Finance Books For Kids: 17 Personal Finance Reads For Children

Money lessons wrapped up in stories are the basis of finance books for kids. These books set them on a path for lifelong success in financial management in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Finance books for kids covering money management and basic economic principles may be introduced to children as young as 3 to 4 years old.

So, if you’re looking for entertaining ways to teach your kids about finance, here are 17 finance books to read. Who knows? You may learn a thing or two.

1. Smart Money Smart Kids

Age: 4+ years

Financial expert and bestselling author, Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze equip moms with tips to teach their kids about winning with money.

The book begins with basics like working, spending, saving, and giving, as well as credit cards, and budgeting.

The book is one of America’s bestsellers and delves into more challenging issues like debt evasion for life, paying cash for college, and dealing with discontentment.

Dave and Rachel deliver a no-nonsense, common-sense approach to changing your family tree.

Smart Money Smart Kids is one of the many personal finance books for children that will help your young one achieve great things with their money by first understanding its value and what it should be used for – the things you want and the things you need.

Letting your kids make mistakes and fail at little decisions now is very important.

The book encourages moms to know when to give grace to their kids as they reach their saving goals.

2. Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday

Age: 4-8 years old

This picture book by Judith Viorst is ideal for preschoolers, but readers of all ages will be delighted by the new edition of this wonderful finance book.

This book is about Alexander, who grapples with money management.

The previous Sunday, Alexander’s grandparents gave him a dollar and he was rich. There were so many things that he could do with all that money.

He could purchase as many sweets as he wanted or even a walkie-talkie, if he had saved enough. But somehow, his money began to disappear.

The book teaches kids money concepts such as how to count money and stop spending their allowance recklessly.

3. Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock

Age: 6-9 years

This book describes a set of twins who live very differently, and who treat their money very differently. T

heir grandfather gave them an interesting proposition: he’d pay them $1 per week to mow his lawn and wash his car, then match whatever they had in savings.

One twin couldn’t keep his impulsive buying at bay, while the other one ended up with a healthy $512 after 10 weeks.

The money lesson of this book is that saving money is wise for two reasons. First, you can afford a better quality of life. Secondly, your savings can grow through interest.

4. The Toothpaste Millionaire

Age: 10-12 years

This book was published in 1972 at a time when the author and many others talked about things like race, age, sex, and discrimination.

It takes the idea of earning money through manufacturing and refines the subject.

It talks about a child who, surprised by how expensive toothpaste costs at the store, feels that he can make his own for a very small fraction of the cost.

With the help of his friends and his math tutor, he works his way up into opening several toothpaste manufacturing facilities.

It turns out the United States is hungry for 0.15 oz tube of toothpaste.

Overall, this book is a lesson into the basics of manufacturing: how a product is made, its production costs, and pricing with other brands.

It simply combines lessons your child learned from setting up a lemonade stand with real-world examples.

5. The Ant and the Grasshopper

Age: 4+ years

This is a new perspective on the classic Aesop’s fable, where the ants consistently prepare for the winter months, while the grasshoppers focus on games and entertainment in the Chinese Emperor’s summer palace.

The ants may be super ready for winter while the grasshopper is out in the cold, but there is something to be said about enjoying life more.

Work hard but don’t forget to play hard. Play hard but don’t forget to dedicate time for work.

The book teaches us that hard work and consistency pays off. Preparing for monetarily tough days ahead is a good idea.

And every good mom wants to teach their kid how to save money.

6. Less Than Zero

Age: 6-10 years

Stuart J Murphy’s Less Than Zero is an animal-themed story. In a little penguin’s world, the currency is clams.

The common value commodity, an ice scooter, costs 9 clams. But, there are many temptations along the way, such as the Ice Circus, Sardine Fishy Treats, and Fishy Fries.

What this book does is illustrate savings goals, and what it means to go down to less than zero – owing people money.

Kids will learn that when you take out a loan, you get into debt with people. In addition, temptations will always show up when you have a savings goal.

What you choose to spend your money on. It also teaches kindness, integrity, and honesty. When someone loses their money and you find it, be sure to give it back to them.

It might be their last clam!

7. If You Made A Million   

Age: 4-8 years

Schwartz and Kellogg have succeeded in presenting money in terms that correspond to how children think in what has become one of the most compelling bestsellers.

They have managed to explore the relationships between accomplishing tasks and earning payment, saving and spending, as well as other concepts such as interest.

Ink and watercolor drawings will intensify the reader’s interest while wittily reinforcing and expanding financial ideas.

The book is also presented with immense clarity. It is as entertaining as it is educative, so get your kid to start learning about saving and debt in a fun-filled way.

8. Anna & Solomon

Age: 3+ years

This is a heartfelt true story about a Jewish couple who decides it’s in their best interest to leave Russia for the United States due to persecution.

They make a plan to send the husband to America to establish a business, and send money back for her ticket.

In due time, Anna actually sends over her younger brother, older brother, and mother before she uses the money her husband sends for her own ticket.

While her husband is downcast, each time he goes back to work and saves up for another ticket. Ultimately, they are all united.

The life lesson learned in this total money makeover book is that getting what you want takes a lot of patience. Short-term sacrifices can sometimes lead to long-term stability and happiness.

9. Pigs Will Be Pigs

Age: 5-8 years

Now, the pig family has eaten through all their grocery reserve and are hungry for a snack. The problem is that there’s only a dollar left between all of them.

They set out hunting for money in all kinds of peculiar places around their home.

The presentation gives just the kinds of coins found and not dollar denominations. This can enable your child to do the math and add things up by themselves.

There is a menu with prices, which helps your kid to figure out what alternative item they could have bought from that menu.

It is a very interactive book for good money habits that necessitates a writing pad and a pencil for the kids to work on a few things.

The book teaches kids to use the resources at hand, such as finding change in the home versus going to the bank to withdraw money.

Your child will also feel more comfortable adding up different coins and dollar denominations, when trying to figure out what they can buy from it.

10. Bunny Money

Age: 3-5 years

This financial education book by Rosemary Wells teaches a moral about studying your options carefully and making sensible comparisons.

Bunnies Ruby and Max want to buy the perfect gift for their grandmother – a beautiful music box with skating ballerinas.

They have saved up their own money to make this purchase and head down to the store to get it.

Intriguingly, things start to happen and temptations start to rise. They failed to research the cost of what they wanted ahead of time, so they did not have enough money to begin with.

In the end, they make a pretty terrible spending decision – buying glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs that cost them their bus ride fare home.

At their lowest point, they spend their last $0.25 calling their grandmother to come and pick them up.

The kids learn that family will always be there for them even if you make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to ask mommy for help!

11. Make Your Kid A Money Genius (Even If You’re Not)

Age: Parents of 3-23 year-olds

Make Your Kid A Money Genius by Beth Kobliner is a simple, step-by-step guide to help moms teach their kids about money.

It teaches that raising a money genius has nothing to do with picking a stock.

Instead, it’s about instilling values that have proven to make people successful, not just financially, but in life.

Some of these values inculcated in this finance books for kids include working hard, delaying gratification, and living within your means, getting a good education, and acting generously towards others.

The author and financial expert believes that it is never too early to talk to your kids about money.

She believes that a 3-year-old child can understand money as a valuable resource and by age 7, focus on setting and reaching goals.

With practical prescriptions, actionable steps, and instructive analogies, Kobliner has penned a book that belongs on every mom’s shelf.

12. Raising Grateful Kids In An Entitled World

Age: Parents of 2-14 year-olds

Kristen Welch knows that saying yes too often to your kids is not only hard on your wallet and mind, but actually puts them at long-term risk.

She writes about her own ups and downs in her family’s journey of discovering why it is best not to get their kids everything they ask for.

Teaching them the difference between wants and needs is the first step in the right direction to making kids money smart.

Explore how saying no can lead to enjoying one of life’s biggest yesses. And with many practical anecdotes, this is one of the best children’s books that shares how to say the ultimate yes by a family through raising highly inspired kids – those who will grow up to live a hardworking, fulfilled, and successful financial life as adults.

This finance book for kids is packed with practical implementation tips for moms as it teaches kids respect, responsibility, gratitude, and the value of serving others.

13. Teach Your Child To Fish

Age: Parents of 2-10 year-olds

This money book aimed at those raising 2-to-10-year-olds artfully combines the more important element of financial management into easy-to-read chapters.

The author Holly D. Reid successfully attempts to help moms establish a dialogue about money with their kids, turning everyday errands and chores into a money lesson, and introduces the building blocks for a healthy financial future.

The absence of quality financial literacy instructive materials at home and our schools creates a society that is filled with victims of consumerism, bound-in debt, and adults who work well beyond retirement age – not necessarily because they want to, but because they have to.

The youth of nowadays are beset by similar obstacles because they are learning financial management habits too late in life.

And that’s why this finance book for kids is intended for the intentional mom who understands the importance of learning money management and wants to give their kid the best head-start to earning money they deserve.

14. How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000

Age: 10-14 years

This wonderful primer on money and finances for late elementary and middle school kids was written by James McKenna and Jeannine Glista.

It covers how to set financial goals like making, saving, and investing money.

How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000 is recommended for every kid and perfect for those who want to raise smart, confident, and thrifty kids.

It is an entertaining, practical, and inspiring guidebook that serves as one of the best preparatory resources to earning, spending, and saving.

Imbued with a humorous yet informative voice and tricolor illustrations, concise language and a glossary for more difficult terms, it is the perfect launching pad for kids’ financial education. The work also features a business plan and a budget tracker template.

15. Lemonade in Winter

Age: 3-7 years

This book is essentially about two kids, Pauline and John-John, counting money. Author Emily Jenkins tells the story of two young siblings who use all their money one winter day to purchase supplies and open a lemonade stand.

Soon, they start to experience troubles.

There are no customers, but the kids aren’t discouraged. Instead, they improve their outlook by singing a catchy jingle, turning cartwheels to attract attention, decorating their stand, and finally, having a half-price sale.

Nothing derails the drive of these two fearless kids and they make sales in the end.

Events ensuing afterwards serve as a lesson in counting, spending, and earning, alongside the risks and rewards that come with starting a business.

The book’s concluding page explains how much each one of the sibs is worth. It is a tale of ingenuity, youthful determination, and marvelous math. You can find it on Amazon.

16. The Go-Around Dollar

Age: 6-9 years

Barbara Johnston Adams explains how every dollar travels from person to person in a different way.

Matt finds a dollar on his way home from school and uses it to buy shoelaces from Eric. Eric spends the dollar on bubble gum at the corner store.

Jennifer, who happens to be the next customer, gets the dollar as part of her change.

The dollar bill is a currency we see and use every single day of our lives. But do we know exactly it’s made?

The meaning of the symbols that are shown on the front and back of the dollar? How long the average dollar remains in circulation?

This fascinating and informative finance book for kids weaves together a fictional narrative about how a single dollar travels and with facts that are guaranteed to delight young readers.

17. Money Monster Or Money Master

Age: Parents of 8+ year-olds

This great book for financial literacy enables parents to teach their kids the habit of good money management skills from the time that they start recognizing what money is and what it can be used for.

And to be honest, it is not that difficult to do, but realistically, few moms know how or what to teach their kids about money.

Have you considered your children’s future besides teaching them how to walk, talk, brush their teeth, or write?

If not, then get this finance book for kids as it teaches kids great money basics such as learning to have their money work for them and live a life of abundance.

The authors Norma LaFonte and Lance Dinahan feel hurt when they see people struggle financially. They have been in those shoes and know how painful it can be.

They also believe that when you know better, you do better. Most moms have learned money lessons the hard way, but want to avoid that path for their kids.

Tame and destroy those monsters with your kids today with Money Monster or Money Master.

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