At best you have 18 years to teach your kids how to manage money skillfully. If you fail to do that, you're setting your kids up for a lifetime of miserable debt. But if you teach them to be effective money managers now you will send them into the world with the gifts of confidence and self-determination.

While our two boys, Jeremy and Josh were still young, I awoke from a twelve-year-spending coma to discover we were in the fast lane to financial ruin. I had done terribly with money and credit cards. Our situation brought new meaning to the term debilitating debt. We were in a horrible jam. But even worse than the debt was this terrifying thought: What if our kids turn out like me? Were they learning from my behavior that they too were entitled to have what they wanted even when they didn’t have the money to pay for it? Were they learning to worship money? Did they notice their mom trusting Visa and MasterCard more than she trusted their dad — her husband — to take care of the family? — Mary Hunt

Your kids are fortunate to be growing up in the most progressive and exciting time in history. That’s the good news. The bad news is the very culture that offers them the world is also perpetrating this lie: You are entitled to have everything you want even if you don’t have the money to pay for it. It’s not a problem — just charge it! There’s a huge consumer-credit industry anxious to fund that lie for your kids. They are planning to give your children their very own credit cards — personal passports to the abyss of consumer debt. This is not going to require your permission or approval. Unless you intervene your kids may gladly accept. That could be the beginning of the end of all the hopes and dreams you have for your children’s futures.

So how do you accomplish this overwhelming challenge? That's where most parents hit a block wall. They feel about as confident to teach money management to their children as the kids want to sit through boring lessons about how money doesn't grow on trees. Don't panic! Mary Hunt reveals everything you need to get the job done in her book Debt-Proof Your Kids. This is real life teaching. Money is the best tool to teach kids how the real world operates, and it prepares them to live successfully in the real world, too. Think it's too late to debt-proof your kids? It's only too late if you don't start now! What grade would you give your parents for how well they prepared you to manage your finances? What grade will your kids give you someday?

Debt-Proof Your Kids: Mary Hunt Your children are developing into world-class consumers. They are well on their way to becoming future debtors. The preparation is going on every day of the week, nearly every hour of the day. Your children are being manipulated to think and respond according to the desires and agenda of the advertising and consumer-credit industries. According to iMediaConnection, a marketing trade association, marketing aimed at kids reaches up to 4,000 messages per day. A two-year-old can recognize over 200 brand names. Brand preference begins to show up at three years of age. Here’s the bottom line. Your children are being seduced by the consumer-credit industry to believe in and fall for the buy-now, pay-later lifestyle. If you do nothing to intervene, statistics indicate your child is headed for a life that will be severely impacted by consumer debt. USA UK Canada

Your Kids Can Master Their Money: Fun Ways to Help Them Learn How A kid's perspective on money often doesn't go beyond what it can buy now in the candy aisle of the store. Written by financial advisors Ron and Judy Blue along with Jeremy White, this book shows children how creatively using and saving money can be fun — and rewarding. It's an investment in your children's outlook on finances that will have great payoffs in their adult lives. "I love Your Kids Can Master Their Money! This is my kind of book-a perfect blend of philosophy and practicality." — Lisa Whelchel "Ron and Judy are the ‘go to’ couple for biblical financial advice. Parents, you must read this book." — Dave Ramsey USA UK Canada

Debt-Proof Living — All New, Revised Edition: Mary Hunt Getting out of debt is no small feat! It requires courage, commitment and a simple plan that works. Remaining debt-free is remarkable and what debt-proof living is all about. And untold thousands of people have done just that following the plan outlined simply and logically in Debt-Proof Living. It's like giving yourself a raise. Getting out of debt is only part of the plan. The reader learns how to give, save and build wealth using the Contingency Plan and Freedom Account along with the author's sound and proven principles. This all-new and revised edition of Debt-Proof Living reflects changes in the economy and consumer credit industry, while retaining all of the relevant content that has kept this book a bestseller since its original release in 1999. USA UK Canada

Free and Clear: God's Roadmap to Debt-Free Living Overwhelmed with debt? There is hope and freedom for you no matter how big your problem. Skyrocketing debt has crippled and divided millions in this age of rampant credit, interest-only mortgages, and record loan defaults. The way out from under debt burdens is not a declaration of bankruptcy, but surrender to the Word of God. Becoming debt-free may seem an impossible dream for many, but it is actually an attainable goal according to Howard Dayton, president of Crown Financial Ministries. He overcame his own struggle with debt by applying God's principles to managing his finances, principles he lays out in this practical, encouraging, never-give-up book. USA UK Canada

Your Money Map: A Proven 7-Step Guide to True Financial Freedom Finding your way to a travel destination requires a map and the same is going to be true for reaching your financial destination. Based on the phenomenally popular Money Map concept created by Crown Ministries, this is a simple roadmap for organizing one’s finances through life. Howard Dayton’s expertise and financial experience come to light as he guides readers on a journey toward Biblically based, true financial freedom. Howard’s books and small-group financial studies have been used by thousands of churches and individuals over the years. He is a former naval officer, restaurateur and real estate developer. USA UK Canada

Millions of middle-class families can no longer afford to live on two incomes. A generation ago, middle-class families lived on the income of a single breadwinner. In recent years it has taken two working spouses to live the modern middle-class dream. Discover how to break out of the debt spiral

The Total Money Makeover isn't theory. It's a proven plan for financial fitness. The success stories speak for themselves. It works every single time. It works because it is simple. It works because it gets to the heart of the money problems: you. The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Poor weight control is the number one health problem facing families today. An alarming statement in this age of AIDS, cancer, and heart disease, isn't it? Unless we, as parents, change both our ways and our kids' habits, we may be facing the first generation of children that will die before their parents. Fat-Proof Your Family

Many people consider their jobs to be chores, something to be endured in order to pay the bills. But God designed work to be a fulfilling aspect of life. John C Maxwell's Life@Work equips believers to confidently carry their faith into the marketplace and make a difference in their world. Life@Work