How to afford kids--and teach them about money

We all want to raise smart children. But somewhere between the reading, writing, and arithmetic, one of life's most important lessons is too often overlooked: personal finances. As adults, we interact with money every day, whether by saving, investing, spending, or giving it, but we often forget that kids also face these same decisions--from their own unique perspective--as they mature. How do we teach today what kids really need to know tomorrow to thrive as financially savvy adults? In Piggybanking, veteran Wall Street Journal personal-finance writer Jeff D. Opdyke provides a clear and effective plan to help parents raise children to be comfortable and confident managing the daily finances of life.

But even before kids arrive, parents face a rash of financial decisions. Accordingly, Piggybanking also deals with the essential problems every struggling young family must face, including how to prepare your budget for a child's arrival, how to choose between single- and dual-income lifestyles, and how to plan for funding a college education.

With Opdyke's valuable advice, and with his 15 Rules of Kids & Money in hand, parents will be well equipped to create a sound financial foundation for their family and a successful financial life for their kids.

From America's most authoritative source: the quintessential primer on understanding and managing your money
Money courses through just about every corner of our lives and has an impact on the way we live today and how we'll be able to live in the future. Understanding your money, and getting it to work for you, has never been more important than it is today, as more and more of us are called upon to manage every aspect of our financial lives, from managing day-to-day living expenses to planning a college savings fund and, ultimately, retirement. From "The Wall Street Journal," the most trusted name in financial and money matters, this indispensable book takes the mystery out of personal finance. Start with the basics, learn how they work, and you'll become a better steward of your own money, today and in the future. Consider "The Wall Street Journal Complete Personal Finance Guidebook" your cheat sheet to the finances of your life. This book will help you:
- Understand the nuts and bolts of managing your money: banking, investing, borrowing, insurance, credit cards, taxes, and more
- Establish realistic budgets and savings plans
- Develop an investment strategy that makes sense for you
- Make the right financial decisions about real estate
- Plan for retirement intelligently

Also available--the companion to this guidebook: "The Wall Street Journal Personal Finance Workbook," by Jeff D. Opdyke
Get your financial life in order with help from "The Wall Street Journal," Look for:
"- The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook
- The Wall Street Journal Complete Identity Theft Guidebook
- The Wall Street Journal Complete RealEstate Investing Guidebook"

Your Guide to Managing the Real Dollars--and the Real Emotions--of Your Relationship

Too often with money, couples face two choices: fight and risk making the situation worse, or keep quiet and risk making the situation worse. Financially Ever After offers a third option: family financial fluency--the insight, knowledge, and vocabulary every couple needs to communicate effectively about money.

Jeff D. Opdyke, previously The Wall Street Journal's syndicated "Love & Money" columnist, covers any and all financial issues that couples face, including budgeting, deciding on whether to have joint or individual accounts, dividing up family financial chores, confronting debt, making major purchases, as well as handling mortgages, employment, children, and even engagement rings. He offers dozens of real-life scenarios between couples, with scripts and suggestions for how to broach delicate money-related subjects with your significant other, whether he or she has a shaky credit history or is feeling left out of family financial decision-making.

The book also provides helpful tools to organize your financial life, such as a budgeting chart, a "scorecard" to track spending, and an "affordability calculator" to help you figure out how much buying a house will cost you.

A must-read for any couple starting out, Financially Ever After lays the groundwork for building a healthy and thriving financial life together.

From the day we receive our first piggybank to the day we can financially make it on our own, our parents play a fundamental role in our financial lives. One of the most poignant stages in life comes when you must assume the role of the parent to your parents. It can be a frenetic stage, in which you struggle to understand the finances specific to aging parents-often in the face of an emergency. "Protecting Your Parents' Money" is the essential guide to helping you navigate this confusing and difficult transition, and provide a game plan for tackling complex like estate planning, Medicare planning, and nursing homes. Most importantly, it will help bridge the communication barrier between parents and adult children that can make the process so much more difficult than it needs to be. Among the topics covered include Personal Finance 101: The Senior Years: The essential definitions and workings of the myriad investment options and financial requirements your parents will deal with in retirement. The Talk: The one, all-encompassing discussion every child needs to have with every parent at some point. The Move: The hunt for a quality home. How do you research nursing homes? What should you be looking for? And how do you compare costs and how are your parents assets factored into the mix? Understanding Medicare. Elder Fraud: How to look for tell-tale signs that your parents have been victimized. At a time when the nation prepares for the pending retirement of the massive Baby Boomer generation, this book will provide the comprehensive map you will need to navigate the breadth of financial issues, while treating seniors with dignity and compassion they deserve.