An inventive and entertaining book on how to teach your children about money.
Every parent wants to raise financially responsible children, but for many, it is a task of Herculean proportions. Most efforts to teach children about money are doomed from the start. Parents may talk of savings, they may try to explain the virtues of compound interest, but a year is an eternity to a six-year-old who wants that new toy today. Parents who take the traditional approach to talking about money will find that their children learn all the fiscal discipline of an Argentinean finance minister.
David Owen tried all those traditional approaches to teaching his own children about money, and learned they didn't work. So he invented a novel approach: he set up a bank of his own, with simple terms and generous incentives for saving, and then stepped aside and gave his young children complete freedom to use their money as they wanted. Instead of blowing it all, they developed a strong sense of financial discipline and responsibility. As they grew older, he added a stock exchange to The Bank of Dad to broaden their understanding of investing.
In sounds complicated, but it's not. His kids are not dot-com billionaires; they will have to work for a living some day. But they are well armed to meet their financial needs and responsibilities. They are avid savers; they know how to balance their checkbooks; they understand the principles of investing in stocks and bonds.
'The First National Bank of Dad' is a highly accessible guide that will show readers how to implement this unusual and innovative plan with their own children.
