You want to give your child a better money education than you got growing up, but you’re struggling with how.
Maybe you've even felt from time to time like:
- I haven’t been the best with money over the years
- I'm not entirely confident with my own money management skills
- I don't know where to start – what do my kid(dos) already know and what do they not know?
- My kids know the basics…but how do I take their money education to the next level?
And while you might have concluded that you're NOT the person to teach your child about money…
I’m here to tell you that you (yes, YOU) are qualified to teach your child and students about money.
Even if:
- You were never taught about money as a kid
- You haven’t been the best with money over the years
- You don’t know where to start
You just need smart tools, resources, & guidance. That's where I come in.
I'm Amanda L. Grossman, a Certified Financial Education Instructor, winner of the 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant to create a kid money program (the Mt. Everest Money Simulation: A Kid's Educational Adventure), and a 13-year personal finance blogger.
Not only do I feel qualified to help you teach your kid(dos) and teens how to earn, save, and manage their money, but I darn well looooooovvvve these subjects.
Here's more about me.
So, how did I get into teaching kids and teens about money?
I started out 13 years ago blogging about adult finances.
Over the years of helping adults fix their money problems, I've been party to some tragic stories.
- Like the woman who quit her day job to pursue her photography passion…with no backup plan or awareness of how hard starting up a small business can be. She literally was deciding between health insurance and keeping food on the table, and feels she can't start a full-time job again because her wages would be “immediately garnished” to pay for the $100,000 of debt she's in.
- And the man I worked with who is $160,000 in debt and lost his job in the recession. The merry-go-round of paycheck –> pay debt –> pay bills –> scrape by–> paycheck literally just stopped on him. And it wasn't that fun of a ride to begin with.
- And a mother who, almost at the age of 50, is still paying for her past credit mistakes and desperately wants her own son to not make the same ones she did.
Quite frankly, there are stories all over the internet of people trying to duct-tape over their money mistakes.
And I got to thinking one day how frustrating it was that someone like me did not get to these people to teach them about money before they made these life-altering mistakes.
You know, while they were young and just learning how to deal with the green stuff – while the money training wheels were still on.
Ding, ding, ding – this was my lightbulb moment!
I created Money Prodigy to prevent your child (and mine) from learning how to manage their money the hard-knocks way.
I want your child to understand that money is a tool.
And I want to help teach them how to use that tool.
I also want to help open the lines of communication between you and your child about money so that if the times do get tough — and let’s face it, they do at some point in most people’s lives — they know they can always come to talk to you about things.
In other words, as you use the resources + guidance I provide for you here, you'll gradually move from managing their money life, to becoming a mentor who they can trust and come to with their money problems as a teen and young adult.
I cover things like:
- How to Teach Kids about Money (The Comprehensive Guide)
- Teenage Money Management (The Comprehensive Guide)
- 27 Awards and Scholarships for Young Entrepreneurs
- 12 Fun Budgeting Activities PDFs for Students
- How Much Should I have Saved by 18?
- Budgeting for Kids (Simple Step-by-Step Guide)
Here's how you can get started.
Wait a sec…isn't my child's school going to cover all of this?
You might be wondering why you have to head-up your child's money education, especially since they go to school.
Buckle up for a hot second here, because I've read up on what's going on with financial literacy education in schools (I'm a nerdy fact-checker like that)…and it's not pretty.
At first, I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only do 23 states have mandatory personal finance requirements, but that my own state (Texas) was one of them.
Woohoo!
Except then I ran across this statistic from the National Endowment for Financial Education's study, Teachers’ Background & Capacity to Teach Personal Finance:
“Only 11.6% of K-12 teachers had taken a workshop on teaching personal finance…In fact, over 60% of teachers and prospective teachers said they do not feel qualified to teach their state’s financial education standards. And teacher education faculty members in those states were no more familiar with state financial education standards than K-12 teachers themselves.”
[I couldn't help but bold that statistic after I had 30 seconds or so to lift my bottom jaw back up from the floor.]
Ummm….
At that rate, your child is more likely to stumble upon an actual shark in the bathtub during Shark Week than to stumble into a financially literate life*.
*maybe a slight exaggeration
That's why I've decided to tackle teaching this critical life skill to your child together WITH you.
I'm on a Compound Impact Mission to reach 36,715 kids.
You've heard of compound interest, right?
The idea that money grows money all by itself if given time, untouched, in an interest-rich environment?
Einstein's 8th wonder of the world is something I'm going to use in my own favor with what I'm calling My 36,715 Compound Impact Mission.
I've set out to change the money lives of 36,715 kids. Whether through an online activity, a video, a classroom simulation, etc.
Why is that the precise number I've chosen?
Well, I'm a numbers gal (didn't you notice?), and with the current US population growth rate, if I manage to change the money futures of 36,715 kids, then that means by 2100 I will have touched the money lives of 100,001 people.
(For the record, that will make me 118, so really it's a legacy thing I'm trying to accomplish here).
At least one of those students? Will be my own son, Conner.
And another one? Well…I hope that will be yours.
You can find my money work featured in lots of places.
I've also:
- Studied at the London School of Economics for a semester while interning at Parliament (go Welsh Plaid Cymru Party!!)
- Studied abroad in Japan (where I met my husband)
- Graduated summa cum laude from Washington College back when Napster and AOL Instant Messenger were in their heydays
But the actual proof of my money know-how? Is in the [s’mores] pudding.
Not only did my husband and I collectively pay off $59,496 worth of debt 11 years earlier than our creditors wanted us to (back 2010), but we’ve managed to have our money work so well for us that we’re in the Lifestyle Design phase.
In February of 2013 I was able to quit my day job and work on my passion — Frugal Confessions, LLC — full time. Now that I’m a Mom of a 11-month old 6-year-old (MAN they grow fast), this has meant getting to be a WAHM (work at home Mom).
Being able to raise my son while working my dream job is about as good as it can get.
And I want your child to have these same kinds of choices when they’re my age (actually, they can get here even earlier with this leg up you're about to provide them. Good job, Mama Bear!).
Pssst: Remember – you protect your child from sooooo much. Mosquitoes, sunburn, and digi-bullies, to name a few. Don't forget to protect them with the number one thing that could determine their future: a solid education in money management before they get their hands on their first real paycheck.
(UN)OFFICIAL BIO
Money Prodigy is the Kid & Teen Money Headquarters run by Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®) Amanda L. Grossman. She helps parents and educators with resources and guidance to confidently teach kids (5-18) how to manage money.
Amanda is the winner of the 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant to create a kid money program (the Mt. Everest Money Simulation: A Kid's Educational Adventure), and a 13-year personal finance blogger. Money Prodigy was established on 6/30/2016.
You've reached my main home on the interwebs.
But just in case you wander off, there are a few local joints where I also hang out (occasionally…I'm kinda a homebody):