TEEN GUIDE TO MANAGING MONEY

A basic overview of financial literacy with some techniques for managing income and expenses.

Diggs points out that in a 2023 survey, Gen Z respondents got only about 25% of the basic questions about financial literacy correct. She certainly addresses a need—but she does it in a superficial and drearily conventional way that will stir few teen readers into making any major changes in their financial practices. Opening with a discouraging introduction to a young capitalist who was able to retire at the age of 42, she urges readers to make and stick to monthly budgets, leverage “the wonder of compound interest” by regularly saving, invest in the stock market, and understand the hazards of impulse buying and overusing credit cards. All of these are solid, if standard-issue, considerations and strategies. But the author makes misleadingly blithe claims that there’s money to be made through the digital economy (by selling “homemade products on Etsy, gaming, or creating social media channels”) and investing in cryptocurrency. In showing how savings or investments can grow, she also neglects to give proper weight to taxes, banking and brokerage fees, inflation, and other common, often variable, expenses. Much of the content has been savvy advice since money was invented, and so is available in far livelier, more practical iterations, such as Berna Anat’s Money Out Loud. Occasional stock photos feature a racially diverse group of young adults.

Stodgy and superficial.