Livinglovingandexploring!

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Have you ever read a book and thought, “Dang, I wish MY parents had had that book when I was younger?!”  That’s the thought that kept running through my head with every page turn.  “Beyond Piggy Banks & Lemonade Stands:  How to Teach Young Kids About Finance (and They’re Never too Young),” by Liz Frazier is the BEST!  I learned an incredible amount of information related to finances, saving, budgeting, goals, money (in general), tips/tricks, etc!

She goes into great detail with every phase of life that your child or children enter.  The concepts are easily broken down with “bite-size” pieces for parents to read and follow along and put into practice.  It’s great because she acknowledges that not everyone is doing great financially – but that’s the whole point of the book – so that we, as the “next generation” of parents, can help guide our kids down the right path to *hopefully* avoid financial failure in the future!

Each chapter of the book has several ideas on fun games to play with your kids that introduce them to different aspects of how finances work.  For example, for the slightly older kiddos, there’s a section about setting up a grocery store.  Gather a bunch of folks that you’re close to and everyone plays a specific role – store owner, customer, baker, produce section attendee, cashier, etc.  Let your child play each role to get a feel for how being in that role would actually be like in real life!  There’s always an angry/irritable client who wants to argue price; the store owner wants to mark up prices to make more money; the cashier may choose to be lazy and not get those $0.02 from you that you owe, so you get less coins back (makes it easier on the cashier – but would be a way to “throw” your kiddos off!).  You get the idea!

Each chapter ends with a list of resources for you as the parent to help your kids further along.  Do you have ANY IDEA how many APPS there are to help children build their financial smarts?!  Apps that my 2 year old could benefit of!  APPS that teenagers could enjoy that will definitely help them throughout their school careers!  Another great resource that’s included are a lot of books/authors who have taken the time to teach certain practices/ideas to kids while simultaneously making it fun to read!  Not everything about finances has to be boring to kids – it can be quite fun – especially if they get to follow flawed characters around while they’re learning what NOT to do themselves!

Not only is this a great book about savings, investments, and all of that jazz. It’s an excellent resource for teaching kids about the less fortunate and how to share!  (Man – that can be SUCH a scary word when it’s related to money).  But Ms. Frazier doesn’t just specify that kids should be sharing money – she goes into a plethora of other ways that kids can share.  For instance, they can share their time, by volunteering at a soup kitchen or local animal shelter.  They can share their “like new” toys with less fortunate children to make room for any new toys they might be gifted for their birthdays or Christmas.  There are excellent resources listing a lot of great programs/places that kids can share or volunteer!

My husband and I already had/have several ideas that we want to implement with our kids in the future – and we’ve mentioned a handful of times to them that “mommy and daddy don’t have the money for that”; but being as my kids are only 1 and 2 at the moment, we really hadn’t started with them yet (not to mention, “mommy and daddy” aren’t in such a great financial spot themselves at the moment LOL).  We’ve taken the proper steps to ensure our futures with setting up our 401K’s, investing in buying a home and other steps like that – but we’re definitely still of the living paycheck to paycheck bunch; like the majority of folks I know!

The best part of this book (in my opinion) can be broken down into two parts.  One, it’s a book that I’ll be keeping on my bookshelves for YEARS to come.  Two, this book touches on everything from the quintessential piggy bank, to investing, to taxes, to entrepreneurial activities (lemonade stand, anyone?) and beyond.  It’s a great way to show your kids the basics and the complicated structure of the financial world.  I simply can’t wait to begin introducing these concepts to my kids – and I encourage you, my readers, to do the same! 

Send me your thoughts or any questions you may have!  A huge thanks to Ms. Lindsey Brodowski @ Smith Publicity for giving me the chance to review this book!  Always a pleasure!

Kelly Ann