The Art of Allowance: A Short, Practical Guide to Raising Money-Smart, Money-Empowered Kids

by John Lanza

Are you worried that you're spoiling your child? Overwhelmed by how much stuff your child is accumulating? Wondering if and when an allowance might help? The Art of Allowance might be what you need. Just like reading, financial literacy must be introduced at a young age. You can help chart a course to youth financial responsibility via the core money-smart skills of distinguishing needs from wants, making smart money choices and saving for goals all while following age-appropriate guidelines. You need to encourage your preschool- or early elementary-aged child to use a system of allowance jars; your tween or teen can demonstrate more autonomy over his money with the help of the Breakthrough Allowance. You’ll learn how to assign chores and invest and open savings accounts, to help you and your child navigate the ins and outs of fiscal responsibility. John Lanza, Chief Mammal of The Money Mammals and author of the “Share & Save & Spend Smart” trilogy that includes the Dr. Toy Award-winning children’s books Joe the Monkey Saves for a Goal and Joe the Monkey Learns to Share, leverages more than a decade of experience teaching kids the basics of money smarts to lead you and your child on your own Art of Allowance journey–from birth to teen. What’s more, he intersperses “Memos from the Chief Mammal,” exploring the impact of commercialism and money’s role in our lives to provide a broader context for the allowance journey upon which you and your child are embarking. Additionally, you and your child can explore a companion website, theartofallowance.com, which includes other resources such as fun financial literacy activities and supplementary readings. When used in conjunction with The Art of Allowance, these materials will help your child become money-smart and money-comfortable to live a happier, more fulfilled life. Don’t be surprised if you find your own relationship with money changing as well!

Genres: Parenting

113 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

John Lanza is the Chief Mammal of The Money Mammals. A pioneer in youth money-smarts, John created the original Money Mammals video and has written three children’s picture books to help kids learn to “Share & Save & Spend Smart.” He recently completed his first book for parents, "The Art of Allowance."

He is recognized nationally as a youth financial literacy expert. The Money Mammals have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The LA Times. John has over a decade of experience speaking around the country on this topic.

John lives in Southern California, grew up in Caldwell, New Jersey, and attended Bates College. He received High Honors in Biology, something that he thinks makes him sound smart and is only useful for bios like this, answering questions posed by his two daughters and when talking to himself while watching Jeopardy.

Reviews

[Denise Kettering · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick introduction to some ideas that can help guide parents as they think about allowance and how to educate kids about money. There is a very simple overview of one process that could work for children. This is a quick read and provides some good introductory material to the topic. This is not intended as, nor is it, an exhaustive guide to all the facets of allowance and it focuses more on younger children than teens (although he does provide some helpful advice there). In all, this book lives up to its a billing as a short, focused, and practical guide for parents who are thinking about either starting or fine-tuning allowance practices.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

With our oldest child reaching the age of wanting all the things we felt it time to introduce an allowance. But we didn’t want to just give him free reign to buy whatever he wanted. This was a great book for setting up a system to teach money skills that will hopefully serve him for a long time! I struggled with fully understanding some of the concepts in the book but reached out on the books’ IG page and was kindly helped there! We will need to revisit the last bit of the book as our kids get older but found it very helpful for getting a good system in place for our family.

[Jolene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just starting into how to give my kids allowances and teach them about money. This was such a nice practical quick read that I can easily put into practice. Highly recommend if you just aren't sure where to start with allowances!

[John Gates · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good (light-reading) book on creating a basic allowance plan and customizing it to fit your lifestyle or habits of your child.

[Jonathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a parent of a kid I suggest reading this book. It’s light-weight enough while having some powerful concepts built on a wide range of inspirations. It is changing how I think and parent.