#246 – Back-to-School Financial Literacy: Essential Tips for Parents and Kids

Hey, my new boss, parents, welcome back to another episode of the money boss parent podcast. I am your host Anna Sergunina, and as the back to school season approaches, it is a perfect time to focus on our family's financial education. And I am not sorry to drop this bomb on you because I know a lot of us are excited to go back to school, shopping and all of that stuff. And I know you need to do that. But if you've been listening to this podcast, you know the angle here. So today we're diving into valuable resources, and tips to help you and your children start this next school year very strong. So I'll be covering lots of different resources must read books for you and your kids, tough online tools, informative podcasts, and even some of updates on financial literacy initiatives. Right here in California, that's where I live. And that's where I follow for the most information. So my friends, grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, don't forget to pen and paper and let's get started. All right, so what I want to dive into, and this is going to be one of those episodes that really just kind of like a laundry list of items, because I've compiled a really long resource guide for you, as I'm pulling these resources, really honestly, to be truthful with you today for myself, and also because clients are always asking, you know, what's a good book for this, or what's a good you know, site or, you know, just kind of questions like that. So I thought, we can focus on giving you these resources. So I'm gonna give kind of go section by section, and maybe something applies to you maybe doesn't now this here particularly is going to focus on kids at different ages, age groups, depending, you know, depending how old your kids are, I'm gonna start with the, you know, as young as four year olds and kind of go from there. So that's kind of like the lay of the land of what I'm focusing on. Alright, parents, so these two books are books that I highly recommend for you to read. And please forgive me my cranky voice, I'm still recovering from post marathon cold, more on the marathon for you a bit later. But the cold is still here. And it's funny. It's summer. Anyway, okay, focusing. So books for parents to read. Two of my favorite. I would start with Ron Leber's book called The opposite of spoiled. And what the book covers is a very practical steps for parents and children to become aware about questions around money, right to start notice, what are you talking about? What are you saying? How are you behaving and really get into the weeds of what parents can be doing in order to lay the foundation and set examples for the kids. Now Ron Lieber, and I've mentioned him before in the podcast. As a side note, he's done a really wonderful article on me, he's a reporter for New York Times. Five years ago, now I'm looking at the back of my wall, because that's where the, the plaque is hanging. But he writes on all financial topics. And so he has a few books out and this is the one that I really, really love. This is like when you kind of starting to get your toes wet, and just want to hear what other parents are doing. And so Ron has done a lot of research on it. So check it out. My book number two recommendation for parents and I have actually this hard copies here. The other ones at home, I have a book called Raising financially fit kids by Jolene Godfrey. And this is a really cool book, I think it really would help parents, for kids of all ages. Because what I love about this book is that it kind of provides the combination of parenting and personal finance skills to help you kind of navigate these different life phases and I like life phases if you kids, so it's it breaks it down into four different groups. And let me just make sure that I give you the right information. So I know the first group is like five to eight year olds, then we have nine to 12 and after that we have 13 to 15 and then ages 16 to 18. And as you can imagine, as kids grow up their different level of understanding is happening for for them right as their brain is developing. So these concepts right, if we for young kids, we start with basic things like savings jars or allowance system, you know, when the kids to be teenagers, we got to start really being practical, like maybe setting up or signing them up for an investment club, and so forth, opening a bank account for them. So I really love how this book gives you these phases that you can follow so if you were to buy a book and I recommend you do buy this, this is the one because He's gonna carry you through all of these different phases and give you lots of resources. The book has checklists and, and forms or forms or like little worksheets to fill out. So I really love it. It's not a new book, it's been rewritten. But I have not found one that was kind of able to match that. And I feel like as a practicing financial planner, and I do this a lot with clients. But this is very similar when somebody's creating a financial plan. And it really does, does not matter where you are in your life phase, there is a certain set of questions, challenges, circumstances, ideas, right you're facing. And so our advice for somebody who's just starting out is very different, as opposed to advice for somebody who's getting closer to retirement. So I was drawn to this book, because of that kind of a layout, through phases. And as I'm navigating this for myself, and I'm really like at the beginning of this journey with my son, Liam, I am excited to test test drive it for you, but I am doing it along sidelines with you because we're just like in this five to eight age group. Alright, switching gears here on you a bit. And this is the section four, I'm gonna give you some ideas for books for your children. So those the previous amendments is what you read on your own. These are the books that you're going to read for them. Okay, I've got three also age groups for you. So the first one is four to seven, I had a guest on my podcast, and I will include the links for all of this, I promise you. His name is Anthony Delaney. And he's another fellow financial professional certified financial planner who really has a passion for writing children's books, that teaches practical financial lessons. And so he has like a series of them. And I last thing I've heard that he's kind of putting like this box set together.

is a marathon. And we have lots of time to introduce these ideas, because it's not a sprint. And I'll talk more in a bit about the the first marathon that I've just run. But I was just thinking like, how do I tie this together? I want you to make it fun. I want you to make it engaging. I want your kids to be interested in this stuff. So I really enjoyed putting together this episode. Share it with other friends that you have. Don't keep it to yourself. Don't forget to subscribe. I'd really love for you to get notifications when the next episode is published. And also I love hearing from you. So if you haven't left a review for me in the while, please do so. It takes two minutes like it really does. But it means the world to me and it helps this podcast to be spread and more people to learn and grow with us. So until next time, thanks so much for joining me remember you are the bosses of your own money.