Raising Up MoneyWise Kids – Book Review

Chinkee Tan’s Raising Up MoneyWise Kids book is a good primer for parents who want their kids to establish strong financial values. It contains 10 main money lessons and short articles about the importance of teaching kids about money even at a young age.

I remember getting my first allowance when I started Grade 1. Before the year ends, we will enroll Gab with the Grade 1 Homeschool Curriculum and I am excited to give him his first allowance.  My first allowance was 5 pesos per day. That was in 1986. So Gab will probably get 6 pesos this 2016. Fair enough? 😛

Since Gab will be getting his first allowance, I was looking for resources on how to get him started to be financially literate.

All throughout my academic year, Personal Finance was never taught in school. But after graduating and earning my first salary, I learned how important financial literacy is. I wish I learned it much earlier.

I bought the Raising Up MoneyWise Kids book at National Bookstore for 400 Pesos.

The book was well organized. I have read several books about personal finance and it is hard to pick which topic to start teaching kids about money.

The books outlines The 10 Life-Changing Money Lessons for your Child and I find them very helpful in choosing the topics that I should focus on.

The 10 Life Changing Money Lessons For Your Child listed in the Raising Up MoneyWise Kids book are:

Lesson 1: Hardwork vs. Laziness
Lesson 2: Earn Money vs. Asking for Money
Lesson 3: Saving vs. Spending
Lesson 4: Budgeting vs. Splurging
Lesson 5: Delayed Gratification vs. Instant Gratification
Lesson 6: Resilience vs. Giving Up
Lesson 7: Stay Out of Debt vs. Getting Into Debt
Lesson 8: Start Young vs. Start Late
Lesson 9: Emergency Fund vs. Zero Fund
Lesson 10: Generosity vs. Selfishness

By just reading these 10 lessons listed at the back of the book you can simply start teaching them to your child already. The list is easy to teach anyway. But the book was able to offer more that is why still decided to buy it.

The Raising Up MoneyWise Kids book discusses a lot on the WHY we should teach these money lessons for kids. This part can be repetitive and redundant at times. Sometimes, I skip some parts. But keep reading and the book will provide practical tips and actionable items that you can apply and practice with your child right away. A lot of these tips have been proven to be effective since Chinkee used them personally when he was raising his own kids.

I personally like the additional resources given in the book.

There is an Age-by-Age Guide in Teaching Kids about Money. Obviously, I can’t teach Gab about investing in the stock market, right? So the book Raising Up MoneyWise Kids has a suggested outline on what money lessons and activities to teach for kids who are 2-5, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12, and 13-15 years old.

Other resources are about kids with bad spending habits, rewards and incentives for kids, and for parents to become good role models.

One problem with the book though are some glaring errors that the editorial team have missed. There are just a few but it’s irritating to see them. I hope they can correct them in the next printing. Nonetheless, it doesn’t dilute the message of the book.

Summary

I was looking for a book that will help me teach Gab about money values and this book is a good start. Chikee Tan’s Raising Up MoneyWise Kids book is a good book to help parents raise kids who will become financially free.  There are wonderful tips from cover to cover. It has the right balance of explaining the concept and in giving out the practical side that you can apply right away.

While the book aims that our kids learn to be money wise, parents themselves will benefit a lot by reading the book. In the book, Chinkee Tan would emphasis that parents should be role models when it comes to money matters. So parents are encouraged to read, learn and practice these money wise tips.

Visit chinkeetan.com for more about books and seminars from Chinkee Tan.

Do you know other books parents can read to teach their children about money? Please recommend them at the comments below. 😀