Book Review: Smart Money, Smart Kids

Smart Money, Smart Kids
By Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze
Lampo Press, 2014
English, 256 pgs

Book Description

Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze teach parents how to raise money-smart kids in a debt-filled world.
In Smart Money Smart Kids, financial expert and best-selling author Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze equip parents to teach their children how to win with money. Starting with the basics like working, spending, saving, and giving, and moving into more challenging issues like avoiding debt for life, paying cash for college, and battling discontentment, Dave and Rachel present a no-nonsense, common-sense approach for changing your family tree.

Review:
This is not the first book on teaching kids about money that I have read. But it will be the first that I put into practice. I tried the Money Makeover many years ago and failed at my attempt, but I've always known that Mr. Ramsey was smart about money and that his advice was something that I should follow.

Dave comes at money problems from a different perspective than Rachel. I like that she calls him a surgeon where she is a preventative medicine. I don't ever want my sons to deal with the crushing weight of debt and I want them to learn the value of work.

I'm really happy that I've read this book. I have set up jars for both of my boys so they can see their spending and saving money grow. I'm still trying to figure out all the details of how to make things work (like how much to pay for working and when to pay) but that's because my husband hasn't read it yet and we're going to work it out together.

I've been so motivated by the book that I'm looking into restarting the Money Makeover for our family. I'm committed and ready to get going.

Favorite quotes:

• Work creates discipline, and when you have discipline in your life, you are a healthier person.
• Giving his own money changes a child's whole understanding of giving.
• Personal finance is 80 percent behavior; it's only 20 percent head knowledge.
• You must teach them (your children) that they don't own money - the are simply managers, or stewards of it.
• A budget creates boundaries.
• Your child needs to know as early as possible that debt in any form will wreck his future financial success.
• The debt-free college plan isn't always easy, but it is definitely the best way in the long run.
• If you want to raise money-smart kids, you have to raise kids who are content.
• Hearing and accepting the word no does something wonderful for your child: it teaches her boundaries.

More information is available at DaveRamsey.com if you're interested in learning what he teaches about debt and budgeting.

I received a copy of the book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for a review on my blog and a commercial website. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.