Money is one subject that every single one of us needs to know about it. Yet, as parents, carers and teachers we often avoid the topic. 

Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It, Give It is a brilliant new book for readers 8+ by children's author and former lawyer Rashmi Sirdeshpande, that covers everything you need to know about money in an approachable and fascinating way. 

The graphic illustrations by Adam Hayes, simple explanations and positive tone can change difficult conversations about money with kids, to something exciting and illuminating. You're never too young to start learning how to be a money expert!

Read on to find out more from Rashmi on why she wrote Dosh in her guest blog.

"DOSH: HOW TO EARN IT, SAVE IT, SPEND IT, GROW IT, GIVE IT. It’s a mouthful of a title (sorry!) but the book essentially does what it says on the tin. It’s a handbook about money, how to make it, and what to do with it when you do. SPOILER: GIVING is a big part of this. Money often gets a really bad name and to be fair, it IS used to do some terrible things and people do terrible things because they’re greedy for more! BUT. There’s another side to money. I wrote this book because I wanted young readers to see that too. 

Now, we don’t tend to learn very much about money when we’re young enough to have someone else worry about it for us. Then suddenly you grow up and you’re expected to know all about it. You have to go and make some money to make sure you have food to eat, clothes to wear, a place to live, and maybe some of the nice extras you’d like to have. You have to look after it somehow. And it’s not all down to you because things happen in the world that make that REALLY tricky. But there are things we can do that might help like understanding money and getting into some good habits right from the start. That’s what this book is about. 

My parents talked a lot about money when I was growing up. I don’t think I listened to all of it. All I knew was that in the early days we didn’t have very much. I knew money was something to be respected, something that can help people and change lives. Because that’s what I saw my parents do - even when they weren’t earning much themselves, they saved up and they gave money to people who needed it more than them and they really thought about which causes they supported. They still do. I also saw them work hard, be lucky enough to do well in their careers (despite many, many challenges). I saw them talk lots about spending carefully and about saving and investing money, putting things away for the future. And over time, I saw our family situation change. It gave me hope. I put all of that into the book too. 

It’s not a get-rich-quick book. It’s about finding creative ways to make money doing the things you love, spending it wisely, saving it, growing it, and giving it away. And the giving part isn’t just through giving to charity - the book explores how there are so many ways we can ‘give’ like giving every time we spend, by spending with good companies that are making a difference in the world. Or investing in good companies. Or ‘giving’ in an even wider sense when we grow up by working with good companies or setting up businesses that do good. 

Like I said, DOSH is a handbook. The handbook I wish I had. It doesn’t talk down to anyone and it tries to take this (let’s face it) fairly dry and scary topic - MONEY - and bring some fun into it. It makes it all relatable, doable. But yes, FUN. Because it’s important. Money is something we all have to deal with, whatever we think of it. If we can get our heads around it early, if we can learn how to think, plan, and use money wisely and generously…then I think we’re set for life, really."