Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Make Your Kid a Money Genius
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1/18/1965
WEBSITE: http://www.bethkobliner.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 96015712
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Kobliner, Beth, 1965-
Variant(s): Shaw, Beth Kobliner, 1965-
Biography/History note:
Beth Kobliner is a New York Times bestselling personal
finance expert, magazine columnist, and commentator and
a children's book author.
Located: New York (State)
Birth date: 19650118
Field of activity: Personal finance Publishing industry Radio journalism
Profession or occupation:
Financial commentator Journalist Speaker Children's book
author
Found in: Her Get a financial life, 1996: CIP t.p. (Beth Kobliner)
data sheet (b. 1/18/65)
Her Jacob's eye patch, ©2013: t.p. (by Beth Kobliner Shaw
& Jacob Shaw) dust jkt. (Beth Kobliner Shaw is Jacob's
mom; she's also the author of Get a Financial Life, and
a member of the President's Advisory Council on
Financial Capability)
Her website, Sept. 27, 2013 (Beth Kobliner; personal
finance commentator and journalist, author of the New
York Times bestseller Get a Financial Life, and
co-author of the forthcoming children's book Jacob's Eye
Patch with her son; regular lecturer on financial
literacy, consumer finance, and related public policy
issues at universities; has been a commentator on
various television news programs and has been a regular
contributor to the national public radio programs The
Takeaway and Marketplace, on which she discussed teens
and money with her daughter in the 'Beth and Becca'
segment; graduated from Brown University)
Premiere Speaker's Bureau website, Sept. 27, 2013 (Beth
Kobliner is a New York Times bestselling personal
finance expert, magazine columnist, and commentator;
lives in New York)
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born January 18, 1965; married David E. Shaw (a hedge fund manager); children: Rebecca, Adam, Jacob.
EDUCATION:Graduated from Brown University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Personal financial commentator and writer. Creator of MoneyAsYouGrow.org. Member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, 2010; member of President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, 2014; public speaker; former columnist for Money; content advisor for Sesame Workshop’s financial education initiative For Me, For You, For Later; has appeared on national radio and television programs.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Glamour, and O, The Oprah Magazine.
SIDELIGHTS
Beth Kobliner is a personal finance advisor and writer. A member of Barack Obama’s President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability in 2010, she is the creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-supported MoneyAsYouGrow.org Website. Kobliner has contributed financial-related articles to a number of periodicals, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Glamour, and O, The Oprah Magazine, and served as a columnist for Money magazine.
In an interview in the Washington Post Book World, Sharon Holbrook talked with Kobliner about her financial advice and how her own upbringing influences her professional financial advising. Kobliner explained: “I was brought up in Queens, New York. My dad was a teacher, and then a principal, and then worked for something called the Board of Examiners for the city, which is the agency that makes tests for teachers and principals. My mom was a chemistry teacher, but by the time I was born she was a stay-at-home mom.” Kobliner continued: “We didn’t have a lot of money at all. I was blessed, though, because my parents were both born in the Depression, so they were born into a mentality of being very frugal and how do you get the most for your dollar. So that was a part of my childhood. I feel like I’m teaching the secrets that my mother and father were just really good at–thinking about it all and being wise about money without it being at all oppressive.”
Get a Financial Life
Kobliner first published Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties in 1996 with a fourth edition released in 2017. This book focuses a series of money management principles to people in their twenties and thirties. The book covers a range of topics, including tax-deferred savings plans, understanding the minimal return on bank pass-book savings accounts, investing in mutual funds, legal tax deductions, staying away from ATMs, tearing up credit cards, IRAs, and 401k plans.
Reviewing the first edition in Library Journal, Dale Farris opined that “this neatly summarized material … nicely accompanies such well-known works as The Beardstown Ladies’ Common-Sense Investment Guide.” Also reviewing the first edition in Alaska Business Monthly, Henry Holtzman claimed that “the real importance of the book is bringing” everything related to “handling personal finances to the attention of people who might otherwise be most inclined to ignore them.” Holtzman reasoned that “reading the book should be made as much a requirement as sex education in the school system. Failing that, it would make an ideal graduation gift for someone who is just starting to face the problems that the book explains so well.”
Reviewing the first edition in Executive Female, Louise Jarvis stated: “Here’s extra incentive to buy Kobliner’s book: charts that make looking into your financial future palatable. One of the most inspiring shows you how much money you must save per week to reach a certain savings goal. It’s motivating to see” how she makes it all work. Booklist contributor David Rouse observed that the first edition “attempts to reach younger readers by speaking their language.” In a review of the fourth edition in Library Journal, Jennifer Clifton “recommended” the book, calling it “a good postrecession companion to Suze Orman’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke.”
Jacob's Eye Patch and Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You're Not)
Kobliner coauthored Jacob’s Eye Patch with Jacob Shaw in 2013. With illustrations by Jules Feiffer, the account relates Kobliner’s son experience growing up wearing an eye patch in order to strengthen a weak eye. The tale shows how Jacob had to deal with other curiously inquiring about his patch and also his own frustrations in having to wear in. Ultimately, Jacob yearns for the day when he can finally remove the patch and not have to deal with the drama that it creates. A Kirkus Reviews contributor stated: “Built on such a weak premise, this story provides no surprises.” The reviewer found the book to be “didactic, confusing, and not particularly informative.”
In 2017 Kobliner published Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3 to 23. The account aims to address a young audience to the importance of financial planning and money management to help the younger generation avoid many of the financial mistakes their parents may have made. She sets a series of goals by age range. Three-year-olds are taught that money has a certain value, while seven-year-olds are taught to set and reach various goals. The book covers topics ranging from avoiding debt, giving charitably, saving, investing, and making financial decisions about college and living independently. The book aims to guide parents in passing this step-by-step knowledge to their children even if it isn’t the approach that they themselves have taken in their own financial planning.
A contributor to Publishers Weekly said that the book contains “practical prescriptions, simple but effective action steps, and instructive anecdotes.” The reviewer called it “a book that belongs on every patent’s shelf.” A contributor to the Wallet Hacks Website said that “as someone with relatively good money skills, this book was a good fit because it created a framework for teaching money lessons. As I read through each chapter that applied to our kids and looked ahead to the ones that they’d soon face, everything made sense. More importantly, it creates a checklist.” The reviewer mentioned that “overall, I’m a fan and if you’re wondering how to teach your kids about money, I’d suggest giving this book a try.”
Reviewing the book in the Better Mom blog, Lindsey Feldpausch commented that “instead of making you feel like you missed the boat on everything in the money realm, she walks you through different things you can instill right now. She is reassuring and informative. I enjoy her pace and she keeps it interesting.” Feldpausch admitted: “I’m not a fan of the how-to books that make you feel like you should have read it 8 years ago because it’s too late at this point, but you won’t get that with this book. The author takes the time to cater to different age groups and allows you to take her written expertise a la carte–in the places you need it.” Feldpausch concluded: “I’m excited to delve into this book as our kids continue to learn and grow.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Alaska Business Monthly, July 1, 1996, Henry Holtzman, review of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, p. 58.
Appleseeds, February 1, 2014, Beth Shaw and Jacob Shaw, “Jacob’s Eye Patch: My Eye Patch Made Me an Author–and Led Me to the Best Illustrator Ever!,” p. 2.
Booklist, May 15, 1996, David Rouse, review of Get a Financial Life, p. 1554.
Executive Female, July 1, 1996, Louise Jarvis, review of Get a Financial Life, p. 65.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2013, review of Jacob’s Eye Patch.
Library Journal, April 15, 1997, Dale Farris, review of Get a Financial Life, p. 136; August 1, 2016, Jennifer Clifton, review of Get a Financial Life, p. 104.
Publishers Weekly, January 16, 2017, review of Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You’re Not), p. 56.
Redbook, May 1, 2011. “Tickle Me Rich: Elmo Gets Schooled on Saving,” p. 164.
Washington Post Book World, March 28, 2017, Sharon Holbrook, “‘Make Your Kid a Money Genius’ Author Explains How to Talk to Kids about Money.”
ONLINE
Beth Kobliner Website, http://www.bethkobliner.com (October 17, 2017).
Better Mom, https://www.thebettermom.com/ (February 9, 2017), Lindsey Feldpausch, review of Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You’re Not).
Jewish Book Council Website, https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/ (October 17, 2017), author profile.
Motley Fool, https://www.fool.com/ (July 13, 2017), Buck Hartzell, author interview.
Wallet Hacks, https://wallethacks.com (February 10, 2017), Jim Wang, review of Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You’re Not).*
One of the nation’s leading authorities on personal finance for young people, BETH KOBLINER is a commentator and journalist, and the author of two New York Times bestsellers Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, and an essential guide for parents, Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not).
In 2010, Beth was selected by President Barack Obama to be a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, where she created MoneyAsYouGrow.org. The site attracted more than 1.4 million visitors and was adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2016. A former columnist for Money magazine, Beth has written for numerous other publications, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as outlets such as Glamour; O, The Oprah Magazine; and The Huffington Post. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, from Today, Good Morning America, and the Early Show to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. As a content advisor for Sesame Workshop’s financial education initiative For Me, For You, For Later, she offered on-air money advice to Elmo.
Beth Kobliner
Born January 18, 1965 (age 52)
Bokaro
Alma mater Brown University
Occupation Personal finance commentator, journalist
Spouse(s) David E. Shaw
Children Rebecca Shaw, Adam Shaw, Jacob Shaw
Beth Kobliner (born January 18, 1965) is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestseller Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties.[1] She is currently writing Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You're Not).[2] In 2010, she was appointed by President Obama to the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability,[3][4] and was instrumental in developing the council's Money as You Grow initiative.[5][6][7] The site, MoneyAsYouGrow.org, has reached over one million visitors.[8] In February 2014, Kobliner was appointed by President Obama to the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.[9]
Kobliner is also the co-author, with her then nine-year-old son, of the 2013 children's book Jacob's Eye Patch, illustrated by Jules Feiffer.[10][11]
Kobliner served as an advisor for Sesame Street's financial education initiative, and appeared in an outreach video with the character Elmo.[12][13][14] She is a contributor to the Huffington Post [4] and Mint.com,[15] has participated regularly in public radio's national programs The Takeaway[16] and Marketplace, on which she discussed teens and money with her daughter in the "Beth and Becca" segment.[17] Kobliner has been a columnist at Glamour [18] and Redbook magazines,[19] and has contributed to publications including The New York Times,[4][20] The Wall Street Journal,[21] O: The OprahMagazine,[22] Parade,[23] and Reader's Digest.[24] She was a featured correspondent[25] and national outreach advisor[26] for the PBS special Your Life, Your Money.
Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Personal life
3 References
4 External links
Early life and education
Kobliner grew up in a Jewish family,[27][28][29] the daughter of a New York high school principal and a high school chemistry teacher turned homemaker.[30] Kobliner is a graduate of Brown University,[31] where she studied literature.[30] Following college, she worked for Sylvia Porter, a pioneer in the personal finance field,[31] and later joined Money magazine as a staff writer.[30]
Personal life
Kobliner is married to hedge fund manager and billionaire David E. Shaw.[32]
STORY
BETH KOBLINER is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestsellers GET A FINANCIAL LIFE & MAKE YOUR KID A MONEY GENIUS (EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT). Available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & wherever books are sold.
About
Author of the New York Times bestsellers GET A FINANCIAL LIFE & MAKE YOUR KID A MONEY GENIUS (EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT). Available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & wherever books are sold.
Biography
BETH KOBLINER is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestsellers GET A FINANCIAL LIFE & MAKE YOUR KID A MONEY GENIUS (EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT). Available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & wherever books are sold.
With a focus on instilling financial literacy in young people of all backgrounds and incomes, Beth was selected by President Obama as a member of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, a bipartisan committee dedicated to increasing the financial know-how of kids of all ages.
As a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability from 2010 to 2013, and chair of the Council’s Money as You Grow working group, Beth spearheaded the creation of the national initiative Money as You Grow, which offers families an online, interactive tool to teach kids 20 essential, age-appropriate lessons about money. More than one million people have visited the site since its White House launch.
Beth has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine, Parade, and Reader’s Digest; has been a columnist at Money, Glamour, and Redbook magazines; and has regular columns on The Huffington Post (40 million visitors per month) and Mint.com (16 million subscribers).
As a content advisor for Sesame Workshop’s first-ever financial education initiative For Me, for You, for Later, Beth was delighted to offer on-air money advice to Elmo in a program viewed by more than one million families. Last year, at the White House Call to Action on College Opportunity led by the President and First Lady, Khan Academy was asked to address the complex college admissions process, and Beth was invited to create and star in videos to help families of all income levels navigate the issue of college affordability.
Beth has been a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, NBC’s Today show, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS’s Early Show, and has been a regular contributor to the national public radio programs The Takeaway and Marketplace, on which she discussed teens and money with her daughter in the “Beth and Becca” segment, as well as parents and money with her father. Beth appeared several times on Oprah, and was the featured financial correspondent on the PBS program Your Life, Your Money, for which she was also script consultant.
She is a regular lecturer on financial literacy, consumer finance, and related public policy issues at universities including Brown, Harvard, Yale, Howard, MIT, SUNY Westchester Community College, and New Jersey Institute of Technology, at which she spoke with Cory Booker about financial literacy and young people. Beth has also spoken at corporations and conferences including the White House Urban Economic Forum, National Journal LIVE, Campus Progress National Youth Conference, the American Savings Education Council, MTV, PepsiCo, and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Beth has worked extensively with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Project Credit Smarts” campus outreach campaign and other organizations to promote credit card awareness. She was a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ National Commission on Retirement Policy, and has testified before a U.S. Senate policy committee on young people’s attitudes toward Social Security. She is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the New York Financial Writers’ Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Beth is a graduate of Brown University.
Gender
Female
Beth Kobliner
Beth Kobliner
Author of Get a Financial Life & Make Your Kid a Money Genius; member of President's Council on Financial Capability
Greater New York City Area
Media Production
Current
Various Media Outlets
Previous
President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, Glamour Magazine
Education
Brown University
Websites
Personal Website
Blog
Money as You GrowPublished by Beth
See more
Want Your Girl to Get Paid Like a Boy? Treat Her Like One
February 11, 2017
Summary
Beth Kobliner is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestsellers Get a Financial Life®: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties and Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not). With a focus on instilling financial literacy in young people of all backgrounds and incomes, Beth was selected by President Obama as a member of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, a bipartisan committee dedicated to increasing the financial know-how of kids of all ages.
Experience
Personal Finance Author, Journalist, and Commentator
Various Media Outlets
May 2000 – Present (17 years 6 months)
Beth Kobliner is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and author of the New York Times bestsellers Get a Financial Life®: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties and Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not).
Beth has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine, Parade, and Reader’s Digest; has been a columnist at Money, Glamour, and Redbook magazines; and has regular columns on The Huffington Post and Mint.com.
As a content advisor for Sesame Workshop’s first-ever financial education initiative For Me, for You, for Later, Beth was delighted to offer on-air money advice to Elmo in a program viewed by more than one million families. Last year, at the White House Call to Action on College Opportunity led by the President and First Lady, Khan Academy was asked to address the complex college admissions process, and Beth was invited to create and star in videos to help families of all income levels navigate the issue of college affordability.
Beth has been a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, NBC’s Today show, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS’s Early Show, and a contributor to the national public radio’s The Takeaway and Marketplace, on which she discussed teens and money with her daughter in the “Beth and Becca” segment, as well as parents and money with her father. Beth appeared several times on Oprah, and was the featured financial correspondent on the PBS program Your Life, Your Money, for which she was also script consultant.
Member
President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans
2013 – 2015 (2 years)
With a focus on instilling financial literacy in young people of all backgrounds and incomes, Beth was selected by President Obama as a member of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, a bipartisan committee dedicated to increasing the financial know-how of kids of all ages.
Member; Chair, Money as You Grow Working Group
President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability
2010 – 2013 (3 years)
As a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability from 2010 to 2013 and chair of the Council’s Money as You Grow working group, Beth spearheaded the creation of the national initiative Money as You Grow, which offers families an online, interactive tool to teach kids 20 essential, age-appropriate lessons about money. More than one million people have visited the site since its White House launch.
Personal Finance Columnist
Glamour Magazine
2001 – 2008 (7 years)
Money Magazine
Staff Writer
Money Magazine
1988 – 1996 (8 years)
Skills
JournalismFreelance WritingFinanceFinancial ServicesBooksDigital MediaMagazinesCommunity OutreachEditorialBudgets
How's this translation?
Great•Has errors
Education
Brown University
Brown University
An Interview With Beth Kobliner, Author of "Make Your Kid a Money Genius"
Motley Fool's Buck Hartzell sits down with the New York Times bestselling author to get her thoughts on discussing personal finance and investing with our kids.
Buck Hartzell
(TMFBuck)
Jul 13, 2017 at 2:00PM
Beth Kobliner is one of the nation's leading authorities on personal finance for young people. Her two books -- Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties and Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not) -- are widely acclaimed for their personal message and helpful advice to parents and kids alike.
In 2010, President Obama selected Beth to be a member of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, where she created MoneyAsYouGrow.org, which has since been adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Buck Hartzell recently sat down with Beth at Fool HQ to find out more about the importance of educating children about money, saving, and more.
A full transcript follows the video.
Buck Hartzell: Thank you, all, for coming! Welcome, Beth, to The Motley Fool! I'll give you a quick introduction, and then we'll get into some questions, and we'll help all of us that have kids in the audience make your kids money geniuses, I think that's a desire that we all share.
Beth Kobliner: Even if you're not.
Hartzell: Right, even if we're not. Hopefully we know some things, and we'll learn a lot more today from Beth. To give you a little bit of background, she's in New York Times best-selling author and personal finance writer. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many other publications that I'm sure you've all heard of. She was also chosen, like most of us, by the president of the United States, President Obama, to serve on an advisory board on financial capability. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Beth.
So, you wrote this book, How To Make Your Kid A Money Genius. I have three kids, and that's a topic that's near and dear to my heart. I was interested. We see this too, sometimes, in our group, a lot of parents that are comfortable talking about a lot of things with their kids -- it could be drugs or sex whatever else -- but money is a topic that's somewhat taboo. Why is that? Why are people so uncomfortable talking about money with their kids?
Kobliner: First, I want to thank you for that. This is the best 20-question -- there's so many good questions on this, you were joking that it's like 60 Minutes, like, OK, I'm really prepared. And thank you too Alison and to Tom Gardner, who I went to college with, so I can give you some good back story later. But, I think whether you have a lot of money, and I did speak at Google a few months ago, and the question that came up a few times was, "I don't want my kid to be entitled. I make a lot of money, and I don't want my kids to think that money grows on trees and they can get whatever they want." So, I think parents are afraid, in that sense, to talk about money. And of course, most of America doesn't have enough, and is worried their kids won't go on to the schools that they went to, or be able to afford a home. So, I think that on both ends, all parts of the spectrum, people are afraid. They're afraid that their kids are going to see how little they know, they're afraid their kids will find out how they messed up. And I think there are scripts written now, thank goodness, for how to talk to a kid about alcohol and sex and drugs, but there really isn't a script that's written about kids and money. There is not. And what I try to do in my book is look at all the research out there and figure out what is relevant to money. And there aren't tons of randomized controlled studies, but there are some good studies that get to the nub of the question of, what are the ways to teach kids about this topic?
Hartzell: Yeah. And that's great. When I look at some of the folks that come here to The Motley Fool for help with their finances, they have degrees, sometimes graduate degrees in certain topics, but they don't have a basic understanding of a lot of things that you mentioned in your book, whether it's a Roth IRA or a 401(k) or how much they should contribute. So, the question is, where did you learn about money? Was that something that you learned in school? Or did it come from somewhere else?
Kobliner: I definitely didn't learn it in school. I grew up middle class in Queens. My dad was a teacher and then a principal, and my mom was a chemistry teacher, but by the time I was born, a stay-at-home mom. My parents scrimped and saved to have enough money to send us to college. In fact, I was saying this before, I found a spreadsheet that my dad made in 1981, and my parents said, "You can either get into Brown," or a few other schools that I didn't get into, "Or you can go to Queens College," which was our neighborhood school that was basically free, because they felt like it was worth the scrimping and saving. He made a whole spreadsheet on what I would have to contribute, $2,000 a year, which adjusted for inflation was about $10,000 today. So, I think that, observing my parents, they're both Depression generation babies, they were both born in 1929, and my mom would only shop on triple coupon day and she would buy in bulk, and we had 20 cans of tuna fish in our basement because she would always buy when it was a big sale, if you buy a lot you save more money. So, they were really careful about money, but I never felt a lack of much. When I think that, except for once where I wanted a Lacoste Izod alligator shirt -- I never got one, and now I don't want one -- but other than that, I think, kids learn by osmosis, and I don't think you need to be a money genius to teach a kid to be smart about money. But I think, if you love to spend, or that's what you value, those messages come across a little to kids.
Hartzell: And you mentioned your parents. Harold is mentioned in there, Shirley is mentioned throughout the book. There were some great stories in there. One involved a candy shop. Do you mind sharing a little bit about that story?
Kobliner: Thank you. My dad is Harold, my mom is Shirley. Didn't make up those names, that's their names. My dad was born in 1929, and his father was an alcoholic. I don't think you called it that back then, but he didn't work throughout the whole Depression, and his mom was a seamstress. They had four kids. His brother, when he was born, slept in a drawer because they couldn't afford a crib. They were very poor. And my dad decided when he was 10 that he needed a job. So what he did was he sat in a candy store, the local candy store. He lived in this tenement. And every time the phone would ring in the candy store, the public pay phone, my dad would pick up the phone and run out to the tenement, because nobody had phones in those days, he would say, "Mrs. Jones, phone call!" And Mrs. Jones would come downstairs, he tells the story like, she had curlers in her hair and she would come down, and he would get a tip. He would get a nickel or a dime for telling her that there was a phone call. And he was sitting in a candy store doing this, and he used to say to my kids when they were little, "Do you think I bought candy?" And they were like, "Yeah!" And he said, "No. I saved that money, I never bought candy, and I gave it to my parents," because they were always fighting about money and he thought maybe if he could give them a little more money, give them a little bit, that it would make a difference. And that, to me, is the epitome of that delayed gratification, and that ability to be able to say, "I'm not going to spend it now, I'm going to think toward the future." And I do think that the Depression generation had that, and I would argue Millennials, who are always bashed, with avocado toast or whatever, I actually think the Millennials I've been talking to also have a bit more of trying to get a bargain and not getting into credit card debt, that similar kind of mentality.
Hartzell: Boomers not so much.
Kobliner: Boomers and Gen X-ers, forget it. [laughs]
Hartzell: [laughs] You mentioned delayed gratification, which appears throughout the book. An important topic. Carol Dweck talked about the effort effect, which I think aligns pretty well with that, and the marshmallow test, of course, which you talk about. Can you give us an example? How do you get kids, and I think, in a world where there's cellphones in almost everyone's hands, you have social media, you have video games, you have fidget spinners, I saw Tom over there with his fidget spinner, how do you get somebody to delay gratification?
Kobliner: Tom, are you going to take that question? [laughs] I think that there are different ways. You could talk to your kids about, "One day, we as a family are going to go to Disneyworld or Europe and we're going to have to save for that. And we have three or four years before we can go, and if we save this amount, we're not going to eat out as much," having concrete goals and examples, I think, is a wonderful way to make it clear, to start putting that message in kids' minds. Also, some kids who really like math, you can go to investor.gov, and if you plug in different interest rates and you save 20 years or 40 years, it's so fun to look at that number. "If I start at 16 and I save every year for four years with my summer earnings of $1,000, I'll have $100,000 by the time I'm 65." Or, if you save $1 a day starting at age 10, and you do that to age 65 and earn 7%, you'll have $200,000. Just, numbers like that can motivate, and anecdotes. I learned from my parents, my mom would say, "If you want to teach your kids a message, tell them a story." I was like, "What if I don't have a story?" She said, "Make it up." But, telling kids, "Our old neighbor, he didn't have a lot of money, but he saved $100 a month, because he always wanted a boat. And he was able to save up that money." That kind of concrete goal I think is really critical, and gets the message across to kids. You have to say it a million times. Just like vegetables, they have to try it eight times before they like it. You could probably say it 800 times.
Hartzell: I like the idea of having something fun, and a way to celebrate your savings, too. I think one of the things that some folks here, Robert Brokamp, some folks at The Fool talked about having different savings jars or buckets for different things. One of them could be college, and that's a longer-term goal, and there's another shorter-term goal, it could be, "I want to buy a new football," or, "I want to celebrate by buying something that I really like." And that's the way, I think, maybe, to get people delaying buying something today with buying something even nicer a little bit down the line. So, work ethic is a topic that comes up a lot. Certainly with your parents, Depression-era, and being around there, is an important thing. I'll ask this question, and I'll share an anecdote with somebody here. One of the Hartzell kids' favorite thing to do is, when we get snow around here, which isn't very often, they've realized that's actually money laying around on the sidewalk --
Kobliner: I made so much money shoveling snow.
Hartzell: Yeah! And there are a lot of people in our neighborhood that are old or don't want to shovel their own snow, so as soon as the snow hits they're out early, the crack of dawn, and shoveling snow in driveways. And one of their friends happened to be over and found out about this, and they were like --
Kobliner: Uh oh, competition.
Hartzell: "This is great, there's money out there waiting to be shoveled up."
Kobliner: Literally.
Hartzell: So, they went out and knocked on door around their neighborhood, and one gentleman in the house came out and was so amazed, he said, "I've been waiting," he happens to own a business, owns a company, and he said, "I've been waiting for 10 years for some kid in our neighborhood to come around and ask me if he wants to shovel my snow. So, I'm going to pay you to shovel the driveway, and here's a $100 tip." And they were like, oh my gosh! This was unbelievable for them. So, the question for you is about work ethic. Are we making kids lazy today? Are we enabling them to be lazy? Or is that just my impression, that kids are different today than they were maybe a long time ago?
Kobliner: I love that story. That's a great story. I made a bundle. I remember so clearly. It was like, $5. They would ask how much do you charge, and we're like, "Well, whatever you think," and that was a mistake because people would say, "Oh, $2," and we were sweating. But, I think that today, take high school. If you look at the statistics, it's not that kids necessarily have that much more homework, at least according to the research I've looked at, although I think my kids have so much more homework than I did back in high school. But the pressures to do well, to take SAT prep courses, to take SAT II prep courses, all these things that didn't exist. When I was working, I had four jobs in high school, I worked at a diner, I worked at a grocery store, I worked at a pharmacy, and I think that there are more pressures and there are more demands on kids' time, the idea that you need to be on a team, all these resume-building items.
And, also, we know, in some ways, it makes logical sense, because research shows that if a kid works over 10 to 15 hours a week in high school, kids who work more than that are likely to not graduate from high school, they're more likely to not graduate -- in other words, it's OK to work around 10 to 15 hours a week, but once you pass that mark, that's a dangerous sign, if your kid is working much more than that, because they're not spending enough time on their school work. But I do think working over the summer, the internship versus paying summer camp job that your kids are doing -- I think it's smart what you're doing because you're starting younger. And I think when kids are in middle school and high school, having those summer jobs, it is important. But the year or two before high school, I don't know what you would do, if your kid either had an internship working in a lab with a scientist or whatever, versus working bagging groceries. As a parent, it's a tricky equation to figure out.
Hartzell: Yeah, it's definitely a balance, for sure. I know we're getting ready to go on a family vacation here in a couple of days to Europe, and our kid missed out on an internship that he got for going, because we're going to be away.
Kobliner: Can I come? [laughs]
Hartzell: But, you have to balance some of those things out. On investing, and you've talked about mutual funds and indexing and keeping your costs low, we totally agree with that and love that idea. You didn't seem as enamored with owning individual stocks for children, so I wanted to talk a little bit about that. My kids own stocks, they have their own portfolio, and I think it's fun to follow individual companies. You learn a lot of lessons around those. What are your thoughts on owning individual stocks versus an index fund or an ETF or something like that?
Kobliner: I think that for the vast majority of people, and certainly when I meet Millennials, they'll often say --not to clump them into one group-- but when I meet young people, they'll say, "You know what? I don't want to make a lot of money, I make want to have enough to live a life where I can make the choices that I want and live a lifestyle that I'm happy with." And I think the best way to do that long-term is index funds. We've seen them over time, Burton Malkiel's research from Princeton of the Random Walk. And we know that, on average, professional managers don't beat the index. So, over 30 or 40 year periods of time. And I also know examples of parents who say, "I gave my kid a little money to start buying stocks," but either they're a money whiz, look how great he did, he picked Apple and it went up, or, he/she is never going to invest again because they lost all the money and the market is risky. Your kids are lucky that they have you, so you can gauge and talk to them and engage them in these ways. But I think that indexing really makes so much sense. I just looked up the expense ratio for Schwab, it's 0.03% for the ETFs. And Vanguard is 0.04% and you can buy one share for as little as $100, basically. So I think it's the most easily accessible way for people to get into investing and make money.
Hartzell: Yeah. And low expense ratio, as you mentioned. You get exposure right away off the bat to all those 500 companies.
Kobliner: Right, diversification, exactly.
Hartzell: We also like the idea, and I think a fun thing to do, sometimes, for kids, when they own some stock, is go to an annual meeting and make that an event and have it fun.
Kobliner: Isn't he a fun dad? [laughs] Hey, kids!
Hartzell: Usually those annual meetings are on weekdays and you get out of school, so that's a bonus right there. And some of them actually serve chocolate covered strawberries and things afterwards, so there's some rewards in there. So, let's talk a little bit more here about, how can we make money just fun? I think that's one of the things, my oldest son is 16, he's taking a course online on personal finance, he doesn't exactly enjoy it. This is the same person who goes to an annual meeting. He'll tell you everything about Apple, he knows everything about them. But it's just not that fun. How do you put the fun back in finance, how can we do that?
Kobliner: That's my next book, Putting the Fun Back in Personal Finance. It's just one of those things that, it's hard to imagine it being fun other than, "We're going to have pizza night, and all of us are going to chip in, and we'll double your money, and you put in a little money, and we'll save for a goal as a family," or, "We'll save for a ping pong table," or making it having jars for little kids, and seeing it visually. I don't know if this is fun, but it's certainly better, I think, to use cash. There's so many apps now for allowance, and it just becomes meaningless. I've had so many parents say to me, "My kid is spending all this money on apps, and they're wasting money." And I say, "Do they have their own credit card?" "Oh, no, I give them cash. So I say, "How did they buy the app?" "Oh, I reimburse them when I use my credit card." And I'm thinking, that doesn't make sense. Parents have to take over the reins when it comes to money, and start using cash a little more as a grown up in front of your kids. You teach numeracy that way. And really, for many people, the fun is in the, how do I get what I want? That's my goal. If it is your way of life, I think kids pick up on that. And looking toward the future and thinking of what we really want and how we're going to save it, I don't know if fun is the right word, but it's more of a satisfying feeling or an achievement feeling. You remind me a little of my dad, not in age --
Hartzell: Thank you.
Kobliner: He's 87. But, that idea of, this is something that's important. And there's no question your kids are going to grow up and say, "This is something that's important. Lord knows he pretended to like all those annual meetings." [laughs] To make dad happy. But that's setting the tone for what you think is important as a parent, and that does so much, it goes such a long way.
Hartzell: Speaking of not real. College is one of the most expensive things most people will buy. To a lot of them, it doesn't seem like a real expense, a lot of them will borrow an immense amount of money to go there. You talk positively about college, too, about how important it is to get an education for your future earnings potential. So, the question for you is, how much is college worth? An Ivy League school nowadays is probably north of $300,000 if you want to do four years of school. As good consumers, as frugal coupon clippers and everything else, what's the amount that somebody should be willing to pay when they're looking around at schools? What's the right amount?
Kobliner: I think this is a huge issue, and more and more, hopefully, I don't think it'll happen in the next 3.5 to 4 years, but I think paying attention to the cost of college. One rule of thumb that I heard of from this guy Mark Kantrowitz, who's this guru on student loans, is, don't have your kid borrow more than the first year's income. If the kid makes $40,000, try not to have him or her borrow more than $40,000. Which is still a big chunk of money. The average right now is $37,000. The median -- it's hard to get the numbers exactly, which in itself is a crime, that we don't have really good statistics -- is $20,000 for kids graduating from college. And the reliance of private student loans, which is only going to get worse because the rules have already been loosened up, that private student loans are usually much higher interest rates than federal student loans, which are still about 4-4.25% right now. Private student loans can be double digits, 15-16%, and they're harder to pay back as well. And I think, we're getting to, I'll meet someone who says, "I'm a philosophy major." I mean was an English major at Brown, don't get me wrong. But I think there really was, back in the day, you could be a great writer and come out and get a job. Or start The Motley Fool. [laughs] What was your major?
Tom Gardner: English.
Kobliner: English! Woo! [laughs]
Hartzell: I was sociology.
Kobliner: Ah, there you go! But I think it's much more difficult now for kids, and grad school. So many young people are thinking, "I'm going to grad school, they would be like $200,000 to get my PhD in philosophy." And as much as that's brilliant, there are no jobs. Even if you come out of Harvard philosophy school, if there's such a thing, there's still one or two jobs in the whole country. So, you have to be much more pragmatic. It makes me so sad, I've met so many parents over the last year who say, "We scrimped and saved because our kid got into this school, and we thought it was so great, but after the first year our kid was miserable, we forgot to include travel costs, and we're going to send them to the local public school and we realized we had three more kids down the line." It's so expensive and so mystifying, the whole financial aid form. And I'm a little bit depressed by this because when I was on President Obama's Council, they really made an effort, and Arne Duncan, who's the education secretary, really tried to make the FAFSA form, the free financial aid form, a little simpler. And they really tried to take some steps. But, it's really hard for parents.
Hartzell: And a lot of kids get in -- I paid a visit to my financial aid office where I went to undergraduate school and asked them a little bit about what they see coming through the office, what are the challenges and problems? And they were saying, it used to be that parents would come in and co-sign for these loans, but now they aren't, because although the parents earn in plenty to co-sign, they have a lot of debt, so they're not co-signing. And I think a lot of the students don't necessarily realize, these aren't loans you can walk away from. They're going to be with you a long time. Over $1 trillion in student debt now, I think being pragmatic probably makes sense. You have a great point that I love in the book. It's called your 10 investment rules. I'm not going to go through all 10 of those, but if you could just riff on a couple of those I'd be interested to hear them. One is, you don't need to be a perfect investor to be a good investor. What do you mean by that?
Kobliner: I think it's something I've heard throughout my 30 years writing about personal finance. What? It's been 30 years doing this? I'd better be damn good at it. [laughs] But, I think it's that, if you have money in the market -- you need to have money in the stock market. And whether you feel like, "I'm really good at this, picking stocks," just putting some money in the stock market, ideally it might be in an index fund, you will do better than not being in the market at all. And as the saying goes, perfection is the enemy of the good, people are like "Oh, I don't know, I'm not sure, I'm not going to sign up for a 401(k) because I don't really know what investment to choose," that procrastination, life goes on and you miss out. So, I think just making sure you're in the stock market, and making a choice, and hopefully a low-cost one. We know, research shows, it's much better than staying out of it completely.
Hartzell: We see that with a lot of new investors, that fear of failure. And I think of it like the person who has all straight A's never want to get a B, they never want to fail. And the reality is, in investing, if you're the best in the world, you're going to be wrong 40% of the time. It's OK. It's OK to buy a stock that goes down or doesn't work out, because of the successes you're going to have over the course of your lifetime are going to far outweigh some of those losses. So, that fear of failure is something we talk a lot about here at The Fool.
Kobliner: At least, statistically speaking. We don't know, we can't promise for the future of stocks or the stock market. But we know, if we use past history, as a group of stocks, predictably, we think it will do better over the long time. I meet so many people who might get a financial, personal finance, in your 20s and 30s, and you meet people in their 40s and 50s, and now I met someone who was 60s, and they were like "I read your book when I was younger." I'm like, am I 112 years old? How does that math work? But people have said, they did put a little bit in. And I said, "Put 10%, just put 10%, I know you can afford it, just do it." And then they said, and I'm sure you get the same thing, "I look back and I have hundreds of thousands of dollars that I wouldn't have otherwise." And I think of it like, you drink three cups of coffee a day and you cut back to two, and the first week you have headaches and it's so hard, but after a while, it's OK. I think the same with money, you just force yourself, if you earn $20,000, $50,000, $200,000, you have to put 10% away. And your lifestyle, just live off the rest, the 90%, and your lifestyle adjusts, and you don't buy certain things, and it works out. And I think that mentality is just important.
Hartzell: Another rule is, be lazy and trade less. Does it pay to be lazy?
Kobliner: It does pay to be lazy. [laughs] Oh, you're not lazy. You're not lazy. One study found, if you look at the people who are the top 20% most active traders and the people who are the bottom 20% least active traders, the ones who trade least actively do a third better, they have a third more money at the end of the day than the people who are active traders, because of commissions and fees and all that, and also just jumping around and not knowing what you're doing. I think that's a comforting thought to a lot of people who feel that they want to get into the stock market and teach their kids about it. Just being in it, and going into a passive -- that's what I should have done. I was saying, Tom and I started at pretty much a similar time, you're a little younger than I am. And I'm like, "He built this big company. I wrote a couple of New York Times best-selling books. I'm proud of it. But if I were parlaying it into some financial thing," and I think it's just ... I forgot what I was going to say. I lost my point.
Hartzell: There's a great investor, he wrote A Zebra in Lion Country, he has a long-term track record, and one of the things he did he kept an investing journal which is interesting. 1987, the stock market went down around 25% in one day, it was a big drop in the market. What he did is pull all of his analysts off of what they were working on and said, "Give me the best companies that we always wanted to own but were too expensive, because the prices are coming to us, get them all." A very rational way. And they sold some stocks, and bought the ones they really wanted. And because of his journal, he was able to look back nine months, a year later, and say, how do we do? And he concluded, we would have been better off just doing nothing. And he did it in a very rational way, to get into these good things. And I think, when it comes to investing, we do overthink it, we do try to jump to conclusions and get to the next best thing, when sometimes it's just better to relax. Have a good list of stocks, they're going to go up and down, but over the long-term you're going to do fine.
Kobliner: I remember what I was going to say. I worked at Money Magazine for many years. And I started there when I was 23, I was a staff writer writing stuff like Pick The Best Stock Now. And for my books, I've looked back and said, "If I look back at all the recommendations we made, and compare it to an index fund, an index fund would have done better." And what I was going to say, teasing you, Tom, was the idea that, I feel like I've been preaching the gospel of index funds for 30 years, and if I were really smart I would have somehow hitched my wagon to the companies -- and you guys were always promoters of index funds, and the smarts involved with that. I think that's one of those best kept secrets, still, even though it's not really a secret and they've exploded, in terms of money pouring into Vanguard and Schwab, that has really low index fund fees. I think that's really something that, it's both easy and understandable, and also very important for people to learn. Any person who tries to build assets, or feels like they should be involved in the stock market.
Hartzell: Yeah. And one of the dangers of the ETFs now, which proliferate all over the place is, you can buy and trade them like stocks, which is a double-edged sword for a lot of us, because we see people trading in and out of sectors and doing all those things that hurt them in stocks, but now they can do them in ETFs and they feel safer, but it's not necessarily safer because they're doing the same thing, you're churning them, you're paying commission.
Kobliner: Not at all. You just buy the broad-based index, and you put maybe 20% of it internationally. I do think that money is one of those things that, you can be lazy. You can set it and forget it, putting whatever you can into your company 401(k) and making sure that over time that you put the maximum in, or putting money into an index fund. I think those are those set it and forget it things, and they're so beneficial for people. And it's counterintuitive. You think the smart people are actively trading. No, actually, they're doing worse.
Hartzell: There's one point in this book that made me a little bit sad. I have a daughter, she's in the middle, 14 years old. You mentioned that parents or more open and more likely to talk to their boys about money and finance than they are to their daughters. And one of the things we see when I go out and talk to colleges, if you go to an investing club, it's probably 80-90% males. We see, not to that great of a degree, across our services. We certainly see more males that are interested in money. So, my question is, do we just not talk to the girls about money and finances? Or is it that we need to talk to them in a different way, maybe, than we talk to boys about money and finance?
Beth Kobliner: I was surprised by this, actually. T. Rowe Price does a study every year, and they find every year that parents talk to boys more than they talk to girls. And the reason is, they felt their boys were more interested. But, maybe if you're talking to them more, they'll become more interested, and it'll be a which comes first equation. Also, someone I know who works for a non-profit, very progressive guy, he told me after he read my book, Make Your Kid A Money Genius, he said, "I realize I have a six year old daughter and a 14 year old son, and I tease my daughter about her shopping, even though she's a super bright girl, I always tease her about her shopping, and I talk to my son about the stock market." And he's like, "I don't know why, it's just, sexism through the ages." Is it the prince charming effect? The hope is your daughter -- I don't know what it is, but I think there's still a huge bias in terms of how parents talk to children. And you made a point in your questions about how women are better investors in some ways, they trade less and stick to it the long-term. But Fidelity just did a study and showed that, yes, women are better when it comes to not over-actively trading, but they're less confident that they'll beat the market. And I think part of it is also role models. The 2016 Federal Reserve study showed that, when it comes to households, dads are more typically the saver and investor. And moms are more typically the budgeter and the shopper. So, when it comes to role models, as moms and women, I think we have to make that extra effort to serve as a role model for our sons, but particularly for our daughters.
Hartzell: I have a couple more questions, and I want to do a short section on buy, sell, or hold, and then we'll take any questions from people in the audience. In your opinion, as an expert in this field, what's the most important thing that we can do as parents to teach our children? What's the most important thing? If you had to take one thing away, go home and do this with your kids, what would that be?
Kobliner: I would say, no matter your child's age, teach them that credit card debt is a bad thing. I just heard that Warren Buffett says that, too. I wish he would stop copying me. It's, the notion that, if you have a credit card, and there's certainly less credit card debt, like I said, among young people, because they couldn't get credit cards in high school, the rules changed in 2009, you had to either have an income or be 21, or have a parent co-sign to get a credit card. Which is a mistake, never co-sign a credit card with your kid. But, I think, teaching a kid, do not spend more than you have in your savings, do not buy things you cannot afford, is a concept that people still don't get. And I think that's a lesson that I knew, by osmosis coming from parents who were Depression-generation, and my father said, he's 87 years, so, I don't know how long he's had a credit card, but he never paid a late payment, he always paid in full. I think, if you have a credit card that's charging 15%, paying it off is equivalent of earning 15% guaranteed on your money after taxes. And that's still basically the best. You can't get 15% guaranteed after taxes anywhere, except a 401(k) with matching, which is 100%.
Hartzell: And stocks have only done about 9% over their history.
Kobliner: Right. So, don't get into credit card debt. Teaching it to kids. Because, I think kids see it as magic. "My parents swoosh this card and they get something." And it's very confusing for kids, and that's debit cards, but I think credit is really such an insidious thing, credit cards can be so problematic for people down the line, that I would say, that would be it, if I had to take just one financial lesson.
Hartzell: On the flip side, the mistakes. We all make mistakes as parents in different things. What's the biggest mistake that you see across parents that they need to eliminate in order to help their children be better with their finances?
Kobliner: I think it's lying. [laughs] Whether you have a lot of money and you don't want to confront it because you don't want your kids to know how you feel, or you have very little money, so you might overcompensate, and think, "I'm going to buy my kid that because I don't want them to miss out." I think both of those are problems. You don't have to tell your kids everything. You don't have to tell them your income, who makes more, mommy or daddy. I don't think you have to tell them how much you have in your 401(k). There are a lot of questions you don't have to answer, and I have a list of them in my book. But I do think we have to try to be someone honest about the things we do answer. As simple as, you walk in a store, "Can I have that?" "Oh, I don't have any money on me," and then you use your card and they see you using your card and they're like, "Wait, you don't have money on you." A woman I know told me a story where, just recently, she went out with her kids and forgot her credit card and she had cash and they went to the Gap and they went out to lunch and they said, "Can we go to the movies, mom?" And she said, "I ran out of money." And they were like, "Does that mean we're homeless? What do you mean, we've run out of money." They were little kids, they didn't get that concept of running out.
Hartzell: That's great. We'll take your questions here. I have a quick round. We call it a buy, sell, or hold round here. I'll throw out the idea, and you'll let me know whether you going to buy, sell or hold. The first one is autonomous driving vehicles. Would you buy them, sell them, or hold them? In our near future.
Kobliner: [laughs] I don't know! What's the expense ratio?
Buck Hartzell: Google, Apple?
Kobliner: Sure, I guess, it's a good thing to hold.
Hartzell: OK, she's a hold on that one. Bitcoin, or other blockchain types of new currencies are you a buy, sell, or hold on these new currencies?
Kobliner: I would only say buy because I think they've had such a bad time and they're probably down and probably eventually, maybe, so it's a value -- I don't know any of this. I don't know. Index funds. Ask me another one.
Hartzell: OK, the last one. A degree at the University of Michigan for $250,000. Are you going to buy, sell, or hold the Wolverines?
Kobliner: I would get a scholarship. My dad, I look back, he got a 0% interest rate loan from this thing called the Hebrew Loan Society. I don't even know what that is, but they gave a 0% interest rate loan for my college. He was a veteran, so he got a VA scholarship for me. I think getting creative and trying to really figure out how you can not get yourself or your kids into huge debt. I'm afraid of the parents who borrow for their kids' college, and the PLUS loan, the parent loan, which allows you to borrow as much as you can, as much as you need. It's really a problem. So, I don't know. I'm like a bad juror, I can't say guilty or not guilty unless I get to --
Hartzell: Well, I'm going to say that's a sell, because Andy Cross, our chief investment officer, went to Michigan, and Ron Gross's daughter, who sits right behind me, is going to Michigan. So I'm going to say it's a sell.
Kobliner: It's a great school.
Hartzell: No. My wife went to Ohio State, they're rivals. So, that's it for buy, sell or hold. Questions from anybody else in the audience about how to make your children money geniuses? Yes?
Audience: You said one of the biggest influences is osmosis, kids watching what you're doing. But if the osmosis is of the wrong kind, how could I as another relative try to overcome that, especially when they live on the other side of the country?
Hartzell: Let me ask that, in case they don't hear it. Sometimes kids don't have the right role models what if you're a relative, but not there with them all the time? How can you help out? What can you do to be a good role model from a distance?
Kobliner: Right, that's a great question. And you're right, that's an inherent contradiction. You don't need to be a money genius to make your kid a money genius. But it sure is helpful if you're good at money and responsible, to make that. I think, whatever chance you get, talking to the kid. You can't bad mouth their parents, because that's a disaster. But you can say, "I've been saving." Again, anecdotes and stories. And saying, "I'm going to set up a college plan for you," and the reason is, we know from research, and this is my favorite piece of research, that when you tell a child that you're saving for their college, they are seven times more likely to go to college, regardless of how much money is in that account. So whether you have $100 or $100,000, kids are more likely.
It's the expectation, that you know someone believes in you and is saving for your college. And that's very powerful, and I know of a lot of philanthropic efforts that are starting with that, the notion that the kid knows someone is saving for them and they're more likely to go. And hopefully, they won't get into debt in the process. But, I think, using that, whether, these kids are not in college yet, and encouraging them to, you're going to match, for every $1 they put in, you'll put in $1 or $0.50. Maybe that does go back to making it fun. Having it more like a game. You put in a certain amount and I'll match it. And I think that can be very motivating to kids, without making it like, "I think your parents are doing a lousy job."
Hartzell: Other questions. Tom?
Gardner: We have Foley these two days, she's a 10 year old --
Kobliner: I met her already. She's a little intimidating, but she's very nice.
Gardner: A soccer star. She's also somebody who saves what she earns. But, what about the child that saves too much, who maybe doesn't learn how to spend or what to spend on? [...] How do you encourage a child who's very thoughtfully saving, which is so rare, to also use that?
Kobliner: To spend it.
Hartzell: I should say, the question is, stop and smell the roses. Foley is a great example of somebody who's diligently saving all her money. How do we also enjoy it?
Kobliner: OK, can I just ask whose kid is Foley? I met her during my interview, my podcast. Do you know what you're saving for, Foley? Or are you just saving? Good for you, that's awesome. Hopefully you'll hire me one day. [laughs] I'll come to you and you'll be like, "No, I'm sorry." I've gotten that question a lot. My husband was worried about our own kids. I would bring them to talks since they were little. My little one was like, "Oh, I'm so worried!" I was like, "What's the matter?" "I don't know if I can afford health insurance, mommy, it's so expensive!" when he was like six. It really was that level. So, in the end, that instinct to save money, at some point, breaks. I think some little kids love to just save. And I don't think that they have to spend when they're little, because instinct kicks in at one point, whether it's when they're in college or out of college. So, I don't worry about that.
I look at all three of our kids, they were all voracious savers, and now, my oldest is 21 -- although, one thing that I think we did do well is, for college, we do pay for college for her, and she does work a very little bit in college, but, we've given her spending money, but it's a set amount, and we said, "This is money." And sometimes I'm very cynical about it, because I think, when I was a kid, I had four jobs, I worked at the Brown cafeteria, I worked in the Brown student agency doing dry cleaning and so on. And sometimes you have to step beyond yourself and say, "My kids, we're going to give them some spending money, but that's it. We pay for your books, your college, your healthcare. If you want to take an Uber rather than the New York subway or walk to class, that comes from your money. If you want to go on a vacation with your friends who live in Australia," which she wanted to do, she figured out the cheapest flights. So, giving kids ownership of some money as they get older, I think, it makes them -- this is sort of the opposite of what you're asking, but it makes them more careful about spending. But, I've never met a 30 year old -- I mean, I guess there's a rare case of the hoarder who never spends money. But, I think life gets so tempting.
Gardner: Why are we laughing in the front row?
Audience: Because she's here.
Hartzell: Next year is the year, Megan.
Kobliner: I think it's great. I would embrace your hoarding tendencies. If you're saving, you have a chunk of money that, one day, there will be a reason. Do you own a home?
Audience: No, not anymore.
Kobliner: Not anymore. But you will one day. I just think that, having a huge amount of savings is never a bad thing. I was just on a show, I was on ABC or CBS this morning, and the woman said, the host, she was so cute, she took off her shoes and like, "Look! $24, my shoes! And I got them 20% off!" And I was like, "Good for you!" And she said, "Do you know why my nail polish just chipped? Because I'm saving money!" I'm like, "Good for you!" We save money, and there will be something that comes along, and you'll know when you want to buy it. I don't know, I have a bias toward saving.
Hartzell: There'll be something you want, Foley. I trust you. It could be a shiny gold fidget spinner. Someday. OK, great. Thank you very much, Beth, for joining us.
Kobliner: Thank you! These were great questions.
Hartzell: And thank you all for coming today.
Beth Kobliner is a personal finance commentator and journalist. She is the author of a book for parents, Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You're Not) as well as the New York Times bestseller Get a Financial Life, a guide for people in their twenties and thirties. She was selected by President Obama to serve on the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, dedicated to increasing the financial know-how of kids of all ages and economic backgrounds. A former staff writer at Money magazine, Beth has contributed to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Today, Sesame Street, and NPR. Beth graduated from Brown University and lives with her family in New York City.
Kobliner, Beth. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
Jennifer Clifton
141.13 (Aug. 1, 2016): p104.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Kobliner, Beth. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties. 4th ed. Touchstone. Sept. 2016. 384p. illus. index. ISBN 9781476782386. pap. $16.99; ebk. ISBN 9781476782393. BUS
Personal finance commentator and journalist Kobliner empowers millennials to take control of their finances and demystifies key concepts in this updated edition. The guide is divided into chapters on debt, investing, renting and home-buying, insurance, taxes, and more. New additions include topics such as internet banking, socially responsible investing, and updated tax laws. Kobliner acknowledges the money struggles unique to this generation, including stifling student loan debt, tightened home lending rules, and the unpredictable economy. She avoids dumbing down the material as she walks young readers through these topics, finalizing each chapter with a "cramming" guide of key takeaways. While Kobliner successfully defines and explains many financial concepts, how-to advice on borrowing money from friends and relatives, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), deferring student loans, and cashing in retirement savings should probably have been omitted. However, the good advice far outweighs the bad as Kobliner provides concrete examples of how time can be a young person's greatest wealth-building tool. It's a good postrecession companion to Suze Orman's The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke. VERDICT A recommended addition to any millennial's financial toolkit.--Jennifer Clifton, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Clifton, Jennifer. "Kobliner, Beth. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties." Library Journal, 1 Aug. 2016, p. 104+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459805069&it=r&asid=5345313fd1262f97c4f65b18cadc089e. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459805069
Shaw, Beth Kobliner: JACOB'S EYE PATCH
(Sept. 1, 2013):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Shaw, Beth Kobliner JACOB'S EYE PATCH Simon & Schuster (Children's Picture Books) $17.00 9, 24 ISBN: 978-1-4767-3732-4
Mother and son co-authors tell the story of young Jacob and his time wearing an eye patch to correct two common eye conditions. Whenever Jacob goes out, people ask him about his eye patch. Curious onlookers feel free to ask the personal question: "Why does your boy wear an eye patch?" ("His eyes need correction," would be the obvious answer to the nosy.) Normally Jacob doesn't mind answering questions, but today he is anxious to get to the science store, where he hopes to buy a new light-up globe. Everywhere he turns, people ask about his patch, and his mother is happy to answer, even though Jacob just wants to keep going. Jacob's thought bubble, "Seriously?" lets readers know his frustration. And that's it. Built on such a weak premise, this story provides no surprises. Feiffer's art seems to have been rushed. From page to page, older brother Adam's face changes, and after a two-block walk from the ice cream store, the ice cream has neither melted nor been licked. At the page turn, the cone simply disappears. The weak narrative is also confusing (at one point, five hours a day is patch time and in another, three hours). Feiffer's talents are wasted here. Readers wishing for an emotionally satisfying treatment of the same subject should turn to George Ella Lyon and Lynne Avril's award-winning The Pirate of Kindergarten (2010). Didactic, confusing and not particularly informative. Seriously? (authors' notes) (Picture book. 3-8)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Shaw, Beth Kobliner: JACOB'S EYE PATCH." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2013. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA341243772&it=r&asid=72972b95a79fd9763bb636a70af71817. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A341243772
Tickle me rich: Elmo gets schooled on saving
216.5 (May 2011): p164.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Hearst Communications. Reprinted with permission of Hearst.
http://www.redbookmag.com/
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
When Sesame Street decided to tackle the topic of money management, they turned to the same expert we do: contributing editor Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life. In a new Sesame Street Workshop video released on April 13, Beth teaches Elmo how to become a savvy saver. "Watch as I help him make the smartest buy at Mr. Hooper's store," she says. Download the video for free at sesamestreet.org/save.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Tickle me rich: Elmo gets schooled on saving." Redbook, May 2011, p. 164. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA259077587&it=r&asid=c7952aa6864345ece7200a1c12107a00. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A259077587
Get a Financial Life
Dale Farris
122.7 (Apr. 15, 1997): p136.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1997 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
by Beth Kobliner 1 cassette. abridged. 90 min. S. & S. Audio. 1997. ISBN 0-671-57557-0. $12. ECON
For twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, controlling one's financial life is a challenge many times exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about how money works. Author Kobliner herself under 30 has assembled an excellent collection of basic money management principles and has specially tailored this presentation to the particular interests of these age groups. She discusses investing in mutual funds, tax-deferred savings plans, staying away from ATMs, legal tax deductions, understanding the minimal return on bank pass-book savings accounts, tearing up credit cards, 401k plans and IRAs, and other important topics. Kobliner, who narrates her own work, emphasizes the personal discipline required to implement these sound suggestions, an example of her keen insights with this targeted audience and her experience as a contributor to Money magazine. This neatly summarized material--short and sweet, just like this age group will want--nicely accompanies such well-known works as The Beardstown Ladies' Common-Sense Investment Guide (Audio Reviews, LJ 4115196) and Dave Ramsey's solid Financial Peace (Penguin Audio-books, 1996). This will be a useful addition to all public libraries.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Farris, Dale. "Get a Financial Life." Library Journal, 15 Apr. 1997, p. 136. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA20067803&it=r&asid=4ce1063ef124277e99bc2de21dce6adf. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A20067803
Get a Financial Life
Henry Holtzman
12.7 (July 1996): p58.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 Alaska Business Publishing Company, Inc.
http://www.akbizmag.com/
You can't start too early learning the financial ABCs. And for a young grad starting out, starting early is the best thing you can do.
If you thought that "Saturday Night Fever" was a great date movie, this isn't the book for you. The publisher touts it as a book for those in their 20s and 30s, though it seems more appropriate for 20-somethings.
The financial advice is gut-basic, but good. In fact, it's everything you wish your folks had told you, but never did. Perhaps that's because they were still learning it while you were growing up.
The topics covered might chill the soul of a die-hard Generation Xer, but the information is solid. Topics covered include insurance (all types), banking, loans (also all types), investing and (shudder) retirement planning. Best of all, the advice is realistic, with no phony pie-in-the-sky optimism. It confronts the realities of today's economy and incomes. To the gray-headed among us, it seems impossible to believe that real average income has deteriorated by 20 percent since the mid-70s. It's a hard fact to those about to break through the 30s barrier.
Among some of the innovative ideas that help tailor the book to its audience are highly focused how-to tips in each chapter, key summaries at the end of each chapter, and the equivalent of Cliff's Notes for the whole book located in the first chapter.
Unfortunately, one of the most important chapters will likely be ignored - the chapter on retirement planning. In view of the questionable future of Social Security as we know it, this section of the book is doubly important. The author drives home her point with this example:
"Get this: Suppose you set aside $1,000 a year from age 25 to 34 in a retirement account earning 8 percent a year, and never invest a penny more. By the time you turn 65, your $10,000 investment will have grown to $168,627. But if you don't start saving until you're 35 and then invest $1,000 a year for the next 30 years - a total investment of $30,000 - you'll have only $125,228 by age 65. You may want to read this example over again, slowly ...
The moral of this story ... if you don't start saving in a tax-favored retirement account while you're young, you'll miss out on perhaps the best investment opportunity of your life."
The advice is right on target, but with some noteworthy exceptions, it doesn't stand a chance against the allure of a red Camaro. Of course, the entire purpose of the book is to show why it should. The author does recognize the siren song of overspending (especially for cars), and offers a number of good tips. Among the best are shopping for car loans at banks or credit unions before you set foot in a dealership, and a few very good suggestions about negotiating for the car you want. She does, by the way, recommend getting a car no self-respecting 20-something would be seen in: stodgy and ugly. Her reason is practicality. The insurance on stodgy, ugly cars is generally less than on the hot-looking ones.
The author manages to at least touch on all the key financial elements of concern to mature people of any age. It's understandable if she skims some areas and pays more attention to others. Books can be - and have been - written about any one of the topics she addresses.
The real importance of the book is bringing all these elements of handling personal finances to the attention of people who might otherwise be most inclined to ignore them. She makes no pretense about the book being any more than a primer. If it's not always easy or interesting reading, it is consistently on the mark about how to deal with financial matters in the real world.
Reading the book should be made as much a requirement as sex education in the school system. Failing that, it would make an ideal graduation gift for someone who is just starting to face the problems that the book explains so well.
Henry Holtzman is a syndicated columnist based in Cherry Hill, N.J., who reviews business books for Alaska Business Monthly.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Holtzman, Henry. "Get a Financial Life." Alaska Business Monthly, July 1996, p. 58+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA18608595&it=r&asid=ef8e88bf4b92970d65c673505b1ec01a. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A18608595
Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
Louise Jarvis
19.4 (July-August 1996): p65.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 National Association for Female Executives, Inc.
http://www.nafe.com/
by Beth Kobliner (Simon & Schuster, $11)
If you were born after 1963, you probably experience waves of nausea when asked about your savings, retirement plans or credit rating. Your employer may recommend a few months of intensive overtime. Your parents may explain (oh so cloyingly) that when they were your age, they invested liberally, lived frugally and still managed to have a two-car garage and a fertilized lawn. Your friends, however, will give you the straight dope: Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 have incomes that are about 20 percent less, on average, than the salaries made by the folks in the 1970s.
No doubt, it's a raw deal.
Beth Kobliner, who was named in 1995 as one of the most promising financial journalists under the age of 30, addresses her generation's financial insecurities and avoids the condescension and reprimands found in other financial guides. Kobliner acknowledges that a higher cost of living, massive college debt and low entry-level salaries mean that saving--in the traditional sense--is out of the question. So she attempts to redefine what saving money means. By her definition, the first step is paying the lowest possible interest on your debts. To start "saving" now, shop around for the best interest rates and consolidate debt.
The next step is to keep more of the money you make. Kobliner argues that everyone can and should save 10 percent of each paycheck. How? One suggestion: Make sure your money is in a good bank--one that doesn't require a high minimum balance. Otherwise your money languishes, gathering pitifully low interest. Also, get to know your bank manager. (Yes, be a suck-up.) This person can be an ally in case you encounter absurdly high bank charges or decide to apply for a loan.
Here's extra incentive to buy Kobliner's book: charts that make looking into your financial future palatable. One of the most inspiring shows you how much money you must save per week to reach a certain savings goal. It's motivating to see that if you invest $19 a week for 9 years in a retirement account earning 8 percent, and then let the money age for another 21 years, you'll have $168,627 on your 65th birthday. Kobliner recognizes that people often don't follow such formulas because IRAs and 401(k)s are so confusing. Her advice: Use the employee 401(k), especially if your employer matches your investment. This retirement sum can be borrowed from (or against) at a later date. It's a good deal, even though you can't park your car in it, or decorate it with pink flamingos.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Jarvis, Louise. "Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties." Executive Female, July-Aug. 1996, p. 65. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA20347163&it=r&asid=3484ded6d34517b19022ae34518ae190. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A20347163
Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
David Rouse
92.18 (May 15, 1996): p1554.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Kobliner, Beth. May 1996.272p. index. Simon & Schuster/Fireside, paper, $11 (0-684-81213-4). DDC: 332.024.
As one grows older, it becomes increasingly apparent that the off-repeated admonishment that it is never too early to start saving money is all too true. But the young are often disinclined to think about growing older, and they usually cannot "afford' to start setting money aside. Kobliner, herself a barely thirty something who writes for Money magazine, attempts to reach younger readers by speaking their language and tailoring fairly standard financial counsel to the needs and circumstances of those just starting out on their own. Included in her advice on budgeting, credit, banking, investing, retirement planning, home buying, insurance, and taxes are tips on car loans, credit cards, ATMs, bank accounts, mutual funds, retirement savings plans, apartment renting, and paying back student loans.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rouse, David. "Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties." Booklist, 15 May 1996, p. 1554. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA18338102&it=r&asid=af64de5ad458b9f546cac98efdf8d2f4. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A18338102
'Make Your Kid a Money Genius' author explains how to talk to kids about money
Sharon Holbrook
(Mar. 28, 2017): News:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Byline: Sharon Holbrook
When you're the parent, you're supposed to know a few things. How to change unspeakably dirty diapers. How to weather toddler tantrums. How to play yet another game of Candy Land without losing your mind. These things can be hard. But, perhaps most confusing of all, we're also supposed to how to give our child a financial education.
Beth Kobliner's new book, "Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23" can help. Broken down by topic, and by different ages, it's easy to find the section that will help you guide your kids on money matters in their current developmental stage. Even better, it's friendly, approachable, and manages to simplify complex topics without ever talking down to us. This is a book to keep on your bookshelf - you'll take it down to reference again and again, as your kids (and you) graduate to each new stage of their money education.
6bb82678d0ed"]When should you start talking to kids about money?[/interstitial_link]
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and ask Kobliner about her new book, money, and parents and kids.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You've previously written the best-selling "Get A Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties." Tell me why you decided to write a book that suggests financial education as early as the preschool years.
A: I was on President Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, and I became really interested in children - it's so important that kids learn money basics. The research and information was out there for parents but it was all over the place. We developed a website called Money As You Grow a about what kids need to know, and [it went viral on social media]. There was a huge hunger for this kind of information. Also, as a mom, I've spent a lot of time on playgrounds, in classrooms, and on college campuses talking to other moms about their fear or concern, or their desire to understand money. I talk to people across the country with such a range of financial parenting questions that I realized this was really needed.
Q: You write in such an approachable way that is easy to read and enjoyable. Do you think people are intimidated by financial topics, and did that affect the way you wanted to convey your messages?
A: Finance is a word that can really send a shiver up people's spines. I see it as I talk to people about it. My experience has always been some people really gravitate toward learning more and some people say, "I just can't handle that. It's emotionally overwhelming and it's scary and I'm not good at math." And I think a huge number of people feel that way. Since it's not taught to us pretty much ever in school - which is really, really unfortunate - it can be very intimidating. For "Make Your Kid A Money Genius," I wanted it to feel engaging and fun. I believe very strongly that you don't have to be great at math to be great at money and I also know that parents want to make their children's lives financially secure. It's not as difficult as people think it is.
Q: Reading your book, I can feel the influence of your own upbringing throughout. How did your childhood experiences affect your decision to write a financial book from the parenting perspective?
A: I was brought up in Queens, New York. My dad was a teacher, and then a principal, and then worked for something called the Board of Examiners for the city, which is the agency that makes tests for teachers and principals. My mom was a chemistry teacher, but by the time I was born she was a stay-at-home mom. We didn't have a lot of money at all. I was blessed, though, because my parents were both born in the Depression, so they were born into a mentality of being very frugal and how do you get the most for your dollar. So that was a part of my childhood. I feel like I'm teaching the secrets that my mother and father were just really good at - thinking about it all and being wise about money without it being at all oppressive.
Q: Money and parenting are two of the hottest button issues affecting marriages. Do you have any advice for parents who aren't on the same page when it comes to values around money?
A: I think it's important to acknowledge that, in all aspects of parenting, but particularly when it comes to money, parents have such different attitudes. One study found when it comes to college students who report that their parents fought about money, those kids are three times more likely to have credit card debt of $500 or more than those whose parents don't fight about money. I think the idea of presenting a unified front to kids is important. Fighting in front of kids is not only very stressful, but according to this research, it can also influence their behaviors. Whether you're married or divorced or separated or whatever your personal issues, you really have to say, "Okay, as much as possible, when it comes to money, we will present a united front and not argue about it." Kids, as we know, are very smart and they can play parents off each other. That is never good for a child and in terms of money, as this study shows, it can lead to more debt.
Q: Most parents value raising kind, generous kids. How does that fit together with raising a "money genius"?
A: From very young ages, you can give children a jar for spending, a jar for saving, and a jar for giving. Research shows that people who give are happier, so even if you're looking at it from a self-interested perspective, there's rationale for giving. But more importantly, people realize that giving of time and giving of money gives kids context. If you go with your kids to a soup kitchen, or a children's hospital, or whatever the local organization, somehow them complaining, "Why aren't we going to this fancy place for vacation like our neighbors?" suddenly makes it clear what their needs are and what their wants are. Children being aware of the world around them is so important and even at young ages kids can have a great deal of empathy. And sometimes they don't. We also shouldn't be too hard on them - kids don't always understand that giving something away means that they can still have some of whatever it is too.
Q: How would you advise parents who are struggling financially - maybe paying down their own debt, and not being able to give allowances or save much (or anything) for college? Is your book for them, too?
A: Yes, hopefully they can get it from the library! If you can't give your kids an allowance, don't worry about it. I looked at about two dozen reports on allowance and the bottom line is you're not a better money parent if you give allowance. One study found kids getting allowance were more entitled and another showed the allowance kids were hard-working. Bottom line, it was all over the board - so you don't have to give a regular allowance to your kid to make them smart about money. When it comes to college, the most interesting research is that when parents tell children they have saved for them for college, those kids are three times more likely to actually go to college, regardless of how much money is actually in the account. The idea is just by saving and telling a child you're saving, the expectation is made clear. I have a whole chapter on the paying for college and all the options - it can be overwhelming when you hear it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but there are ways to make it easier.
Q: If you had to choose one, what would be the No 1 money lesson you'd like kids to learn from their parents?
A: I have two. A credit card is a loan, so be careful. Second, waiting. You wait for the swings, you wait for your birthday. I still remember waiting for "The Wizard of Oz" to come on TV once a year. You need to wait and save up for something you want. Waiting and being able to delay gratification is one of the most important lessons kids can learn about money and in life.
- - -
Holbrook is a writer living in Cleveland. You can find her at sharonholbrook.com and on Twitter @Sharon_Holbrook.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Holbrook, Sharon. "'Make Your Kid a Money Genius' author explains how to talk to kids about money." Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA487515649&it=r&asid=ad1e076575999e6263956e27602fa0a8. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A487515649
Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You're Not)
264.3 (Jan. 16, 2017): p56.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You're Not)
Beth Kobliner. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 flexibound (272p) ISBN 978-1-4767-6681-2
Kobliner (Get a Financial Life), a personal finance expert, believes it is almost never too early to talk to kids about money. She cites research showing that by age three, children can understand that money has value, and by age seven they can focus on setting and reaching goals. Here is age-appropriate guidance on a range of money-related topics so parents can teach their children of all ages the basics of money management, including how to save, avoid debt, begin investing, give charitably, and make financial decisions about college and living independently. There is even some proven but counterintuitive advice--for example, she feels allowances aren't the best way to teach kids to be money-smart. Kobliner persuasively explains how parents can instill, from a child's early years, essential character traits and abilities for understanding how money works, and how to earn it and use it wisely. More than just a conversation starter or primer, the book gathers together an abundance of bulleted lists of rules and tips, explanations of complex issues, and sidebars and boxes with illustrations of financial documents. With practical prescriptions, simple but effective action steps, and instructive anecdotes, Kobliner has written a book that belongs on every patent's shelf. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You're Not)." Publishers Weekly, 16 Jan. 2017, p. 56. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA478405321&it=r&asid=0953661020db8fe12fe6bdb7db44d43b. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A478405321
Jacob's eye patch: my eye patch made me an author--and led me to the best illustrator ever!
Beth Kobliner Shaw and Jacob Shaw
16.5 (Feb. 2014): p2.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Cricket Media
http://www.cricketmedia.com/
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Since I was 6 days old, I had to wear an eye patch. My parents tell me that as soon as I became old enough, I would rip it off and throw it onto the ground with my glasses. I remember wearing it sometimes as much as eight hours a day.
The reason I had to wear a patch is that when I was born, my left eye was much weaker than my right. Patching my right eye forced my left eye to do all the seeing. That made the left eye stronger.
Wearing an eye patch can be really annoying. It blocks the light like you're going to sleep in that eye. Also, people always ask questions about it, and little kids often say, "Why do you have a Band-Aid on your eye?" The patch made me feel different and embarrassed.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
As I got older, I noticed that nearly everyone has "something" that they're born with. Some kids have curly hair, some have dyslexia, some have trouble hearing, and some have really flat feet like my dad! I wanted to write a book about wearing a patch and how frustrating it could be. So my mom and I worked together to tell the story.
We knew we needed a great illustrator. And that's when a miracle happened. A friend of my mom's knows Jules Feiffer. Jules illustrated books like The Phantom Tollbooth; Bark, George; and I Lost My Bear. The friend showed him my story ... and then the one, the only Jules Feiffer agreed to do it!
Jules sat down in our living room and immediately pulled out a big white sketchpad and a black skinny marker and started sketching us. He drew my dad; my mom; my older brother, Adam; my older sister, Rebecca; and my dog, Milo. He even drew my grandpa and grandma! And, of course, he drew me too. (My mom asked Jules to draw her a little skinnier than she actually is!)
I love to draw, but when I saw his sketch of me, I was inspired to do it even more. (I draw new inventions, which are top secret and highly classified information. But that's another story.)
Jules took the sketches home and worked on creating pictures to go with my story. Not only did he draw us, but he also drew the city in grays, a science store with amazing detail, and an ice cream shop.
I love how Jules's drawings look like they were made in a second, but it actually took him months to finish. When he was done, I saw how they made my story come alive. He really captured my emotions. My favorite is the one of me throwing my eye patch down. It's funny to see an illustration of yourself being so mad.
Last year, I turned 9, and my eye doctor gave me the best gift: He said I was finished wearing the patch. I think that whether kids wear a patch or not, they will enjoy my book. After all, everyone has something, and I hope the book makes kids feel better about that.
Caption: JACOB SHAW had a story to tell, and one of the best illustrators of all helped him tell it.
Caption: JACOB is 10 years old and no longer wears an eye patch.
Shaw, Beth Kobliner^Shaw, Jacob
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Shaw, Beth Kobliner, and Jacob Shaw. "Jacob's eye patch: my eye patch made me an author--and led me to the best illustrator ever!" Appleseeds, Feb. 2014, p. 2+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA358537025&it=r&asid=77cffd7076ad6d1fb31ad56461609b8f. Accessed 1 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A358537025
Book Review: Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You’re Not) by Beth Kobliner
February 10, 2017 Jim Wang
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As a parent to two young kids, I've started thinking about the best way for us to teach them good money skills.
They're 5 and 3, so we've only recently been able to head above water and started thinking less about sleep and more about how to be more proactive. We've already seen the good and bad habits (overwhelmingly good, I must say) they've picked up from their friends at daycare and school. A recent study by Jessica Neal at Michigan State seems to suggest that kids pick up personality traits from their peers… so I'd like to help urge them in the right direction!
That's why Beth Kobliner's new book, Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents’ Guide for Kids 3 to 23, comes out at a good time for us. We've recently made the “reactive to proactive” transition with our kids and started researching how we can help ensure they learn how to manage money intelligently and not join the large percentage of Americans who have little saved for their retirement and massive credit card debt.
Table of Contents
1 About Beth Kobliner
2 The 14 Rules
3 What I Loved
4 Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You’re Not)
5 Pros
About Beth Kobliner
Beth Kobliner is a personal finance expert who has done quite a bit in the area of financial education. Most notably, she was part of President Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability and helped create MoneyAsYouGrow.org, which was adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If that site sounds familiar, I did their Money as You Grow Book Club last year with our son and shares the experience of reading nine of the listed books.
The 14 Rules
Kobliner starts the book out with fourteen rules about how to talk to your kids about money. These rules are about the approach to a conversation, not the subject of the conversation, and they're things you learn if you speak to a lot of children. Ideas like “use anecdotes” (#3) and “Never fib about how much money you have on you” (#6) are things you realize over time, but having a list is a powerful reminder.
Also important are the 7 things you don't need to tell your kids – like your salary and who makes more. Like many things in life, it's about balance and finding that balance of inclusion and exclusion is very difficult. I find that the best approach is to share enough to include your children in the decision process without sharing so much information that they get lost or fixated on the details.
The Framework of the Book
Here's where things get interesting – the book is structured not based on age but based on money management concepts. Saving, debt, spending, insurance, etc.
In each chapter, there's discussion on how to approach the concept at each age group. I flipped through each chapter so I could read through the Preschool and Elementary School sections in detail, while giving a peek towards Middle School and beyond.
The Preschool sections are really about teaching awareness. In debt, your goal is to teach your preschool kids that buying stuff costs money and you can't always get everything. As you'd expect, it's not about interest rates, credit card debt, or anything like that – but it's about how there's a limited amount of resources and you have to make choices.
The Elementary School sections start introducing bigger concepts like time, security, and instructions for parents too (ie. don't give your elementary school kids a credit card!)
As kids get older, you can introduce them to more concepts but obviously these aren't hard and fast rules. We know that some kids read at 4 years old and others read at 5 and others don't read until they're much older. Our son was born in August and he's in the same kindergarten class as other kids who are going to be nearly 20% older. So the frameworks are loose but that's good enough.
What I Loved
As someone with relatively good money skills, this book was a good fit because it created a framework for teaching money lessons.
As I read through each chapter that applied to our kids and looked ahead to the ones that they'd soon face, everything made sense. More importantly, it creates a checklist. I can't remember everything and a framework makes it so I don't have to. I can focus on passing on the lessons.
It was also great in that it told us what was probably OK and what probably wasn't, at each age group. While you could figure this out through trial and error, having that framework provides a solid anchor.
I think that when our kids get older, this book will be a great tool. I skipped ahead to the section on auto insurance and shudder at the thought of our kids driving one day!
What I Wish It Had
I wish that there was a section that walked you through, conceptually, how money should be discussed with your children at the various ages. I recognize that my 3 year old isn't going to understand amortization or interest rates, but what will she understand? Will she understand that saving money today will mean she has more to spend tomorrow?
I took psychology in college and was amazed at concepts like object permanence (part of Piaget's theory of cognitive development), where kids don't believe a thing continues to exist after it leaves their line of sight until about two years old. Our brains are continually developing and research has shown that it's fully developed until your mid-20s, which includes the prefrontal cortex… which is responsible for executive functions like assessing risk and long term planning.
Overall, I'm a fan and if you're wondering how to teach your kids about money, I'd suggest giving this book a try.
I was provided a complimentary copy of the book to consider for a review but no other compensation (and I don't review every book I receive). The thoughts and opinions of this book are my own.
Make Your Kid a Money Genius (even if you're not) {A Review}
For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention.
This author can do it.
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You're Not): A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23
By Beth Kobliner
Beth Kobliner, the author, is a woman with some impressive credentials. This is what she states in the introduction:
I’ve visited Sesame Street to teach Elmo about saving, I’ve spent time on Wall Street, where I’ve picked the brains of some of the top experts in the field. I’ve advised President Barack Obama as a member of the President’s advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans and headed up an initiative, Money as You Grow, to teach parents what their kids need to know about money at every age. Along the way, I’ve pored over reports and studies in the fields of behavioral economics, social psychology, and, of course, finance to keep up with a subject that grows more complicated every day.
That's the part you need to know as a reader so you can trust her perspective. Then you can breathe out any anxiety you might have on the subject and enjoy her whit.
As moms, we have a lot of things that can feel overwhelming or areas of our parenting that make us feel less than awesome. This book isn’t going to heap weight onto the motherhood-guilt pile. Nope, it won’t. Instead I think this book eases you into every subject the author approaches. She speaks in an understandable language and, like I said, I think she’s clever.
The book starts with a list of 14 rules that are simple and digestible. These rules are comprised of things like “Use anecdotes,” “Identify your financial baggage – then leave it behind” “Share the talking” and my favorite, “Don’t expect your child to have money skills if all you’ve given him is money.” You head into the book thinking that whatever she is going to tell you should be pretty accessible.
Instead of making you feel like you missed the boat on everything in the money realm, she walks you through different things you can instill right now. She is reassuring and informative. I enjoy her pace and she keeps it interesting. I'm not a fan of the how-to books that make you feel like you should have read it 8 years ago because it’s too late at this point, but you won’t get that with this book. The author takes the time to cater to different age groups and allows you to take her written expertise a la carte – in the places you need it.
These are some of my favorite snapshots of the book, which also give you a snippet of her writing style:
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
I’m excited to delve into this book as our kids continue to learn and grow. We’ve put into practice some of the principles in this book, but we are eager to take some more beneficial nuggets from these pages in the future. Since the book gives many examples and short stories to illustrate her points, you can distribute these lessons to your sweet kiddos here and there in those small pockets of time you find throughout the week. The book looks bigger or longer than it actually is, don’t be frightened. There are quite a bit of extra resources in the back.
My kids with their Batman masks on. ;)
My kids with their Batman masks on. ;)
One of my favorite portions of the book is where the author instructs us to tell our kids to pretend to be Batman (or another well-loved hero)! She explains a psychological study showing why this gets kids to work harder. I enjoyed the way she explained it. I value the fact that she gives a wide variety of ideas for you to try as you teach your children how to exchange hard work for good pay. The author doesn’t talk at you, she talks with you and she expects you to do the same with your kids.
"For me to read a book about money, it has to be written by someone clever. Why? Because I like to read interesting, funny, or engaging things and a book about money doesn’t sound like it would fall into one of those categories. I’m not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think I’d be likely to pick up a money book unless the author could really keep my attention. This author can do it."
This book has nice margins to take notes in, and the chapters allow for you to pickup anywhere and reference subjects as needed. I would put it on the coffee table, but I don’t have a coffee table. My kids are still at the stage where they are pretending to be Batman and running around the living room. I’m not sure I’m ready to give them any new furniture obstacles quite yet. However, I am ready to give them a few sound money tips!
Thankful for a helpful resource on a tough subject,
Lindsey Feldpausch
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Opinions are 100% my own.