The Financial Literacy book review series #FinLit recommends thought-provoking books about money, investing, and personal finance. This post is about Millionaires For The Month by Stacy McAnulty.
When Benji and Felix steal twenty dollars from tech billionaire Laura Friendly’s lost wallet, they know what they did was wrong, but they don’t feel too bad about it. “You don’t need it. Twenty bucks is like a penny to you,” they tell the billionaire. In response, Laura invites them to play a game: they will have 30 days to spend $5,368,709.12. There are rules attached about how they can spend the money and who is allowed to know about the game. Benji and Felix think being millionaires for a month will be the greatest shopping spree ever. Laura thinks her spending game will teach them the true value of money.
Millionaires For The Month has a lot of angles to hook readers. Benji and Felix’s shopping spree is outrageous, as they think of fun, useful, and wasteful expenses. However, the people around them don’t know the rules of the game and react to the boys’ actions in different ways. There are various examples of how people manage their money in light of having a lot or a little. Parents and children can talk about Benji and Felix’s purchases as well as how the money changes them.
There is a saying that financial success is 80% emotion and 20% knowledge. In other words, knowing and mastering your feelings about money is more important than knowing how to make money. Laura’s $5 million game will cause readers to explore their own feelings about money and consider how they would react to each character’s perspective. The financial facts sewn into the story are great lessons, too.
