Manage Your Money Like a Grownup: The Best Money Advice for Teens

by Sam Beckbessinger

Business, Finance for Young Adults

You’re never too young to start saving and learning about money. Manage Your Money Like A Grownup, by bestselling author Sam Beckbessinger, aims to get younger readers thinking about the basics of money, laying the solid foundation in financial education that most grownups today never had.

With illustrations, jokes and fun facts designed to appeal to even the most easily bored reader, this book covers all the basics South African teenagers need to know about money, such as:

- the relationship between earning, saving and spending;
- how investing works;
- why compound interest is a superpower;
- why we pay taxes; and
- the ethics of money.

Informed by discussions with real teens and their parents, this book aims to equip readers with practical tips for earning and investing money at any age, and questions to spark lively dinner-table conversations.

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance

207 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2020

About the author

Sam Beckbessinger is the author of the bestselling Manage Your Money Like a Fucking Grownup and the novel Girls of Little Hope (co-authored with Dale Halvorsen). Her interactive story about climate change, Survive the Century, was featured in New Scientist and Gizmodo. She teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University, writes kids' TV and picture books, once wrote for Marvel, and is weirdly obsessed with spreadsheets. Her perimenopausal werewolf novel Femme Feral is coming in summer 2026. She grew up on a farm near Durban with a pet donkey named Mr Magoo, but now lives in London.

Reviews

[Frieda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of great information in here. I found the tone a bit condescending so it's really a 3,5 rating but did go up as I'll be giving it to my niece to read to help her.

[Nada Neji · Rating 4 out of 5]

أول شيء خطر في ذهني ما إن انتهيت منه هو :"بالتأكيد سأترك هذا الكتاب لأطفالي في المستقبل... "
هو كتاب موجه للأطفال بالاساس يعرفهم و يساعدهم على اكتشاف عالم المال بلغة مبسطة و سهلة و الأهم من ذلك ممتعة.
جعلني هذا أرغب في قراءة نسختها الموجهة للكبار Manage your money

[Hossam Walid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would recommend it to kids not adults

[Faterider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young adults often moan about how difficult adulting is, but the truth is, when you are a child/adolescent, things like investing and giving to charity and taxes are probably the last things you care about because they sound dreadfully boring. Now, I teach in an elementary school, and I can imagine how various chapters of this book will arouse their curiosity. Kudos to Sam Beckbessinger for putting herself in the shoes of a kid and writing from his/her vantage point. Case in point: “privilege is like having power-ups in a game.” Or “active investing is like trying to pick the best burger from all the fast-food restaurants out there.” Really thoughtful analogies that kids can relate to.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on spending as she laid out all the tricks our brain plays on us so that we fall prey to insidious advertising and impulse buying. What’s noteworthy is that she includes the technical jargon alongside her kid-friendly explanations. Did you know that there is an actual term called anthropomorphism for the tendency of being attracted to cute products? Reading this term gave me a jolt as I suddenly understood the Japanese people’s obsession with kawaii products! So adults reading this book can pick up an invaluable insight or two.

Another insight I hastily noted down is Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund. Nay, never heard of this before. And yay, intrigued to find out more about it.

There’s an useful glossary at the end that children can refer to so that they can unpack terms like shares and exchange traded funds. I love how she gallantly tries to stretch the intellect of her audience by not shunning away from investing jargon!

Also, as someone passionate about world cultures, I was pleased to learn more about South Africa through this book. (It’s written with South African teenagers in mind.) I learnt about how inequality persists in this nation, how buying cows is a form of investment (No kidding!) and kiff (the Afrikaans term for cool). Enhancing my cultural versatility is a bonus!

[ForeverDay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin.
It was definitely aimed at someone younger than me (again, it does say that on the cover) and I just skipped through the chapters that detailed, e.g., how to get an allowance from your parents. For someone like me who's been quite intimidated by investing etc, I actually wanted something that was trying to make it as absolutely simple and clear as possible and it was perfect for that.

[Patrick Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro book for youngsters.

[Ndalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the things in this book I’ve already learnt about in my accounting and economics classes, but it’s a good summary and way to put it all in one place.

[Lerato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book to lean about saving, investing and the important of money.

[Unathi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for financial advice. Well written. Good examples. Well suited for South African teens