Teens & Money: 52 Money Lessons for Teens teaches budgeting, saving, earning, and investing with no lectures.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sarah VanHoose, [email protected], 503-961-4602
PORTLAND, Ore., October 19, 2026. Financial coach Sarah VanHoose has released Teens & Money: 52 Money Lessons for Teens, a spiral-bound flip guide that stands on a desk or nightstand and gives teens one short, practical money lesson at a time. VanHoose wrote it with her two teenage daughters, Jordan and Harper, who read every lesson and flagged anything that sounded preachy or fake.
NOW AVAILABLE
The guide is available now at myjourneytoinfluence.com/teens-and-money for $27.99, and will launch on Amazon in November, in time for holiday shopping. A bundle with the eBook is $32.99, and a two-pack with a free eBook is $50.99.
BACKSTORY
The idea came from VanHoose’s coaching practice. “About 90 percent of the people who start working with me tell me the same thing: they didn’t learn about money growing up,” VanHoose said. “I wanted to hand teens the guide I wish my clients had been given at 16, and I wanted it to be something a teenager would actually pick up.”
The timing matters in Oregon. Beginning with the Class of 2027, every Oregon high school student must complete a personal finance course to graduate. Nationally, a 2025 survey of 1,000 teens by Junior Achievement and the MissionSquare Foundation, conducted by Wakefield Research, found that only 45 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 had taken a personal finance class at school. Teens & Money gives families a head start at home, whatever their school offers.
ABOUT THE GUIDE
The guide has 52 lessons, one for each week of the year, plus 3 hands-on challenges. It covers eight areas: money basics, earning, budgeting, saving, smart spending, credit and debt, investing and taxes, and giving.
Every lesson opens with a bold headline, gets straight to the point, and ends with something to do: a question to think about, a conversation starter for a trusted adult, a fact to look up, or a small commitment to try. Teens can read it alone, and parents can use it to start a real conversation.
VanHoose finished editing the guide on a working weekend at Crooked River Ranch in Central Oregon, with her daughters reading along and keeping her honest about how teens really talk.
Early readers have embraced it. One parent wrote that it includes “many solid points that you’d want your teen to know about, and things you wished you had learned at their age.” Another said her seventh grader wants to share it with friends who have their first job. The guide sold 85 copies in its short presale window.
Parents can also download a free Parent Guide at landing.myjourneytoinfluence.com/parents. Schools, youth organizations, and businesses can order in bulk at myjourneytoinfluence.com/teens-and-money-bulk, with custom cover stickers available.
MEDIA APPEARANCES
VanHoose is available for interviews and appearances, including talks for schools, PTAs, youth groups, and community events. Review copies are available on request.
Press photos available upon request to [email protected]
ABOUT SARAH VANHOOSE
Sarah VanHoose is a financial coach, the founder of Journey to Influence, and the author of Teens & Money. After paying off $450,000 of debt in 18 months, she built Journey to Influence, an online and in-person coaching practice with 40+ five-star Google reviews, and now leads a team of coaches matched to each client. She co-founded the Financial Coaches Community and previously led operations and process improvement in a large healthcare organization. She lives outside Portland with her husband, James, and their two teenage daughters. Her next book, You Are the Problem, and the Solution, comes out in 2027.