Smart Money Smart Kids - Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze (Lampo Press)

Full disclosure up front; while programming a talk radio station over a decade ago, I “hired” Dave Ramsey, by signing on as an affiliate station to his radio program. In the intervening time, other than his continued growth and success, not much has changed with Dave; he still offers up straightforward, no nonsense advice to his listeners, readers and program participants.

Joined by his adult daughter, Rachel Cruze, Ramsey has put together Smart Money Smart Kids to offer parents a winning road map to educating/raising their kids to be smart about the basics of personal finance.

It may seem utterly odd that the duo write about going to work and earning a living, but given the current circumstance that finds 20% of families in the United States don’t have one member of the brood who gets up and goes to a job on a daily basis, that might be some winning advice. Other basics include spending, saving, saving up towards a purchase and it wouldn’t be a Dave Ramsey message if it did not include advice on charitable giving.

Any parent who has had a sleepless night worrying about paying for college will want to take in Ramsey and Cruze’s advice on how to take on that challenge. While the information here is clearly built on the model of training kids, but I can clearly discern light bulbs going on above the heads of a lost generation of young parents.

What concerns me is that the folks who pick up Smart Money Smart Kids probably have a good foundation and this will be a useful tool, but those who really need this foundational advice are more likely to buy a DVD or video game for their kids.