Book review: 'Raising Money Smart Kids'
By Claes Bell • Bankrate.com

Who should read it
Parents and grandparents looking for help on how to instill sensible values about money in their children or grandchildren.

Synopsis
"Raising Money Smart Kids" is a comprehensive guide to the ins and outs of teaching kids of all ages about money. However, instead of a more pedantic, formal approach, ("Hi kids, we're going to learn about money today") author and "Kiplinger's Personal Finance" deputy editor Janet Bodnar offers a learn-as-you-go approach that takes advantage of teachable moments in a family's everyday life to guide kids toward financial independence.

Bodnar urges a large degree of autonomy with money at a fairly early age, her reasoning being that kids will be infinitely more careful with their own money than with their parents' money. If this is the case, it makes sense that the centerpiece of her program is an allowance that starts at age 6 and grows progressively. Eventually, according to Bodnar, it should encompass most of kids' total expenses, including their budget for clothes, travel and entertainment, by the time they enter high school.

The book's many chapters give specific advice on each age group, including when financial concepts like saving, investing and budgeting should be introduced. Chapters for grandparents, stepparents and parents of 20-something boomerangers are also thrown in.

Book review "Raising Money Smart Kids"   Author: Janet Bodnar   Publisher: Kaplan Publishing   Available in paperback

Strong/weak points
The good: "Raising Money Smart Kids" is positively bursting with positive, easy-to-understand advice on teaching financial independence. The strength of Bodnar's approach is that kids -- and parents -- learn by doing the right things with money in real-world situations.

There's a lot of help here for parents battling the rising tide of youthful entitlement. The book includes numerous question-and-answer sections for each age group with answers to common money questions and a plethora of advice on hot-button topics like teens in the work force, teaching children to resist advertising and mindless consumerism, and, most of all, standing firm in the face of what many parents find hard to resist: precious -- and persistent -- children looking for a handout. Bodnar's years writing an advice column on money for parents and kids show in her engaging, easy-to-understand writing style, peppered with examples from her readers and her own family life. For parents committed to putting forth the time, money and discipline needed to raise money-savvy kids in our age of reckless consumerism, this book is a must-read.

The bad: Bodnar's assertion that kids don't need experience with credit cards until the latter years of college may raise some eyebrows, especially when, along with debit cards, they are becoming the de rigueur way to pay.

Also, Bodnar's book seems to exist mostly in a universe of nuclear families, above-average income and financially responsible parents who, as the country drifts toward recession, seem farther and farther removed from reality. "Raising Money Smart Kids" seems mostly aimed at helping affluent children resist their affluence -- a challenge for many, no doubt, but not one faced by the average working family these days. There is token advice on being honest with kids about temporary money trouble, but nothing on how to tell kids about the more grave money troubles facing many families today: foreclosure, massive debt and the inability to afford basic needs like medical care.

Besides the difficulty many parents will have coming up with consistent allowance cash every week, parents with money troubles, especially the self-inflicted variety, brings up another thorny issue for Bodnar and all of us -- even with a good book and the best intentions, can a money-dumb parent raise a money-smart kid?

Takeaway
"Raising Money Smart Kids" has all the tools needed to help parents nudge kids toward financial independence and good money habits, as long as they have the time and money to implement the book's clever strategies.