Real-World Guide to Debt-Proof Your Kids
Syndicated Personal Finance Columnist Shares Practical Advice, Personal Experience
Our children are being groomed to become world-class consumers, and they are well on their way to becoming future debtors. The next generation is being manipulated by the advertising and consumer-credit industries who tell them they are entitled to whatever they want, when they want it, but with little thought on how to pay for it. Unless parents intervene, statistics indicate that the majority of kids will lead a life severely impacted by consumer debt.
It’s easy for parents to get hung up on the mundane side of parenting – cooking, cleaning, carpooling – and forget to teach money management skills. At best, parents have 18 years to teach their kids how to manage money skillfully. Failing to do that sets kids up for a lifetime of miserable debt. But there is hope and help for parents.
Personal finance expert Mary Hunt prepares readers to debt-proof their kids in Raising Financially Confident Kids. Readers learn how to develop a unique debt-proofing plan designed specifically for their children that will tear down attitudes of entitlement, build financial intelligence and neutralize the glamour of easy spending. Debt-proofed kids are guided by a set of values having to do with money, credit and debt.
Hunt shares her own experiences raising two sons, who are now financially responsible adults, and gives hope to parents in every financial situation. Her family was $100,000 in debt before they saw their sons’ entitlement issues and realized the importance of teaching their 8 and 7-year-old the basics of money management. There is good news for parents in financial crisis; they will learn alongside their kids and grow together as a family as they begin to educate themselves and change their outlook on money.
In Raising Financially Confident Kids Hunt takes on the nuts and bolts of debt-proofing your kids and gives practical advice for parents. Hunt systematically lays out her proven method, which is tailored for preschoolers through high school and designed to help parents:
Transform their children into effective money managers.
- Educate their children and steer them away from consumer debt to protect their future.
- Gradually turn over the money required for their care and support to their children.
- Trust their children to be good stewards of a portion of the family’s resources.
- Engrain money management skills in their children so the lessons will last a lifetime.
According to Hunt, “It takes relatively little effort to teach kids about money, and the payoff is enormous. If you are diligent to work this teaching into the normal course of family life, it will come as naturally as teaching kids good manners or how to do laundry. It will be as ordinary as teaching them how to mow the lawn or wash the car.”
I found this book to be a very easy book to read and seems the plan is just as easy. The author shares 4 Basic Financial Values a family should have in this book. Her plan has been tested and used by many. There is a chapter devoted to future debtors of America and how they are won over. The author explains the trouble with debt in a chapter. One chapter is all about tearing down attitudes of entitlement. The author will teach the reader how to develop financial intelligence and how to neutralize the glamour of easy spending. Gives a chapter of do's and don'ts for preschool age, plan handling ages six to ten year olds and then ten through teens all good information. Wonderful book for every home library to have.
Hunt was not always a personal finance expert, but lived through financial crisis and her family emerged with a healthier view on the value of money and the danger of debt. It took them 13 years to pay off over $100,000 in unsecured debt, and Hunt is on a mission to help other families learn from her mistakes.Hunt is an award-winning and bestselling author, syndicated columnist and sought-after motivational speaker, who created a global platform that is making strides to help men and women battle the epidemic impact of consumer debt. She is founder and publisher of the interactive website Debt-Proof Living, which features financial tools, resources and information for her online members. Her books have sold more than a million copies and her daily newspaper column is nationally syndicated through Creators Syndicate, where it is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of Everyday Cheapskate readers. Hunt speaks widely on personal finance and has appeared on shows such as Good Morning America, Oprah, Dr. Phil and Focus on the Family. She and her husband live in California.
For more information visit www.debtproofliving.com and follow Hunt on Twitter @debtproofliving.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books for everyday life. For more information, visit www.RevellBooks.com.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for my honest review by...
Crystal Paine is a wife, mom of three, author of The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget. Visit her blog, 
