Best Kids Money Books by Age

I’ve been writing personal finance for parents and kids on Kid Wealth for almost a year now. In that time, I’ve read and reviewed quite a few children’s books about money. Books are a fantastic way for kids to learn about money. We (parents) want kids to read, and these books will teach them things that are rarely taught in school. It’s a double bonus.

I’ve built a table of some of the best kid money books there, but it makes sense to organize it in an article here. If you have new babies, bookmarking this article for later might be wise. If you have older kids, just jump ahead to the appropriate age. If you don’t have kids and are not interested in this stuff, I’ll be back with new articles next week.

Before we get to all the books, I might make a little commission if you click on the Amazon links and buy a book. Don’t forget that your local library may have these for free. I bought all these books. I love supporting the author, and most of these books can be re-read once a year to reinforce the concepts.

Best Kids Money Books by Age

Ages 3-6

There aren’t many books for this age group. After all, kids are just starting to learn how to read. One of my favorites in this space is M is for Money. It’s your basic alphabet book with money words. You can read my full M is for Money review here. Also, see it on Amazon here.

Another good book to read in this space is The Little Red Hen. While it isn’t specifically about money, there are lessons about the benefits of hard work.

Ages 5-9

Kids in this age group can start making progress in learning real personal finance concepts. My favorite book in this class is If You Made a Million which covers everything from coins to how banks work and finishes with a description of FIRE – living off of interest instead of working.

Aside from Taylor Swift, it might be the best thing introduced to the world in 1989. It’s certainly unusual to see the concept of FIRE taught to kids.

See it on Amazon

Ages 8-12

I’ve got two books in this age range that are both excellent. The first is The Golden Quest. It’s a graphic novel, so kids will want to read it. It covers most of the basics of personal finance. Other than the book’s artwork, the highlight for me was that it gets you to focus on your “most awesome stuff.” Personally, we can use a lot of that philosophy in our house – starting with me.

See it on Amazon

The other book is Grandpa’s Fortune Fables. Compared to other books, this is long. It took me a couple of days to read. However, a kid could do a chapter or two daily for a week. It’s a very comprehensive personal finance book. Kids learn about saving, investing, taxes, debt, charity, and home ownership. One of the unique things about this book is that there’s a code at the end of each chapter. When you finish the book, you can decode the secret message.

When my kids can tell me the secret message, I will give them a generous monthly match on their savings. I think the free money will be quite motivating for them.

See it on Amazon

What About Teen Books?

I don’t have a lot of teen books that I love. I do like American Girl’s Guide to Money for teen girls. My son read it when he was nine and said it was okay for a girl’s book. That’s fairly high praise under the circumstances.

If you want to go a route other than books, here are a bunch of other ways to teach kids about money.