Why is it important to teach my kids about money?

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Janet Bodnar
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine
www.kiplinger.com  

Janet Bodnar is deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, for which she has written articles on a wide range of topics, including investing, money management and the economy.

Bodnar is a nationally recognized expert in the field of children's and family finances. Her latest book is Money Smart Women: Everything You Need to Know to Achieve a Lifetime of Financial Security (Kaplan). She speaks frequently on the subject of women and money.

Bodnar's "Money-Smart Kids" column appears regularly in Kiplinger's magazine and at <a>www.kiplinger.com/columns/kids</a>. It was chosen by Moneysmartz.com as one of the top financial columns online. Bodnar is also the kids and money coach on the AOL Coaches site.

Her book Raising Money Smart Kids (Kaplan Publishing) was a finalist in the personal finance category of the Books for a Better Life awards, honoring the best self-improvement books of 2005. It was also a selection of the Washington Post's Color of Money book club.

Bodnar has appeared on Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show on CBS, Fox, CNN and PBS. She has done hundreds of radio and TV interviews and appears regularly on WUSA, the CBS-TV affiliate in Washington, D.C., and WTOP, the major all-news radio station in Washington. She is a popular speaker and has been quoted in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor to Parents and Glamour.

Bodnar has been recognized by American University for excellence in personal finance reporting, and by the National Council on Family Relations for her televised reports on children and money. The audio version of her book (read by the author) received three "best of" awards, from Publishers Weekly (business category), Library Journal (nonfiction) and the Audio Publishers Association (educational category).

Prior to joining Kiplinger's, Bodnar worked for The Providence Journal and The Washington Post. She received her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism.

Married, she is the mother of three children.

Why is it important to teach my kids about money?

In this video, Deputy Editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance and author Janet Bodnar answers questions on the many issues surrounding what kids should know about money.

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Transcripts

Speaker: Why is it important to teach my kids about money?

Janet Bodnar: Well, I always tell parents that what you want to do is to want to raise kids who have a healthy attitude toward money and the ability to manage it. So that they are off on their own, they don't land back on your doorstep. They can manage money independently. The healthy attitude part is important too because you want them to know that money is a useful tool. You don't want them to be afraid of money. You don't want them to hoard money or covet money or think that it's going to buy them everything in the world or doesn't going to be able to afford to buy everything in the world. You want to teach them healthy attitudes toward money and I think that's really important, as well as financial values. It's not just how to manage the money itself with certain financial values, which can be things like differed gratification, philanthropy, responsibility and those are all values that are not just important for finances, but they are important for life in general. Money can be a stand-in for lots of other things that you do with your life. So if you have a healthy attitude toward money, if you are responsible with it, it can really carry over into other areas of your life.

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