The Teen Money Playbook: Real-Life Scenarios That Build Lifelong Money Confidence

Janice Gordon has spent more than fifteen years teaching young people how to handle money with confidence. A certified financial educator, she has designed financial literacy curricula for schools and youth organizations across the country, and her workshops have reached thousands of teens in classrooms, libraries, and community centers. Her teaching philosophy is simple: money skills are life skills, and the best way to learn them is through the real situations young people actually face—first paychecks, group trips, online spending, and the constant pressure to keep up with friends.

Janice began her career in community banking, where she watched too many adults arrive in financial trouble they could have avoided with basic habits learned early. That experience sent her to the classroom. She has written curriculum used in high school personal finance courses, trained other educators, and spoken widely about the importance of starting money conversations early. Her work has been featured in education and parenting publications, and she regularly leads free workshops for families.

The Teen Money Playbook grew out of the question every teen asks at her workshops: "Why doesn't anyone teach us this?" It's the book she wishes she'd had as a teenager—practical, honest, and built around the scenarios that actually shape our money lives. Janice lives with her family, where she practices what she teaches by giving the young people in her life a real budget, a savings goal, and plenty of room to make money mistakes while the stakes are still small.