The Art of Allowance Podcast | Parenting | Families | Money Smarts | Financial Literacy

How are our financial behaviors influenced by past generations, and what can we do to acknowledge our own money issues to become better financial role models for our kids? Enter Doctor Brad Klontz's concept of money scripts. Brad is an expert in financial psychology, financial planning, and applied behavioral finance. He’s also an Associate Professor of Practice at Creighton University Heider College of Business, Co-Founder of the Financial Psychology Institute, and Managing Principal of Your Mental Wealth Advisors. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Brad was awarded this institution's Innovative Practice Presidential Citation for his application of psychological interventions to help people with money and wealth issues and his innovative practice in financial psychology for practitioners across the country. In addition to the six books Brad has authored or edited, he has been a columnist for the Journal of Financial Planning, On Wall Street and Psychology Today. His work has been featured on many media outlets and in professional magazines and journals, including NPR, Money Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In 2019 Brad was appointed to the CNBC Financial Wellness Council, and in 2018 he received the Montgomery-Warschauer Award from the Journal of Financial Planning, honoring the most outstanding contribution to the betterment of the financial planning profession. Brad has partnered with organizations including Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, Mutual of Omaha and H&R Block in efforts to help raise public awareness around issues related to financial health and financial psychology.

What are the criteria families should follow during the college search process? Author and journalist Ron Lieber outlines three key points and frames them in terms of the larger money conversation during this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast. A father of two and a fan of family finance, Ron has been the "Your Money" columnist for The New York Times since 2008. Before coming to The Times, he wrote the “Green Thumb” personal finance column for The Wall Street Journal and was part of the startup team at the paper’s Personal Journal section. His book The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money was an instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller when it was released in 2015. (It is also referenced and listed as suggested reading within my book for parents, The Art of Allowance: A Short, Practical Guide to Raising Money-Smart, Money-Empowered Kids.) Ron's newest book, The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make, is now available. I am a fan of Ron and his work, and I hope you will be too after this illuminating conversation.

How does "noise" pose a threat to our children's futures? On this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast, Dr. Robert Reiher offers insight into the concept of "noise" and explains its relationship to cognitive development, marketing and self-control. From a background of over forty-five years of product and program development as well as Media, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Rob has integrated neuroscience, consciousness research and personal development into a strategic and practical framework for understanding how to live more Choice-Fully in a world of increasing “noise” and uncertainty. After several years of working in the context of commercial product and program development, Rob, frustrated with the lack of concern for the integration of human developmental dimensions into product development, divorced himself from this context to shine a light on the topic of Choice-Fullness in the accelerating Culture of Noise as well as to create a new and integrated approach to self-improvement and the development of Choice-Full products and programs. Rob is the co-author of What Kids Buy and Why and Kidnapped: How Irresponsible Marketers Are Stealing the Minds of Your Children. He is currently completing the book FutureWise: The Challenge of Choice in the Culture of Noise.

Does the tried-and-true three-jar system have room for two additions? Robin Taub makes the case for "Earn" and "Invest" to join the traditional "Share," "Save" and "Spend Smart" jars during this episode of The Art of Allowance Podcast. Robin is a financial writer, speaker and consultant. A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) by training, Robin is also the best-selling author of Raising Money-Smart Kids: How to Teach Your Kids about Money While Learning a Few Things Yourself, a book that gives parents the information and skills they need to teach their kids about money. Robin has held professional positions in both audit and taxation at two of Canada’s largest accounting firms, and spent five years in the complex world of Derivatives Marketing at Citibank Canada. She is also passionate about improving opportunities for women CPAs to advance into positions of leadership. From 2008 until 2017, she was a member, and then Chair, of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada’s Women’s Leadership Council. A proponent of lifelong learning, Robin also participated in the Canadian Board Diversity Council’s Director Education Program. She has two mostly money-smart kids and lives in Toronto.

Is it possible to protect our kids from rampant consumerism in a social media age? Josh Golin, now Executive Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), has many recommendations to protect kids from both the obvious and subtle pitfalls of materialism and social media. Josh found his calling as a CCFC intern in 2003 and has been with the organization ever since. Most recently, as Associate Director, he was organizing campaigns and developing communications strategies. Josh has appeared on Today, NPR and Fox & Friends, and he has been quoted in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post. His writings on the commercialization of childhood have appeared in many outlets as well. He and his wife, Jennifer, are doing their best to raise their daughter, Clara, commercial-free.

Just how strong is the relationship between a person's physical and financial health? Dr. Barbara O’Neill will gladly fill you in. Barbara is a Certified Financial Planner as well as the owner and CEO of Money Talk: Financial Planning Seminars and Publications, an outlet through which she writes, speaks and reviews content about personal finance. A Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Rutgers University, Barbara has written more than 160 articles for academic publications as well as received over 35 national awards and more than $1.2 million in grants to support her research and financial education programs. She is also a past president of the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education (AFCPE), a recipient of the AFCPE Distinguished Fellow Award and a Next Gen Personal Finance fellow.

Ashley Whillans is my first returning guest! Ashley is a self-described "time nerd" and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Business School in Negotiations, Organizations and Markets. She has a forthcoming book, Time Smart — How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life, that will feature prominently in our discussion.   Ashley received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of British Columbia and was named a Rising Star of Behavioral Science. Her research, which focuses on understanding how the daily and long-term decisions that people make about time and money (in their personal lives, relationships and workplaces) impact well-being, has been published in leading academic journals as well as The New York Times, The Economist and The Los Angeles Times, among others.

You've taught your child to save and share ... but how about to spend? Trae Bodge can help you tackle this important step in any money-smart journey! An accomplished lifestyle journalist and television commentator, Trae specializes in smart shopping, personal finance, parenting, and retail. She has appeared on television hundreds of times, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Inside Edition, and CNBC, and her writing and expert commentary have been featured in Newsweek, Woman's Day, and Forbes, among many others. During our discussion, Trae and I run the gamut of smart shopping topics by chatting about introducing a child to a debit card, approaching the costs of kids' eating out, encouraging thrift shopping, and alerting children to the dangers of frictionless purchases. We also take a notable side step into the allowance and chore debate (Yes, it still rages on!), and Trae offers a noteworthy alternative to the Share jar. All in all, our conversation underscores the importance of developing smart shopping habits as a prerequisite to becoming money-comfortable.

Is there a case for tying chores to allowance? If so, then Cameron Huddleston will make it. Cameron is an award-winning journalist with more than 18 years of experience writing about personal finance. Her work has appeared in and on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Business Insider, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, MSN, Yahoo and many more print and online publications. She also is a mom of three and is married to an economist.   During this episode, Cameron and I address not only the great allowance and chore debate but also the taboo nature of financial conversations and how to help parents feel comfortable talking with their children about money. We also discuss how "adult kids" can open up a dialogue with their parents about finances and possessions, the subject of Cameron's new book, Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances. Cameron's case for linking chores and allowance underscores the varying viewpoints I like to feature on this podcast and highlights the need for parents to craft their own Art of Allowance based on multiple perspectives and their family's values.

In this episode, I talk to Andrea Ferrero. Andrea is a co-founder of Pockets Change, an organization that uses hip hop pedagogy to change the way personal finance is taught to kids. Andrea has enjoyed over a decade of teaching students of all ages, coaching educators and designing award-winning academic programs and products. She currently holds teaching credentials  in Pre-K though12th Grade Multiple Subjects and two Master’s Degrees, one in Educational Leadership as well as one in Curriculum & Instruction with Multicultural Contexts.   Andrea and I discuss how to help kids move from thinking they are "good" or "bad" with money to learning how to simply use money as a tool. We discuss money values and personalities, encouraging entrepreneurship and how Andrea is adapting her teaching methods to accommodate families during the COVID-19 crisis. So please join me for another wide ranging conversation.