The Rough Draft is Done!!!

The basic premise of the book is that we as a society do not really equip our kids to manage the basics of their financial life. I compare it to the player attempting to play professional basketball right out of high school – There are some who are skilled enough and have good people around them who make it, but there are far too many who can play a little bit and are really tall who fail to make it to the next level. I think our kids have about the same kind of chance to succeed financially as the high school athlete does. The number of people living week to week, declaring bankruptcy or working until they are 101 years old seems to back this up.

The rough draft of the book is done, and I am lucky enough to have a friend who works at a publisher attempting to have an editor read it. I, however, have had a bit of an epiphany. Two of the major themes of the book are to lead by example and to learn from the kids. I also recommend putting the kids in charge of their own charitable giving money at 10% of their allowance. That’s right, they set aside 10% of their income as an 8 and 10 year old and they decide who to give it to. This 10% thing is something I have never done. Sure, we give to charity, and we give quite a bit, but nowhere near 10% of what we make.

So, I think its time for me to put my money where my mouth is, and here’s how I plan to do it. I am going to self publish the book and give all the profits to a number of charitable organizations that I, with the help of the kids and Kellie, will select.  Of course, it is going to be a bit more complicated than that. However, the more I thought about either relying on a publisher buying it or the incredibly tough job of marketing your own book, the more I wanted to do something different that I could control. The goal, after all, was never to make money, but to increase the financial literacy of our children.


From those few people who have read it, it is pretty entertaining. Evidently I am much more funny in print than in person!