Is Your Child A Money Master Or A Money Monster?: Seven Habits of Highly Motivated Kids for Financial Success

By Sunny Lee

Teaching our children to have mastery over their money is critical to their future success. You are in the perfect place, at the perfect time, to teach your children the tools that will make them masters not only of their own money, but also of their lives. 

Save Yourself And Your Children From the Evil Money

• Language: English
• Publisher: Twin Sprouts Publishing
• Release date: Oct 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9780692508558

Sunny Lee

Sunny is the author of "Is Your Child a Money Master or a Money Monster?" She is a respected and trusted financial advisor serving clients from all walks of life. She is the founder and CEO of Good Life Advisors, a full-service insurance company and is an Investment Advisor Representative in Torrance, California. She is a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, the Premier Association of Financial Professionals®, and a financial literacy instructor for Operation Hope. Sunny also authored "Dear My Baby" "From Ideas Into Realities" and the Korean personal finance books "Mr. & Mrs. Millionaire." Find more at www.nomoneymonster.com.

Book preview

Chapter One

Habit # 1: Develop a Money Master Mindset

Money is earned, not given. Most adults know this, but most children do not. Why? Because they aren’t taught it at an early age, and so they have to scramble to understand it later on, when the stakes are high and the rewards are harder to gain. What many adults don’t know is this: money mastery begins with our thoughts.

Because children look towards the important people in their lives, and develop thoughts and habits based on what they see and hear, it’s important to keep money conversations positive and informative. If they constantly hear those around them talk negatively about finances, they may develop a negative view of money, which in turn creates poor money habits. Parents often say:

•Money is the root of all evil.

•We don’t have enough money.

•Rich people are bad because they take advantage of innocent people and they get their money from cheating others.

•We’ll never get rich.

•Getting rich is a matter of luck or fate.

•There’s not enough to go around for everyone. —and so on.

We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think. Our kids definitely become what they think, and often, they also become what their parents think. As Mahatma Gandhi said, Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, and your values become your destiny. Therefore, it’s crucial that we teach our kids to have positive, healthy thoughts about money.

It’s never too early to start the conversation—even two-year-olds can begin to understand. Inculcating children with positive attitudes toward money is fundamental to helping them develop the good habits that will make them Money Masters. Sometimes it takes a reframing process for the parents—especially if they grew up in poor families, as my husband and I did.

As early as age two, my boys began to hear five empowering principles about money that I repeated whenever I felt it was appropriate.

These are:

1. Money is a vehicle to make our lives comfortable and enjoyable.

Never let the pursuit of money become so important that you’ll do anything just to have it. Having lots of money is a blessing because it enables us not only to help ourselves and our families, but also to make a difference in other people’s lives by sharing. I pointed out to my children how our money makes it possible for us to buy food, get gas for the car, buy a house for our family, or go on trips to celebrate birthdays. Those concrete examples clarified for my sons the connection between having money and living life.

I volunteer for a non-profit organization that teaches financial literacy to elementary to high-school students in mostly inner-city schools in and around Los Angeles. One day, I was teaching some elementary-school students the first module of the curriculum—what money is and how to get it. One student stood up and said, Money means everything. It is the main purpose of life and that is what we are living for. I will do whatever it takes to be rich!

I was surprised that this young mind thought of money in that way, so I asked, What do you mean by you will do whatever it takes to be rich?

He said, That means I don’t mind doing some stuff, like bad things.

I was disturbed by his comments, so I asked him, Who taught you that? Where did you get that idea? At first, I thought maybe he’d watched too many movies or television dramas, and that these had negatively influenced his