How to teach your kids about money even if you are not financially savvy

Like many of you, I used to be a 9-5 person trying to succeed by climbing the corporate ladder. After my husband and I married, and particularly when we started our family, we thought that we should grow our money so that we could achieve our families' financial dreams. So we started investing ourselves, but within three years, we had lost almost all of our savings; we were stuck and were going nowhere.

After we went through a rough time financially and lost much of our money in investments, I started to really think about this. I remembered something memorable that I read in a success book that said: "if you are not successful in a certain way simply because there is something you don't know, then you don't know what you are doing."

"Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day." - Jim Rohn

From that moment, I started to read all kinds of books about personal finance, financial literacy, business and investing, and personal achievement. I attended seminars, listened to audio books and started all over again. Within the next three years, we had our money back and purchased two extra properties.

When I think about what happened during the past six years, one thing is clear: I am not the same person as I was six years ago. I became more financially literate and gained more financial intelligence. This is the root cause of all the differences that I made in those three short years. I wish I could have learned these money rules earlier, I wish my parents could have provided me with the basic financial education when I was young. I wish I could have done all of the right things with money since I got my first pay cheque. When I figured out that financial success is not about how much you earn, it is about how much you are able to keep and grow. It is impossible to achieve financial dreams without proper financial education. That's why I used that philosophy to teach my son Max about money at home. It proved to me that it is so important that if the financial education isn't provided in school, then I decided that, as a parent, the responsibility fell on me to do this. I started the home financial education when Max was only five years old, and I continue to add to this learning curriculum.

When Max turned nine, he was managing his allowance that amounted to $518.55, doing his own book keeping, and having his own stock investments. Max was more sophisticated about money than other children his same age.

Money management was never taught in school. Teaching children money skills is therefore the parents' responsibility. Providing early financial education can change your child's life. Unfortunately, many parents think they are unschooled in money management, or they just don't have the proper techniques to teach their kids about money. And that's why I spent 2 months writing my free parenting ebook "The 7 Habits for Money Smart Kids" and give it away for FREE at my website: http://www.7moneyhabits.com

I shared all my strategies, methods, experience how I teach kids about money at home in this 51-page book. And you will find that my system of early financial education is not complicated at all. You don't need financial expertise to teach it. Any parent can do it. It's never too early, and it's never too late. You can do it, and you should do it.

The reason is quite simple: to prove to people... just like you... that I know what I'm talking about and I can help you do the same.

Nowadays, famous authors like Robert Kiyosaki and Suze Orman are giving their book away as an e-version. It takes too much time to publish a book through traditional way.

By giving my book away, I can influence more parents and inspire them to take action on teaching their kids about money. Schools do not teach money. My passion is to promote early financial education by building up a community with like-minded people who believe that money skill is crucial to live a quality life and it have to be taught at early age.

It's a rare skill to be able to educate readers with empathy and with a style of writing that is easy on the eye. In this busy 'Twitter' world, attention spans are getting shorter and we all want the important information, and no more, in bit size chunks to maximise the return on our time and the impact on our diary. Lillian W. Li is one such writer who can cut to the core of the subject with ease, using memorable examples and life relevant stories, enabling the reader to absorb the requisite material quickly and enjoy the reading experience along the way.
Highly recommended!

---- Mike Young, senior economist & investor, TradingHelpDesk.com, London

I've just spent a couple of hours reading your book. I think it is very good... very good! I enjoyed reading it, and I think there is a ton of valuable information in there... not just for parents to teach kids, but for parents to teach themselves too. I think this is a very valuable book for any parent in today's world... I love the lessons and habits that you have outlined for kids to develop money smarts. I can see my 5-year old grandson getting right into this. He already loves money...and he has a short term and long term savings jar. But, with your approach, I think the parents can do more with him to develop his better money habits.

---- Carole Cople, President, Grey Cells Communication, Oakville, ON, Canada

I knew that when I had children, I wanted to be the type of parent to provide them with everything they needed to be successful. Though my first child is young now, I am taking the lessons in the "The 7 Habits for Money Smart Kids" and thinking through how I can incorporate them into my daughter's life. The lessons laid out make great sense and the tips and ways to make them a part of your family life are easier than you might imagine. I am thrilled with what I'm learning through this book and know that I will apply these lessons to my children's lives. They WILL be successful in their financial lives because I will teach them what they need to know-it's never too early to start!

---- Mary Frederick, Mother, United States, MI, Troy

As the parents of four children, and grandparents of seven children who have struggled through life without a formal education in economics, we realize that we and our offspring would have benefitted greatly from a text such as "7 Habits for Money Smart Kids". We, like our parents before us learned about finances by osmosis rather than any formal education. We can see the
advantage of bringing up children using the techniques espoused by Lillian in this book. We are sure that all of us would have been financially further ahead if we had had this eBook. Congratulations on a well written and researched document.

---- Fred and Dauna , Victoria, B.C. Canada

Introduction
Why is early financial education so much more important now than ever before?
How a habit works

Habit #1: Think Twice
Difference between needs and wants

Habit #2: Saving and budgeting in a fun way
Fun ways to do it

Habit #3: Never say "Sorry sweetie, we can't afford it"
Think big and grow rich

Habit #4: Don't keep it a Secret
Make it real!

Habit #5: You deserve it
The importance of celebration & rewards

Habit #6: Say it, believe it, live it
Financial literacy in your daily life

Habit #7: Giving and sharing
The big money secret

The 7 Step Action Plan to Start Today

The 7 Tips to Help Your Efforts

The 7 Parts of Money Attitude

Final thoughts

Resources and references

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