Customer Reviews

The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money

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David Owen's book should be must reading for all parents with children under age 12. In the first part of the book he describes the success he has had with his own children in establishing a "bank" for them that is both understandable and lucrative. Later he gives excellent advice on providing allowances for youngsters and what they might do with some of the cash including the risks of getting caught up in bubbles nearly as scary as the great internet dot.bomb or dot.con fiasco of 2000: namely, beanie babies. Valuable lessons for children.
Also, the simple language used to describe stocks and bonds could be very useful for young, inquiring minds. Almost surprisingly at the end he segues into the benefits of reading aloud for impressionable minds, and again makes good solid sense. In sum a great book for parents to own and read and even for grandparents to buy for them.

In tackling a home improvement project involving joint compound and plaster buttons, I kept two books near at hand. One was "HomeOwner's Manual" by the This Old House crew, and the second was "The Walls Around Us" by David Owen. Owen's calming, sensible, everyman approach to shouldering new handyman projects helped steer me through an unfamiliar, mundane project. At some point during the countless hours of smoothing, sanding, and painting, my inattentive mind began to wonder what else Owen had written besides the occasional New Yorker story that subscribers see.

"The First National Bank of Dad" was the answer, and upon reading its subtitle 'The Best Way to Teach Kids about Money' I scooped up a copy. Having two little spenders of my own, I knew I needed this new advice manual from a man who has been there before me. FNBD did not let me down. David Owen writes with a straightforward, humorous, easy-going style that spews common sense and good ideas. His Bank of Dad idea is genius, but only because it flips upside-down the usual parenting mantras of command and control. Put your kids in charge of their money urges Owen, and watch them learn how to spend and save. Stop running Aunt Millie's birthday presents down to the local bank, which to your kids is a "black hole that swallows birthday checks." Instead, Owen puts his kids entirely (almost) in charge of their money, and with his home-based Bank of Dad gives them the opportunity to learn about the power of compound interest. Using a home computer and a slightly more influential rate of interest, he quickly captures his kids' attention.

It's a terrific idea, one I've already adopted, and my kids are unexpectedly as thrilled as his. Owen has more. He teaches his kids free market economics via eBay, creates his own successful Stock Exchange of Dad, and expostulates on the value of part-time employment for kids. His recommendations are surprisingly fresh, honest and logical. Chapter Seven offers perhaps the best observations about life and I could think of many adults I know who would benefit from reading this alone. Chapter Eight is an epistle to the value of reading. By "learning how to purse a subject until their curiosity is satisfied," Owen observes, "later in life they will be able to use that same ability to teach themselves about the bond market." And anything else.

FNBD is an investment of under six hours reading time. It is already paying dividends in my home.

I read this book in one afternoon. It is a relatively quick and easy read. David Owen does a good job of supplying advice and a lesson in money management with a little humor. My son is 6 years old and I just started giving him an allowance so he can buy things and stop pestering me. It turns out that this is exactly what Mr. Owen recommends in his book.

This book was enjoyable and informative; I recommend it to anyone with young children.

I got a few books on how to teach kids money from the local library and settled on David Owen's book. Owen used his real life experience with his own children to get his messages acrossed. Some of the approached Owen used are really "out-of-the-box". He also offerred the lessons he learned from his experiments.

Owen's philosophy is sound, his approaches are sensible, and this book is easy to read and often funny. Highly recommmended.

Agree. David Owen is money in the bank. The book is well-written, funny, and has some great principles. Some main points he makes:

* Kids will make good (financial) decisions with the proper incentives.
* Kids need the ability to make mistakes which means you have to let them buy whatever they want (within the house rules), even if it seems like a waste of money.
* Giving them control improves your parent/child relationship.
* Parents shouldn't use money to control their kids. It's bad for everyone.

I've been doing this for a few months now and it has produced great results. My kids are entirely responsible for the money they spend and it's that ownership produces thoughtful spending generally. Sure, I have to bite my tongue at the dollar store sometimes, but when the toy breaks, it's their decision, and they learn. My kids are 6 and 8 and they already understand the concept of compound interest.

Thanks David!

Really good book about kids and allowance. Great and practical ideas to take the hassle out of jobs and allowance. A great reminder that your kids allowance isn't your money to control, but your kid's money to learn responsibility.

Offers a few constructive observations, such as incentivizing good behavior or giving 'ownership' to children (of their financial decisions), but neither of these is particularly insightful or original. As another reviewer noted, it does read very quickly-- I'd allow about 2-3 hours. On the negative side, much of the supporting evidence for his opinions come in the form of anecdotes involving his own children, which is fine, but doesn't exactly qualify as "proof"--- unless you're salesman or politician. For instance, when discussing how much allowance to give children, he argues against "miniscule" amounts by citing a 70's comic book series in which a character in a similar situation develops an unhealthy view of money...well, okay, but...it's a comic book. This seems to be his lone evidence on this point.

Also, as another reader pointed out, this is really for middle class families and above, as he, for example, argues against allowing teenagers to work during the school year. For a large segment of society, this just isn't a "choice"-- though he seems to think it is. All in all, Owen's worldview seems a bit constrained by his own situation, and he doesn't seem to recognize the reality of many people's lives. It's worth borrowing this book from your local library, but I wouldn't buy it (and didn't).

Owen takes some everyday observations about human nature, mixes in common sense and good humor, rejects a few widely held beliefs and delivers a hundred pages of readable advice.

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