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Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23

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The New York Times bestseller that is a must-read for any parent!

From Beth Kobliner, the author of the bestselling personal finance bible Get a Financial Life—a new, must-have guide showing parents how to teach their children (from toddlers to young adults) to manage money in a smart way.

Many of us think we can have the “money talk” when our kids are old enough to get it…which won’t be for years, right? But get this: Research shows that even preschoolers can understand basic money concepts, and a study from Cambridge University confirmed that basic money habits are formed by the age of seven. Oh, and research shows the number one influence on kids’ financial behaviors is mom and dad. Clearly, we can’t afford to wait.

Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not) is a jargon-free, step-by-step guide to help parents of all income levels teach their kids—from ages three to twenty-three—about money. It turns out the key to raising a money genius isn’t to teach that four quarters equal a dollar or how to pick a stock. Instead, it’s about instilling values that have been proven to make people successful—not just financially, but in life: delaying gratification, working hard, living within your means, getting a good education, and acting generously toward others. More specifically, you’ll learn why allowance isn’t the Holy Grail when teaching your kid to handle money, and why after-school jobs aren’t always the answer either. You’ll discover the right age to give your kid a credit card, and learn why doling out a wad of cash can actually be a good parenting move.

You don’t need to be a money genius to make your kid a money genius. Regardless of your comfort level with finance—or your family’s income—this charming and fun book is an essential guide for passing along enduring financial principles, making your kids wise beyond their years—and peers—when it comes to money.

276 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2017

270 people are currently reading
2945 people want to read

About the author

Beth Kobliner

2 books48 followers
One of the nation’s leading authorities on personal finance for young people, BETH KOBLINER is a commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestsellers GET A FINANCIAL LIFE & MAKE YOUR KID A MONEY GENIUS (EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT). Available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & wherever books are sold.

In 2010, Beth was selected by President Barack Obama to be a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, where she created MoneyAsYouGrow.org. The site attracted more than 1.4 million visitors and was adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2016. 

A former columnist for Money magazine, Beth has written for numerous other publications, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as outlets such as Glamour; O, The Oprah Magazine; and The Huffington Post. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, from Today, Good Morning America, and the Early Show to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. As a content advisor for Sesame Workshop’s financial education initiative For Me, For You, For Later, she offered on-air money advice to Elmo.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly Mccune.
641 reviews6 followers
February 23, 2017
The tone of this guide is conversational, which make all of its important information more bearable. each topic is divided into advice by the age of your child, which means this book will be relevant for.years to come. I definitely recommend buying a copy to refer to over and over again.
Profile Image for Roger.
209 reviews4 followers
February 7, 2017
Excellent, very very complete and well structured guide for parents!
I highly recommend this book to both parents and educators to teach children the value of money, manage it, and provide them with invaluable lifelong tools, much needed to thrive, which are hardly taught at home or at school. This financial education should be a progressive and integral task, as parents must be consistent, take advantage of the circumstances of everyday life to create habits, and education must be based on principles.
In our complex consumer society and high advertising exposure this task may be easier if we get that saving is attractive to the children, and if we favor a smart choice of what the child is going to buy is a better acquisition, for his/her effort to postpone to a greater benefit.
Beth Kobliner explains how parents can teach their children to be smarter in spending money, from the basics of money and developing the habit of saving, credit cards, insurance, retirement plan, to key concepts on investments, and more. Each topic proposes examples based on real cases, developing the subject appropriate for each age group to teach from toddlers to young adults.
The book contains very nice comments from suggestions for handling tantrums during shopping to the smartest way for young people to pay for their wedding. It has very useful features with key points or rules for each topic, for example the 10 Investment rules for your Kid to Live by and The Money Genius Guide to Understanding your Paycheck, to mention a few. It also has a very interesting chapter that talks about giving, giving back from what we have received in life; this is very important, since sharing and contributing helps children to have more meaning, lead a more balanced and integral life, which translates into more happiness in life.
The author also mentions interesting information about recent research on how children who learn to manage their emotions - postpone their momentary cravings to achieve something they truly desire - become more responsible for the reach of their economic decisions, resulting in adults who save more, are more successful, reach higher levels of education, manage money as a resource that allows them to achieve many things in life.
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book
Profile Image for Mohamad Elayan.
95 reviews8 followers
September 1, 2019
كتاب فخم جداً و مهم بنفس الوقت في الحقيقة قرأت النسخة العربية و المترجمة الصادرة عن مكتبة جرير بعنوان ( اجعل من ابنك عبقريا مالياً حتى لو لم تكن كذلك )

كتاب بسيط من 263 صفحة من القطع البسيطة , اعجبني سرد المواضيع و توصيل الفكرة بطريقة جداً سهلة , خصوصا ان نوعية هذه الكتب مملة جداً على القارئ لأنها جافة جداً . لكن بيث جعل الكتاب مزيجاً جميلا مع ادخاله قصص قام بجمعها من خلال المقابلات التي اجراها مع أصحاب المال ممن فشلوا في ادارة اموالهم و نجحوا في ذلك , ليعطينا طابعاً فريدا و لا يركز فقط على الناجحين و انما اخذ بعين الإعتبار قصص الفشل في البداية .

يقسم الكتاب الى 5 ابواب رئيسية و يقول الكاتب ان على الأهل توعية الأبناء في كل فئة عمرية من قبل الدراسة , المدرسة الإبتدائية , المتوسطة , الجامعية و ما بعد الجامعة . و ما اثار اعجابي في دراسة اجراها مركز دراسات امريكي موضوعة في الكتاب بأن سلوكيات الأطفال اتجاه الإنفاق و الإدخار تبدأ في التشكل من عمر 3 سنوات و حتى 5 سنوات . و نحن كعرب يمكن اعتبار ان هذه المرحلة اكثر المراحل الدلال ( الدلع ) لأطفالنا و كل ما يطلبه الطفل ينفذ فوراً و هذا خطأ قاتل على صعيد المعرفة المالية .

لفتت نظري عبارة في الكتاب " ان الأباء لم يعد يثقون في التعليم الجامعي بسبب التكلفة الباهظة للتعليم و ضعف المردود , فكانت افضل وسيلة هي تعليم مهارة ادارة المال منذ الصغر " هذا الكلام خطير نحن نتحدث عن الولايات المتحدة و الذي يقدر دخل الفرد بحوالي 30 الف دولار سنويا و يقولون مثل هذا الكلام فما بالك بدول عربية لا يتجاوز الدخل السنوي للفرد حاجز ال 2500 دولار .

لذلك اجد ان هذا الكتاب كنز رائع لتعليم الأطفال كيفية التعامل مع المال بطريقة جيدة و عملية .

في الكتاب وردت قصة لطيفة عن كاتي و التي كانت لديها ام ثرثارة , فسألت والدتها كيف اتينا الى هذه الحياة فغضبت الأم و غيرت الموضوع , استيقظت كاثرين في اليوم التالي لتعثر على كتاب يجيب على تساؤلاتها . فوضح الكاتب ان معظم اسئلة الأطفال يمكن الإجابة عليها عن طريق وضع كتاب إلا امور الإنفاق المالي من الصعب وضع كتاب لطفل يشرح له اهمية الإدخار بدلا من الخروج في رحلة مع اصدقاءة

في النهاية الكتاب يستحق الإقتناء و انا ارشحه كأفضل كتاب مالي قرأته موجه للأب و الأطفال , خصوصا مع وجود كتاب منافس له لروبرت كيوساكي صاحب سلسلة الأب الغني و الأب الفقير و لكن هذا الكتاب يتفوق عليه بأشواط كبيرة .
15 reviews
October 8, 2022
I thought this book was so great until I reached a chapter near the end ironically called ‘Giving Back’. There were two sentences there about a teenager and her passion for the environment that effectively discredited the entire book for me. Let me quote ‘If your kid is making personal attacks that seem unwarranted, you can say that you’re glad she’s developing her own value, but she has to allow other people to have their values too. Once she’s on her own, she can weave her own clothes on a loom made of sustainable Guatemalan hardwood and lecture her buddies about their carbon footprint until their eyes cross and she has no more friends’. This was in response to the daughter lecturing her brother about using plastic straws after she saw first hand the ramifications of single use plastics at a volunteer opportunity.

Ummm excuse me? How much more uneducated, immature, and ignorant could this author possibly be? Give back but don’t care about the planet? Have opinions but don’t be too passionate about them because people won’t agree? For someone who is promoting ‘discuss current affairs with your children’, she grossly missed the mark here and made fun of a teenager who had a passion for the greater good. Also sending a message to girls that your opinions will cause you to lose friends. Shame on Beth Kobliner.
Profile Image for Brandon Clark.
Author 2 books3 followers
January 12, 2024
Solid guidance for parents to raise kids with financial savvy. The content also educates parents on their own finances as well. Informative but not super fun, which is exactly what I expected.
Profile Image for Sarah.
224 reviews
March 20, 2018
Good advice for talking to kids of all ages about money management. There is even a chapter at the end with some basics for adults. Some of my takeaways:
-Don’t tie allowance to regular chores. Kids can earn money for special chores, but regular ones should be done because they are part of the family.
-Have kids contribute to a “sharing jar” (money for charitable donations)
-Start saving for college when your kid is born (529 is one recommendation)
-Don’t pay kids for good grades. Pay them for effort instead (completing homework for a month for example)

One thing I disagreed with was the blanket statement to never co-sign a credit card with your child. My parents co-signing a credit card with me enabled me to travel abroad during college, and thanks to establishing credit history early, I had a credit score of 815 by the time I graduated. My husband, on the other hand, never had a credit card or any debt and started out with a score in the 600s. He had to jump through tons of hoops to build up his credit to an acceptable level.
Profile Image for Michelle Boehm.
355 reviews4 followers
April 4, 2022
I read a few parenting books every year to assuage guilt, practice occasional self-congratulation, etc and I usually walk away with a nugget or 2 from every book, but rarely am I inspired to buy a book and give it a permanent place in our home library. I bought this book. It's full of practical advice, is not endlessly repetitive, and I think has provided me with the tools I need to FINALLY implement a workable allowance system with my kids.
Profile Image for Ivan.
754 reviews116 followers
February 8, 2020
Ignore the hyperbolic title and you have quite the helpful and exhaustive book for parents.
Profile Image for รพีพัฒน์ อิงคสิทธิ์.
Author 10 books107 followers
February 21, 2021
สุดยอดครับสำหรับพ่อแม่มือใหม่ที่กำลังหา Guidebook สำหรับสอนลูกเกี่ยวกับเรื่องเงิน มีการแบ่งเซคชันเด็กโต เด็กเล็ก ไปจนถึง First Jobber ชัดเจน เขียนเป็นข้อๆ อ่านเข้าใจง่าย และนำไปใช้ได้จริง (บ้าง) แต่บางบทก็อ่านข้ามๆ เช่นเรื่องหนี้มหาลัยซึ่งเป็นประเด็นแบบโคตรอเมริกัน
Profile Image for Trish.
3,713 reviews3 followers
February 22, 2018
This is a great book about finances for any person to read. I liked how the author broke up the chapters for different age ranges.
Profile Image for Sarah Bell Hamric.
12 reviews3 followers
November 27, 2022
I think all kids should be exposed to this book by an adult who cares about their financial health throughout life. Our educational system does not do enough to teach kids what they need to know, so it is on us to take care of our children’s financial well being.
Profile Image for Leah Agirlandaboy.
803 reviews15 followers
Read
March 27, 2022
This is full of good, basic info delivered in a friendly, accessible tone. I took a bunch of notes on practical, valuable takeaways.
Profile Image for Brittney.
479 reviews3 followers
June 16, 2020
This is the most helpful parenting book I've ever read. The chapters are broken down by age group with straightforward advice (teach your preschoolers the names of the coins, take your middle schooler to a college campus, don't buy your high schooler a new car, etc.). I loved working through each chapter with my kids, and I am genuinely excited to keep it handy as they grow up.
206 reviews4 followers
October 4, 2022
This is a must read . . . it is helpful as a parent and an individual . . .
Profile Image for Cathleen.
12 reviews
May 23, 2025
I believe it is important to teach our children about financial matters. This book is a great roadmap.
Profile Image for Zach Scardino.
3 reviews
August 31, 2022
Kobliner does a fantastic job of providing ideas and suggestions for parents to implement with kids of all ages. The best part is that Kobliner presents the information in a casual, conversational style that makes it easy to understand the why and how without demanding any particular level of financial savvy on the part of the parent. Regardless of whether you grew up knowing about money management or you’re still trying to figure it out yourself, you should walk away with some fresh, actionable take-aways for your kids after reading this book.
Profile Image for Katelyn.
217 reviews
February 16, 2017
The book Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not) addresses all sorts of important money issues like investing, savings, paying for college, working in high school, insurance, paying off debt, spending, and more.

I super loved how each chapter has specific instructions on how to start implementing good money practices at whatever age your child is at, whether preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, college, or young adult. Too many books I’ve read are only geared (really) toward a certain age group, or it seems some advice only fits for certain times. But, she really breaks down great practices and implementation for even the youngest budding money users and consumers!

With four young kids, this is very helpful to me. The preschool and elementary sections, especially, are full of “teachable moments” that help me, as the parent, teach my children certain character traits and perspectives that will translate into smart money management later, like strong work ethics, developing self-control, weighing choices carefully, perseverance to work toward distant goals, and having a giving spirit.

Also, all of her information in the investing chapters makes me want to run out and open a Roth IRA or other investment right now!

I wrote an entire (sponsored) blog post about what I learned from in regards to children being paid to do chores or not and if your kids should receive an allowance. See it here: http://www.whatsupfagans.com/2017/02/...
Profile Image for Travis.
871 reviews14 followers
December 4, 2018
If you're already familiar with basic financial intelligence then you won't find much new in this book. It's a nice, easy overview of how to instill that financial intelligence in your kids, though. There are ten chapters, each focused on a different topic such as responsible spending and improved saving and investing. Each chapter is broken down into age sections: preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and young adult. You could read just the ages of your children but it's a quick enough read with enough information that you should just read the whole thing. I did skim the details about college finances since I'm "still" about a decade from that.

The lessons are very similar to those I'd already absorbed from sources like Your Money or Your Life and Mr. Money Mustache and even Tony Robbins' Money. It boils down to: get health insurance, get term life insurance, max out retirement savings accounts, reduce spending, and walk the talk to provide a shining example for your children.

As seems to be the norm for this book genre, the author includes plenty of anecdotes and injects plenty of humor into her writing. I guess it's the easiest way to humanize financial advice. And we learn better from stories than dry facts. It's a very personable book to read and that makes it easy to absorb.
Profile Image for Miranda Champoux.
60 reviews
May 27, 2023
Interesting opinions. I will probably read this again when my baby is a little older
Profile Image for Nat.
51 reviews6 followers
March 12, 2024
Honestly a disturbing read; I barely got past the first chapter. The best advice was not to lie to your kid about whether you have money on you. Once it started praising the *incredibly* debunked marshmallow study, I knew I wouldn’t be able to trust any of the research in the book… and the parenting philosophy was very convoluted but pretty much diametrically opposed to my entire approach. Have your child imagine a toy is covered in boogers so they will be able to hold off from buying it?? Here is a list of all the money information you should never give your kid? Incredibly out of touch unless you are an authoritarian, upper-class white capitalist looking to raise kids who reinforce all of the existing status quos.

I just forced my way through another awful parenting book so I decided not to waste any more time on this one.
Profile Image for Starla Nichols.
339 reviews6 followers
November 22, 2017
Great read- recommended for those who have been meaning to do something about their finances, those who need guidance, really honestly a great read for those who know nothing about saving money to those who are financially savvy. It has excellent simple explanations and references for those who do not understand wall street talk. A must read for anyone looking to fix their finances even if you do not have children.
Profile Image for Rachel Blom.
Author 6 books10 followers
May 22, 2017
Great book for parents. I'm pretty money savvy myself, but I learned a lot about how and when to talk to my son about money, and how to teach him smart strategies. Very practical tips for all ages, starting from Kindergarten till College. Must read for parents who want to raise their kids to e financially independent.
Profile Image for Jodi Hawkins.
625 reviews1 follower
November 1, 2017
This book was great. I don't feel like I will be able to make my kid a money genius from reading this book, however, I learned a lot and refreshed my memory on many important topics. This book definitely has a 'wealth' of information that will be vital in helping my children succeed in life. Not only with money, but how to prep for college and adult life. I would recommend this book to all.
Profile Image for Worth-Pinkham Memorial Library.
148 reviews1 follower
May 16, 2020
Having 3 kids, I love this book! It has some good information and most importantly it's a very easy
read. Great to pick up, read a bit and put down, which is always good when you have kids! You can go right to your child's age, and she tells you her ideas. Of course there is the usual stuff, but I feel it helped me talk to my kids about money. Good discussion starter. -Pam
Profile Image for Samantha Mockford.
135 reviews1 follower
August 16, 2021
I love how Kobliner gives sample talking points for each developmental stage and educates the parents, too, on the gravity of wise financial decisions, all while staying lighthearted and compassionate. I will refer back to this book many times as my kids grow up!
Profile Image for Nollie.
358 reviews8 followers
June 2, 2017
Great basic primer, targets how to talk to kids about money at each phase, preschool, elementary, middle, and HS. Parents will learn a lot too.
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