Start Building Your Child’s Credit
Teaching your child about investing can help them develop financial literacy and set them up for financial success in adulthood. Still, not all parents are award-winning teachers, and breaking down financial topics for children can be incredibly difficult. This is where investing books for kids come in.
The best investment books for kids present financial concepts in ways that make the most sense to children at various stages of life. They use lively illustrations and simple words to explain the basics of investing to young children, working their way up to more advanced concepts and serious tone as your child gets older.
This guide highlights the best investing books for kids of different ages to help you find the right one for your child.
When Should Your Child Start Learning About Investing?
The best time to start teaching your child about investing is when they’re old enough to understand basic monetary concepts but still young enough to mold their money habits.
According to research conducted by two child development experts from Cambridge University, you can start introducing simple financial concepts when your child is three to four years old and work your way up to topics like investing. Toddlers and preschoolers have the mental capacity to understand that money is exchanged for goods and services, even if they still think bigger coins are worth more than smaller ones. You can then work your way up to topics like investing.
That said, any child younger than three years is too young. You should buy an investing book for kids when your child is between three and seven years old.
Investment Book for Kids Aged 3–5: “What Is Money?”
“What Is Money?: Personal Finance for Kids” by Kelly Lee introduces toddlers and preschool children to the basics of money. It uses simple words, short sentences, colorful pages, and cute illustrations to answer questions like:
- What is money?
- Where does it come from?
- What can you do with it?
- Why is saving it important?
Since your child will have these questions sooner or later, reading this investing book for kids with them can help you provide them with answers and lay a strong foundation in financial education.
Dedicated “to all the kids who like cookies and animals,” the book follows the story of Charlie the Bunny, who likes baking and selling cookies. The book explores how he saves and invests the money he earns, and it uses three piggy banks to illustrate the value of spending, sharing, and saving. In the end, it suggests fun activities to try with your child to apply the lessons learned.
Investment Book for Kids Aged 6–8: “If You Made a Million”
Once your child understands the basics of money, you can introduce them to money math by reading “If You Made a Million” by David M. Schwartz with them. This book uses humorous storytelling and bright colors to set a happy and excited tone as it breaks down investing concepts.
It helps your child understand how much money is worth in different denominations of the same amount and covers the basics of:
- Earning
- Saving
- Interest
- Investing
- Banking
In this classic investment book for kids, an endearing Mathematical Magician, Marvelosissimo, walks children through the different financial concepts using ideas like babysitting ogres and investing in castles. It’s an attention-grabbing gimmick that makes what could be a dry topic entertaining for your child.
Investment Book for Kids Aged 9–12: “Finance 101 for Kids”
Walter Andal wrote “Finance 101 for Kids: Money Lessons Children Cannot Afford to Miss” to “present basic yet important information for children to develop financial responsibility and help them make smart financial decisions early in their lives.”
The book provides more advanced coverage of the financial lessons your child has learned, such as earning, saving, and investing, and introduces new topics like:
- Credit and the dangers of mishandling it
- The stock market and the way it operates
- Supply and demand and how they can affect personal finance
- Currencies and foreign exchange rates
The book breaks these concepts down through simple language, graphs, funny cartoons, and examples from everyday life. As it’s an easy read, your child can learn, understand, and apply its lessons on their own, or you can do it with them.
Investment Book for Kids Aged 13–16: “I Want More Pizza”
If you have a teen that doesn’t like reading, “I Want More Pizza” by Steve Burkholder is exactly what they need. In only 70 pages, it takes all the financial knowledge your child acquired from the above books and gives them the power to apply it.
This investing book discusses budgeting, savings, and debt in short chapters that your teen can finish in one sitting without getting bored. In a casual tone, it explains what your child can do to have more money without changing their lifestyle and covers novel topics like:
- Prioritization
- Goal setting
- Compound growth
- Credit cards
- Student loans
By reading this investment book, your child can learn how to stay frugal, save money, and invest smart while enjoying the experiences that matter.
Investment Book for Kids Aged 17+: “The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens”
“The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens: 8 Steps to Having More Money Than Your Parents Ever Dreamed Of” by David and Tom Gardner can equip your child with the knowledge and skills they need to invest in stocks.
In the first few pages, this book hooks readers in by appealing to their material desires and need for financial independence. It then demonstrates how to achieve their goals through investments. It shows children in their late teens how to:
- Set investing goals and plans
- Earn and save money to seed investments
- Navigate the financial system, including banks, insurance, and brokerage firms
- Set up a brokerage accounts to start investing in stocks and mutual funds as minors
- Take advantage of the “millionaire-making magic of compounding”
The authors use teen-speak and illustrations to make these topics easier to understand. What’s more, the various first-person accounts of people who ruined their credit as teens and took years to improve it help drive the points home.
Why Your Child Needs Good Credit To Achieve Financial Independence
Even with advanced financial literacy learned from these investing books for kids, your child needs good credit to achieve financial independence—especially through investing.
As time goes by, they may need to make bigger purchases and investments than their cash balances allow. With good credit, they can access loans at great terms and take advantage of any lucrative investment opportunities that come their way more easily.
Better loan terms and other benefits of a good credit score, such as better insurance rates and credit card deals, can help your child save over $200,000 throughout adulthood. To maximize these benefits, your child should start building good credit early.
Unfortunately, the CARD Act of 2009 prohibits people younger than 21 from obtaining credit cards, posing an obstacle to credit building. Parents often circumvent this limitation by adding their children to their credit cards as authorized users. While this method may work for a while, it has several drawbacks:
- It relies on your credit, so missing a payment hurts your child’s credit profile
- When your child is removed as an authorized user, their credit history will be deleted, and they’ll have to start again
- Your child can hurt your credit by overspending
Fortunately, you can still build a credit profile for your child through a service like FreeKick—a parent-sponsored credit building program for children aged 13–25.
FreeKick—The Ideal Credit Building and ID Protection Solution
FreeKick is an FDIC-insured deposit account and subscription service provided by Austin Capital Bank. It offers two critical services:
- Credit building for minors and young adults aged 13 to 25
- Comprehensive identity monitoring and protection services for a family of up to two adults and six children
Start Building Your Child’s Credit Early With FreeKick
FreeKick allows parents to start building credit for children as young as 13 without relying on or affecting their credit profile. To get started, follow the steps below:
- Create an Account—Create an account on FreeKick.bank and make a one-time FDIC-insured deposit with a 12-month commitment
- Set It and Forget It—After choosing a plan that fits your needs, budget, and goals, FreeKick will start building your child’s credit over the next 12 months
- Keep Growing—After 12 months, you can close the account for free and receive 100% of your deposit back or renew it and continue building credit for your child
If you cancel the account before your child becomes an adult, no credit can ever be reported for the account. If you don’t, FreeKick jumpstarts their credit score and profile with up to five years of credit history when they become legal adults.
Securing Your Child’s Identity With FreeKick
FreeKick can help you secure your child’s investments and credit score by reducing their risk of identity theft.
Shocking statistics reveal that a child’s identity is stolen every 30 seconds, making identity protection invaluable. Identity thieves can steal your child’s money and affect their credit, negating all the efforts they’ve put into investing.
Still, you can secure your family’s identities through FreeKick’s comprehensive identity monitoring and protection services for both adults and minors. Find the details in the table below:
| Services for Adult Children and Parents | Services for Minor Children |
| Credit profile monitoring SSN monitoring Dark web monitoring for personal information Up to $1 million identity theft insurance Full-service white-glove concierge credit restoration Lost wallet protection Court records monitoring Change of address monitoring Non-credit (Payday) loan monitoring Free FICO® Score monthly FICO® Score factors Experian credit report monthly | Credit profile monitoring SSN monitoring Dark web monitoring for children’s personal information Up to $1 million identity theft insurance Full-service white-glove concierge credit restoration Sex offender monitoring—based on sponsor parent’s address |
FreeKick Pricing
FreeKick offers two pricing plans to accommodate various family budgets and needs. Deposits on both plans are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Check out the details below:
| FDIC-Insured Deposit | Annual Fee |
| $3,000 | $0 (Free) |
| No deposit | $149 |
Both plans include:
- Credit building for six children aged 13 to 25
- Identity protection for two parents and six children under 25 years old
To help your child establish a strong credit profile and reduce the risk of identity theft for your whole family, sign up for FreeKick today.
Freekick provides a double dose of financial empowerment and security for your whole family. It helps teens and young adults build strong credit profiles and offers identity motoring for up to two adult parents and six children under 25.
