Young Adults Creating Wealth:

Influence Publishing (Published 2004)

Written By Narida Bell

Australia

Review 2 Stars – Not Good

How the blurb describes the book:

Young Adults Creating Wealth is a simple money book that will show you step by step:

·         How much to save

·         When to save and

·         Where to save for the best interest

It will explain in plain English the different investments, money cycles and job versus business.

You will follow twins Kate and Josh as they save and budget to buy their first car and house.

The 36 tiny activities will help you to check your knowledge and make your choices for investing and planning your life.

It will help you to start on the road to becoming wealthy.

Mr Home Budget’s Review: As you could guess, this book advises young people on how to handle their finances. However at times, the book confuses just how young the person reading the book is. The writing in fact, a lot of the time is written for adults. Sometimes it’s so basic a ten-year-old could understand it, while other times it verges on the Australian Financial Review.

For example, on one page she is talking to kids about starting a business mowing lawns or selling jams. On the next she is writing about the vagaries of the Australian stock market. Most children won’t be able to read this book themselves; they would need an adult to help them.

The book is filled with activities for kids to do. The activities are probably the best part of the book. They challenge the child to think about money, use calculators to work out saving problems and to talk to adults about their views on money. All these outside the box ideas, really do help the child excel.

The other great thing about the book is she talks about things which the school system never does. Like running on a budget, investing in shares, starting a business and the changing world of work with technology.

The whole book follows a story about Josh and Kate— two fictional twins who take slightly different paths to wealth. We start following them at pocket money and right through to saving for a car, getting their first job, and buying a house.

But their stories are far too similar. They both make the correct budgeting choices. She never offset one smart character with a foolish character to show you the reader how their money decisions affected their life.

A good chapter is on delayed gratification. Teaching kids how to restrain from buying things of enjoyment now, so they can benefit later. A chapter addressing the importance of insurance, which lays out the facts for young people on how a small bit of bad luck can destroy you financially.

There is a great line which rings so true to all budgets which I must share with you. “Every $2 is part of $10, and every $10 is part of $100, so every dollar counts. It’s not necessary to wait until you have thousands of dollars before you invest. You can start with as little as $2 and watch it grow.

While the book is not a total loss, it is hard to gauge how many kids will understand parts of what she is talking about, if at all. This book must be read with an adult and child, and at least in this way it could be considered beneficial.

Pros: The activities in the book will help children learn about money and get them thinking outside the square.

Some good chapters and sayings.

Cons: Not sure what age the book is written for, at some points it seems 10-year-olds, but at others it seems like adults.

Some chapters seem totally unnecessary and unwarranted.

The examples of fictional Josh and Kate are way too similar. It’s almost as if they wanted to show two examples of people making all the right moves, but in slightly different ways.