Keon Chee - Bringing Up Money Smart Kids

2015 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited

Illustrations by Sharon Lei

Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions

An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Adam Khoo and Keon Chee, author.

Bringing Up Money Smart Kids / Adam Khoo and Keon Chee Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, [2015]

pages cm

ISBN : 978-981-4328-50-0 (paperback)

eISBN: 978 981 4634 66 3

1. Finance. 2. Children. I. Title

Printed in Singapore by Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd

To my wife, Sally Khoo, the most dedicated mother in the world.

A DAM

To my mother and father, who taught me to love and laugh everyday.

K EON

In a dynamic and competitive economy like Singapore, financial literacy is extremely important, although it is not easy for a layperson to master. Parents are faced with an overabundance of economic choices dailywhich is the best choice for their children?

Should parents buy branded shoes when a good quality non-branded pair is available? Should they give their children an allowance or should they be paid for performing household chores? How do you help your child to be grateful for what he has when his friends and classmates seem to have more?

It is indeed a blessing that Adam and Keon have written a book based on their own experiences. Bringing Up Money Smart Kids gives practical guidance to all types of parentsmarried, divorced, rich, pooron how to raise financially responsible children in a time of plenty.

This book also addresses areas that parents may neglect, such as teaching their children the importance of giving and sharing, how to deal with unexpected events like death and serious illnesses, and how to leave an inheritance to your children that would not destroy their desire to work and promotes family values that are important to you.

The life experiences and personal stories of these authors are invaluable, because no theory or textbook can speak louder than real life stories.

Every parent should read this book.

Past President, Financial Planning Association of Singapore

Bringing up Money Smart Kids is written for parents and caregivers of preschoolers to teensnamely kids between the ages of five and eighteen. These parents face the challenging issue of teaching their children how to manage their money in an era where time is scarce and more money is available.

This book is written by parents for parents. Adam and Keon are wealth experts and parents themselves. They also run regular courses on money management for other children.

Adam is the executive chairman of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group, one of Asias largest training companies. A self-made millionaire at the age of 26 and financially free at 33, Adam teaches personal financial management and investing at the renowned Wealth Academy in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Adam also trains students and their parents in personal development, learning and life skills. For the past 21 years, he has reached out to over 500,000 youth in seven countries. Adams much sought-after programmes are conducted in over 120 Singapore schools, international schools around the Asian region as well as at his Adam Khoo Learning Centres. Financial literacy is an essential component of the twenty-first century learning competencies that he teaches to youth as part of their holistic education.

Adam has two daughters, Kelly (ten years old) and Samantha (eight years old). Adam is proud that his daughters have learnt the value of money. Once, Kelly was asked to pick her own birthday present at Toys R Us. After spotting a doll that caught her eye, she looked at the price tag and said, Its too expensive. Its not worth it. Adam could not have been more proud as a father.

It is his aim that through this book, parents will learn the importance of, and gain the knowledge on how to bring up financially responsible children. Through the course of his work, he has seen many parents spoil their children and unknowingly instil destructive financial habits in them. For example, they buy their children whatever they ask for and throw them lavish thousand-dollar birthday parties to impress their friends. Their children may score good grades and land well-paid jobs when they grow up. However, they may inevitably end up struggling financially and even get themselves into serious debt if they carry such poor overindulgent money habits into their adulthood.

Being born into a wealthy family can be both a boon as well as a bane to a childs future successpersonally and financially. While being born into a privileged family has obvious advantages, it can also lead to children lacking personal drive and developing poor money habits if they are given things too easily. Like the old saying goes, the first generation builds the wealth, the second generation enjoys the wealth and the third generation destroys the wealth.

If children never go through the experience of having to struggle and work hard for money, they will never develop the persistence, tenacity and self-motivation to build their own wealth and success. This is why many tycoons are now insisting that their children work at minimum wage jobs and pay for their own college education even though they can give their children an easier way out. They recognise that by helping their child in the short term, they are actually doing more harm to their children in the long term. Recently, it was reported that the son of David Beckham (the famous football star who is worth 165 million), fifteen-year-old Brooklyn Beckham has started working a weekend job at a West London coffee shop where he is paid 2.68 an hour. They encourage their children to get part-time jobs to pay their own expenses to teach them the importance of hard work and appreciate the value of money.