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The Money Levels paperback on a mustard blanket in late-afternoon sun, a girl's hand lifting its corner, a few coins beside it.

The money book you read together · Ages 5 to 13

You don’t have to be good with moneyto teach your kid about it.

Nobody ever taught you. This teaches you both, on the same page.

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30-day money-back guaranteeFree shippingAges 5 to 13 in one book

The Side-by-Side Method: you and your kid learn each idea at the same time.

A mother and her daughter laugh together at the kitchen table, the Money Levels book open in front of them at Level 4, paper cups and coins beside it.

No money background needed, no preparing, no getting caught out. The book supplies the words for both of you.

And your only job takes one minute. At dinner, in the car, or at bedtime, you ask:

“Show me what you learned.”

Your kid explains it back to you. That minute is the whole lesson landing, without you ever having to be the expert.

The money mistakes you hope your kid never makes

What parents are scared their kids will do with money. Each one is a trap with a name, and here’s the level and the game that catch it.

“I had to dig out of massive debt in my twenties. I don’t want that for my kids.”

Level 12 is the Debt Detective, and the trap is the Tiny Payment. In Be the Borrower, your kid totals both ways to pay for a 12-buck toy: 12 now, or 1 a week for 15 weeks, which comes to 15 bucks. Then your kid asks the book’s three borrowing questions: total cost, will it help me later, is it worth it. Credit card minimums are the same trick. Owe $5,000 at about 20% and pay only the minimum, at least $15 a month, and it takes about 23 years and about $7,700 in interest. More than you borrowed.

“I was never explained about credit cards, when I graduated I joined the military and the bank I set up approved me for a 3000 dollar credit limit! I was 18 years old on my own and that was the start of my terrible credit score.”

Level 8 is the Card Checker, and the trap is the Tap-and-Forget. In Tap or Count?, your kid taps a comic, a snack and a game pack into a running balance. Your kid learns which card spends borrowed money, and that it has to be paid back. If only part of that card’s monthly bill gets paid, interest goes on the rest.

“i grew up with no regards for money, i spent it as soon as i had it, and then i was broke.”

In Jump Back, your kid hops a coin up a 0 to 10 line, drawing cards that say Save 1, Save 2, or Sneaky Dip back 1. First to 10 wins. That’s Level 4, the Saver, where the trap is the Sneaky Dip and the rule your kid learns to say is “Goal first!”

Money Levels open at Level 5: three jars for Give, Save and Spend, and how to plan before you shop, with a jar of coins beside the book.

A lot of kids think the card is magic. Level 2: Cards spend money. They can't make it.

If your kid grows up to carry today’s average US card balance, $6,610, and pays only the minimum, it would take about 21½ years and $11,241 in interest to clear.

Estimate: 22.36% average rate, no new charges, paying interest plus 1% of the balance each month, at least $25. Not a prediction about your kid.

$44.95 once.

Free US shipping. That works out to $3.46 a level.

Your job is one minute: “Show me what you learned.”

Your kid spots the trap before it costs you.

See the book — $44.95

30-day money-back guarantee

Every lesson follows the same six steps. None of them need money, a kit, or an app.

  1. See it small

    Each money idea drawn at its smallest first, like one coin in one jar.

  2. Spot it

    One real-world money trap, named.

  3. PLAY IT

    A 5-minute game with coins, cups and paper from your kitchen.

  4. Money Puzzles

    Answers printed upside down, so your kid checks themselves.

  5. Teach it back

    Your child explains the lesson to you.

  6. Grown-up Corner

    Two plain sentences for you first, then the exact words to say.

Overhead, the Money Levels book open at a PLAY IT game and Money Puzzles, a girl dropping a coin into one of two paper cups beside it.

Ages 5 to 13 in one book. Two kids? Each can have their own copy to write in.

Part One: Money Basics, ages 5 to 8

Read-aloud friendly. Built on counting, choosing and waiting.

Part Two: Next Level, ages 9 to 13

Earning, cards and phone money, budgets, banks and interest, investing, debt, and spotting crypto scams.

Try it with your kid. If it’s not working for your family, 30-day money back.

See the book — $44.95

30-day money-back guaranteeFree shippingAges 5 to 13 in one book

Parents who were never taught money are saying the same thing.

★★★★★ 4.6 from 142 parents

★★★★★

I finally had the words

I don’t know enough about money to teach my kids. I’ve said that out loud more than once. The Grown-up Corner gives me two sentences and the exact words to say, so I’m not making it up as I go.

Jessica M. Verified buyer
Parent of a 6-year-old

★★★★★

Not too late at 10

I was honestly worried we’d missed the window. We hadn’t. We read the Next Level part together and now she quizzes me at dinner. First money talk in our house that didn’t feel awkward.

Danielle R. Verified buyer
Parent of a 10-year-old

★★★★★

I had to learn it on my own

Nobody sat me down. I had to learn about it on my own, mostly by messing up. My son gets to learn it with me instead of alone, which is the whole reason I bought it.

Andre W. Verified buyer
Parent of an 8-year-old

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That’s not a flaw in you. It’s a gap in what got handed down.

Your family’s money recipe was never written down. Nobody was lazy about it and nobody was cruel. It just never made it onto a card.

This book is the first time it gets written down: for your kid, and quietly for you too.

And a gap can stop with you.

A boy laughs with his mother as he lifts the Money Levels paperback out of its mailer box at the kitchen table.

No money background. No allowance. No subscription. One book.

A homemade money game on a wooden table: two paper cups, a jar of coins, hand-drawn paper play bills with no numbers, scissors and a pencil.
Do I need to know about money to use it?
No. The Grown-up Corner explains every idea to you first, in two plain sentences, then gives you the words to say.
Do we need an allowance to do the lessons?
No. Every game uses free household items: coins, cups, paper. Pretend money works just as well as real money.
Is this a subscription?
No. One book, one price, yours forever. An optional monthly Money Kit is offered after purchase for families who want new games every month. It is never required.

See all questions or email support@babycents.com. A real person reads every email.

See the book — $44.95

30-day money-back guaranteeFree shippingAges 5 to 13 in one book