need guidance to develop a moral compass related to his financial transactions.”

Godfrey lists others: “The Spendthrift,” “The Scrimper,” “The Giver,” “The Beggar,” and “The Oblivious.”

I’ve given you a few tastes of Godfrey’s style, but I think I’d like to close with one more.

Here’s a brief quote from a section in the “Yikes! My Kid Won’t Leave Home! Now What?” chapter, where she reiterates the 10 basic money skills . . . but in a manner more appropriate to a 24-year-old who won’t leave home.

At age 24, if your child is grown and won’t leave home, Money Skill #2 (how to keep track of money) becomes:

You will shift your spending and savings habits so radically that the Cineplex, Dominos, The Gap, and Blockbuster Video will notice your absence and the local savings bank will send you a nifty toaster. (And remember, you can sell that toaster on eBay and put the cash back into the savings account. You can always toast bread over a gas burner.)

If you have children or grandchildren still learning the fundamentals of good money management, I recommend you get your own copy of Raising Financially Fit Kids. I expect you’ll consider it a wonderful investment . . . as long as you read it and apply what you find there.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

 |  Email This Post  |  Print This Post  |  Subscribe to It!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under heritage, kids, mentorship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.