About The Author

Author Joline Godfrey grew up on a farm in Maine. Her grandmother handled the business of the dairy and while her grandfather oversaw the operations of the commercial business. They were, she recalls, wonderful role models for building a financial base with integrity and common-sense. Influenced by the rigors of those cold Maine winters and a passel of wacky relatives, she learned early to take giant leaps of imagination to solve old problems in new ways. She reminds readers of Raising Financially Fit Kids that her first book, Our Wildest Dreams (about women entrepreneurs) had as its sub-title ‘Making Money, Doing Good, Having Fun.’ These values are at the heart of her approach to helping kids learn sound financial skills and values between the ages of 5-18.

Since 1992, Joline has been a pioneer in the movement to increase financial literacy and empowerment in young people; today she is one of the country’s leading experts on kids, parents, and money. She has been instrumental in helping national organizations like the National Coalition of Girls Schools, Girl Scouts, and YWCA conceive and launch their financial education programs.

Joline holds degrees in child development from the University of Maine and Boston University. She now lives in Ojai California, and visits Maine when the temperature is above 50 degrees.

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Interview with Joline Godfrey

Recently free-lance journalist Sarah Luck Pearson, sat down with Joline to talk about the new book. This is a transcript of their conversation.

Sarah: Joline, why did you write this book?

Joline: I started my work in this area 12 years ago and was learning new things all the time that we used in our work with girls. It became really clear that all we had learned from girls about how to support their entrepreneurial curiosity and their quest for independence could be of real value to parents, as well as to young boys. I realized I had an imperative to share that knowledge in a way that was easily accessible to anyone intent on helping the next generation become financially self confident.

Sarah: What do you think the most important thing a parent can take from this book?

Joline: That doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing when it comes to financial education for their kids. Most kids report that adults will discuss sex and drugs more often than they talk about money. This book is aimed at making the conversations about money really easy, painless. I should also add that most family dramas are connected to conflicts related to money and values. When families are on the same page about the Ten Basic Money Skills, they can begin to defuse the arguments and issues that make family life a real challenge some days!

Sarah: What surprised you most as you were working on the book?

Joline: Just how much we have learned about kids and money over the last dozen years, We’ve run conferences, workshops, summer programs and seminars for tens of thousands of teenagers since 1991. We’ve done R&D for some terrific products and activities (Hot Company for example is a board game I’m really proud of—it is packed with important information that is delivered in a way that speaks to the most basic issues of teens and adolescents). And I have talked with, listened to, and heard from kids and adults all around the world, crossing both race and class (poor and privileged alike), and it turns out I have acquired a pretty deep base of knowledge and experience in this field! Writing the book gave me a chance to process and analyze all that. It was really satisfying.

Sarah: You have said, “Children are prey to every marketer in the world.” What do you mean by that?

Joline: That most retailers have learned that it is easier to increase sales with the ‘nag factor’ (mom, can I? Can I?) than it is to target parents directly. And over time, companies have learned to use a very sophisticated arsenal of techniques to entice kids to ‘want stuff.” This is part of what makes kids prey to marketers’ goals. At the same time, as a country our social policies have shifted in the last decade from a culture of social safety nets to individual self-sufficiency. Anyone (from private school students to inner city kids) without basic financial literacy is at risk.

Sarah: I think lots of people see financial education as basically tedious—or anxiety producing—how do you get parents with their own financial issues to pick up this book?

Joline: When we started in 1991 I realized that I found most financial education available then so boring that I wouldn’t/couldn’t focus on it. I figured that if the material available to teach us about money and financial skills couldn’t hold my attention there was no reason to think any intelligent 15 year old—or 45 year old financial novice-- would find it riveting either. I was determined to come up with some techniques that would get the next generation involved in their own financial learning, as habitual and easy as brushing their teeth.

Sarah: What do you hope the impact of this book will be?

Joline: I want every family to have a family code of conduct and values that pertains to the whole family. Just as they all have to agree to ride in one car to visit grandma for Thanksgiving, I want them to share a vision of their financial lives that will help them achieve a kind of personal satisfaction that comes from feeling financially safe and having access to choices that have meaning in their lives.

Sarah: Thank you.

Other books by Joline

Our Wildest Dreams,
No More Frogs to Kiss, and
Twenty $ecrets: The DollarDiva’s Guide to Life

Author website:

• www.independentmeans.com
• www.dollardiva.com