Kay Hawley’s Start Smart Series
10 Money Principles Every Young Adult Should Know
Written by award-winning educator Kay Hawley, this practical workbook helps young adults connect money decisions with real life, long-term freedom, and the future they hope to create.
Unlike many financial literacy books written from a corporate or academic perspective, Start Smart was created by someone who spent more than 35 years working directly with students while also teaching financial awareness to adults and educators.
This is not a book about getting rich quickly. It’s about learning how to think clearly, make thoughtful decisions, and build habits that support a meaningful life.
For educators
Bring Start Smart to your classroom. Built for Minnesota’s personal finance requirement.
For young adults
Download the Start Smart song and explore the 10 principles.
About Kay
35 years teaching Minnesota Music Educator of the Year, competitive angler. See more here.
Why This Book is Different
Most financial books begin with budgets, spreadsheets, and numbers.
Start Smart begins somewhere more important: understanding yourself, your habits, your goals, your stress, your choices, and the kind of life you want to build.
Students are guided through three essential questions:
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go?
How will you get there?
From there, readers work through practical money principles to build lifelong habits in saving, spending, debt, investing, protecting what matters, and making thoughtful financial decisions.
For Young Adults
For Teachers & Schools
Created With Real Classrooms in Mind
Start Smart Money Basics was written by a career educator who understands students, classrooms, and the challenges teachers face every day.
The workbook was designed to encourage discussion, reflection, practical thinking, and real-world application rather than simply memorizing financial terms.
The material aligns closely with the growing movement toward financial literacy education and was classroom-tested with high school students during development.