Hello. I'm J.M. Seymour, author, financial educator, entrepreneur and mother of three. I am also "The Money Godmother". My specialty is financial education for families.

Financial education is about recognizing learning moments. It is about seizing moments when a person is ready and interested to learn. It may be sitting down and teaching a child to count money, an excursion to open a savings account or explaining the excitement of investing savings into a company stock.

Of course, how you approach financial education is key. Children will check-out if educational erfforts are dull or untimely. But prepared teachers and parents who know how to spice-up the topic, make conversations pertinent to the children, and provide solid content will often net amazing results.

The products below are tools to help you work with children. Place your cursor on each item for a brief popup description.

Also, check out the “Free” items. We offer a lot of free information and we’re adding more each week.

MONEYSMART WEEK CONTEST MATERIALS ARE HERE!

If you want help keeping current on financial education topics, subscribe to my e-newsletter, my blog, Twitter, etc. (See the sidebar at right for those links.)

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  Stock Market Pie

   

  Stock Market Pie ... Grandma Helps Emily Make A Million is an award-winning book because it makes learning about the stock market and investing fun and informative. This is the book to read with young people interested in investing and the stock market.

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  Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

   

  A child asking for permission to set up a lemonaide stand or start a lawn mowing business is also asking for guidance. This book offers the business background children (and parents) need to guide and encourage budding entrepreneurs.

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  Wants & Needs Game

   

  The Wants & Needs Game teaches people to separate wants and needs when considering purchases. This fundamental skill is taught through interaction of players, each trying to convince a judge that their item is the preferred "want" or "need." All ages can enjoy this easy-to-learn game.

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  Stocks & Investing

  Classroom Set

  Teachers and home schoolers - Here's a great set of teaching resources, ideas and activities, all designed to teach basic stock market and investing concepts. They are very easy to adapt. Lots of activities.

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  Young Entrepreneurs

  Classroom Set

  Here is a tool for teachers and home schoolers interested in encouraging students to explore starting a small business. Includes 8 lessons that are easy to adapt into a classroom setting.

Roll over each image to learn more.
Click items for more information.

Still Not Convinced?

After visiting with thousands of kids, parents, teachers and librarians in recent years, I am convinced that good--and bad--money habits are learned very early. Often the efforts of a parent, a grandparent or a teacher is all it takes to make a huge difference in how a child handles money. That shouldn’t be a surprise. We all have someone in our past who helped us as a student, an athelete or a musician. You can play an important developmental role in financial education.

Teaching kids how to be money smart isn't expensive. But failing to teach them is.

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