The Opposite of Spoiled Audiobook By Ron Lieber cover art

The Opposite of Spoiled

Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money

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The Opposite of Spoiled

By: Ron Lieber
Narrated by: Ron Lieber
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About this listen

We may not realize it, but children are hyperaware of money. They have scores of questions about its nuances that parents often don't answer, or know how to answer well. But for Ron Lieber, a personal finance columnist and father, good parenting means talking about money with our kids much more often. When parents avoid these conversations, they lose a tremendous opportunity—not just to model important financial behaviors, but also to imprint lessons about what their family cares about most.

Written in a warm, accessible voice, grounded in real-world stories from families with a range of incomes, The Opposite of Spoiled is a practical guidebook for parents that is rooted in timeless values. Lieber covers all the basics: the best ways to handle the tooth fairy, allowance, chores, charity, savings, birthdays, holidays, cell phones, splurging, clothing, cars, part-time jobs, and college tuition. But he also identifies a set of traits and virtues—like modesty, patience, generosity, and perspective—that parents hope their young adults will carry with them out into the world.

In The Opposite of Spoiled, Ron Lieber delivers a taboo-shattering manifesto that will help every parent embrace the connection between money and values to help them raise young adults who are grounded, unmaterialistic, and financially wise beyond their years.

©2015 Ron Lieber (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
Parenting & Families Personal Finance Relationships Kids Finance

What listeners say about The Opposite of Spoiled

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Practical Suggestions Wealth Examples Clear Voice Mindful Thinking Different Perspectives Real Stories
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eye opening and well written!

As a parent and step parent to 5 kids, this book reaffirmed how I feel kids should be raised with regard to money. We are in the adult-making business and this is an excellent guide to doing it right!

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good habits and good parenting

Even more thorough, researched and real world in easy to understand teaching than I had hoped. Thanks for the tools!

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good info

Good information. Brought up several interesting discussions with my husband about our unborn child. Seemed to be well researched.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

NYC POV

Most of the time when the author is the narrator I don't enjoy it unless the author is a character. Ron Lieber is a writer for the New York Times and I don't think I've read his column before and I don't see myself reading it in the future.
There is very little wrong with the book but I didn't enjoy it but luckily it was short enough that I was able to plow through it in two short bursts.
The point of view, and this is probably why I didn't enjoy the book, was it had a conversational tone of a white agnostic upper middle class Mahattanite New Yorker. I've listened to other audiobooks by journalists about children and though they were also upper middle class and some agnostic-maybe, I didn't find them too alien.
I guess it would have helped to have been more familiar with Lieber's articles before getting the book to get the tone, as some journalists' books are just an extended long playing version of their articles.
I didn't hate it. I just didn't like it.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Concepts are very worthwhile

but once you get the basics early on, you might find the anecdotes a bit repetitive.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Good starting point for money conversation

There are many different stories from families of different incomes that can be shared and discussed with kids of all ages. this book has been a useful tool for my family.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Needed for new and existing parents

This author has such a great analysis of honest and welcoming advice for raising "adults" and not children. This book is one I will listen to multiple times for advice and ideas for my little ones. Thank you Ron Libeber.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good look at how to talk to your kids about money

The Good:
-Lots of examples
-Good themes throughout
-Clear voice and easy to understand

The Bad:
-Geared towards wealthy people
-Some of the stuff is pretty common sense

The Bottom Line:
This book basically tries to teach you how to talk to your kids about money. I can relate because I was the kid that didn’t have a lot of money and there were people with a lot more money that could do those things. For me, this book seems more geared to wealthy people because while some of this might seem like common sense, sometimes you need a reminder that your kids can be very sheltered. Overall, I would recommend this book as part of a full arsenal of talking to your kids about money.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good listen but not too much in depth information

The narrator was the author and the reading was mostly fluid. The beginning and middle of the book seemed on target and informative but strayed at the end with too much on giving and charities. For me, I think the book was worth the audible credit but I would not pay cash for it.

This book does provide many suggestions for answering common kids question concerning money so it accomplishes what it says it does.

I will probably give this a second listen to remember the responses better.

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11 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A great listen for all parents

This book really helped our thinking about money and how we deal with it with our kids.

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