Raising Financially Confident Kids by Mary Hunt - Reviewed

About the Book: (from Revell Publishing)

One of the most important lessons you can teach your kids is how to handle their money. Unfortunately, for most of us, giving our kids a financial education is an afterthought. Where do you start? And what if you don't feel financially confident yourself?

In Raising Financially Confident Kids, financial expert Mary Hunt draws from solid statistics and her own hard-won knowledge and experience as a mom who made it back from the brink of financial ruin to help you teach your children how to handle money responsibly. From preschool through the teen years, every stage of your child's development is covered, including how to talk to them about money at each age, how to help them start saving money and giving it away, and how to avoid the pitfalls of easy credit and a culture built on debt.

Money can't buy your children happiness. But giving them the skills to manage their money will allow them to take control of their future and work toward successful and satisfying lives.

My Thoughts:

This is one time that I found the “heart” of the book in the afterword section of the book.  Let me share it with you!

“”…God’s plan is for children to grow wings and fly away.  Our jobs as parents is to prepare them for the flight.  Building financial confidence in your kids is one important way you can help them fly.”  (p 205)

Mary Hunt has written a very important, practical book about the subject of raising financially confident kids.  She did this after she had to battle her own poor financial decisions in her early years of marriage and parenting.  Like all of us who grew up on a steady diet of media inundation, we learn early in life to associate pleasure and success with the amount of disposable income we possess.  And by disposable…I mean money spent with little thought on fleeting pleasures.  Debt is our “easy out”, and with credit so easily available, it’s easy to be buried in debt in a short amount of time.

Mary not only give the reader ways to teach your kids financial responsibility, but she also gives you suggestions of ways to spend less time in the influence of our money-mad media.  In short, she shares her life lessons  and research findings in a way that will make your eyes bug out of your head! For instance, in chapter nine, she shares test results about how little adults and children know about basic things like credit, debt, life insurance, mutual funds and even Social Security!  Parents seldom teach their kids wisdom that they never attained themselves.

Bottom line, this is a book that anyone – whether they are parents or not – can read and learn practical, useful, freeing information about becoming financially confident and responsible.  This is a great book, and one that I am happy to recommend.

About the Author:

Mary Hunt is an award-winning and bestselling author, syndicated columnist and sought-after motivational speaker who created a global platform that is making strides to help men and women battle the epidemic impact of consumer debt. She is founder and publisher of the interactive website Debt-Proof Living, which features financial tools, resources, and information for her online members. Her books have sold more than a million copies and her daily newspaper column is nationally syndicated through Creators Syndicate, and is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of Everyday Cheapskate readers. Hunt speaks widely on personal finance and has appeared on shows such as Good Morning America, Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Focus on the Family. She and her husband live in California.