Today – Investing in Their Future – Teaching Teenagers about Financial Responsibility
We do a lot to prepare our children for the big, wide world and when they become responsible adults. One thing we don’t seem to be so good at is teaching them to handle their finances.
Teaching Teenagers About Financial Responsibility
We do a lot to prepare our children for the big, wide world and when they become responsible adults. One thing we don’t seem to be so good at is teaching them to handle their finances.
Most kids often don’t truly understand the value of money and leave that kind of thing up to their parents. It’s important, therefore, to get them up to speed before they jump headlong into adult life.
How to Budget Well
A lot of adults struggle with budgeting, so we can’t expect teenagers to suddenly become experts overnight. Good budgeting requires an understanding of money and being aware what state your finances are in.
At it’s simplest, budgeting is all about what you have and what you want or need to spend it on. This is a key skill that you can begin to develop early on and can actually help you manage your own family expenses if you’ve been a little lax in recent years.
Now, teenagers are not known for their concentration levels when trying something like this, especially with mum or dad. That means you may have to show a lot of patients.
It’s important to get them involved in activities like this and, hopefully, they’ll begin to learn the value of money.
Teaching Teenagers about Financial Responsibility by Being Good at Price Comparison
Getting the best deal comes easier to some people than others. You might be someone who rushes out to buy the latest expensive iPhone rather than settling for a smartphone that costs a lot less.
Learning to search for the best price is important if you have to manage on a tight budget. It can literally save you hundreds of pounds a year.
One teaching option is to get your teenager to do the shopping with a limited cash amount and see if they can come back with savings. Gamifying in this way makes the activity more appealing, especially if you say they can keep the change!
The Importance of Credit History
Credit is pretty easy to get nowadays and it’s easy to suddenly find yourself in a spiralling debt problem that is difficult to get out of. In the digital world we live in, your credit footprint also becomes increasingly important as you go through life.
Your credit history is affected by a lot of things from mobile phone contracts to credit cards and it’s essential to understand what this means and what the ramifications are if you get things wrong.
Dealing and Managing Debt
Despite your best intentions, there may be a situation where your newly adult son or daughter gets into debt. You can do all the work you can encouraging them to live within their means but it’s pretty difficult to get through modern life nowadays without incurring some form of debt.
This is all about teaching your teenager some healthy financial habits and involves a mix of approaches. Learning to budget within your means and understanding credit scores is a start. Just as important is shopping around for credit and finding the best deal and then making an informed assessment whether it is affordable or not.
While the emphasis should be about managing debt, it’s well worth educating your teenager what happens if they get into a debt crisis and what sort of help they can get.
Teaching Teenagers about Financial Responsibility – Savings and Investing
It’s not all about debt. It’s also important instilling a desire to save money. You can do this early on by getting them to save if they have a Saturday job, particularly if they want something like a new phone. Say you will pay the rest if they can save X amount over a certain period.
Savings and investing are not the easiest thing to get teenagers interested in at this stage but starting early at least gives them knowledge of the options open to them and the benefits of having money set aside.
The Benefits of Financial Freedom
The final thing you should teach your children is the benefits of financial freedom. If you are weighed down with debt or simply having trouble making ends meet, money can seem even more and more important in your life.
It’s not just teaching them to save but valuing money and understanding how it can affect what they want to achieve. It’s about them learning how money can facilitate what they want to do in life and exploring ways, such as getting a better job and educating themselves, can lead to financial freedom.
Pin Teaching Teenagers about Financial Responsibility
4 Tips for Teaching Teenagers About Financial Responsibility
If your teenager is not bothered about money now, they will be fairly soon once they head out into the adult world and start earning. A little tough love and teaching can make sure they are more prepared. Here are just a few extra tips for getting it right.
1. Give them responsibility early:
The quicker you start talking to your teenager about money and how to handle it the better. It’s a good idea to start giving them responsibility so they know how to handle their cash.
That can include sending them out on the weekly shop and getting them to find the best deals or encouraging them to save towards something they want to buy. A little effort often goes a long way.
2. Set a good example:
It’s no use trying to teach your teenager about the value of money if you are bad at handling it yourself. If you do have problems with money, use this time to help educate them too. Overall, however, it’s important to set a good example.
3. Find the right resources:
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of resources online nowadays that help you teach your teenager about things like budgeting, savings and debt. Seek these out and use them to help create a consistent dialogue about money management.
4. Don’t be judgemental:
Finally, handling your finances isn’t easy. Don’t be too judgemental if your now-adult son or daughter has got it wrong. Be supportive and always make yourself available to help them navigate their way out of any tricky financial situations they may find themselves in.
Most kids often don’t truly understand the value of money and leave that kind of thing up to their parents. It’s important, therefore, to get them up to speed before they jump headlong into adult life.
How to Budget Well
A lot of adults struggle with budgeting, so we can’t expect teenagers to suddenly become experts overnight. Good budgeting requires an understanding of money and being aware what state your finances are in.
At it’s simplest, budgeting is all about what you have and what you want or need to spend it on. This is a key skill that you can begin to develop early on and can actually help you manage your own family expenses if you’ve been a little lax in recent years.
Now, teenagers are not known for their concentration levels when trying something like this, especially with mum or dad. That means you may have to show a lot of patients.
It’s important to get them involved in activities like this and, hopefully, they’ll begin to learn the value of money.
Being Good at Price Comparison
Getting the best deal comes easier to some people than others. You might be someone who rushes out to buy the latest expensive iPhone rather than settling for a smartphone that costs a lot less.
Learning to search for the best price is important if you have to manage on a tight budget. It can literally save you hundreds of pounds a year.
One teaching option is to get your teenager to do the shopping with a limited cash amount and see if they can come back with savings. Gamifying in this way makes the activity more appealing, especially if you say they can keep the change!
The Importance of Credit History
Credit is pretty easy to get nowadays and it’s easy to suddenly find yourself in a spiralling debt problem that is difficult to get out of. In the digital world we live in, your credit footprint also becomes increasingly important as you go through life.
Your credit history is affected by a lot of things from mobile phone contracts to credit cards and it’s essential to understand what this means and what the ramifications are if you get things wrong.
Dealing and Managing Debt
Despite your best intentions, there may be a situation where your newly adult son or daughter gets into debt. You can do all the work you can encouraging them to live within their means but it’s pretty difficult to get through modern life nowadays without incurring some form of debt.
This is all about teaching your teenager some healthy financial habits and involves a mix of approaches. Learning to budget within your means and understanding credit scores is a start. Just as important is shopping around for credit and finding the best deal and then making an informed assessment whether it is affordable or not.
While the emphasis should be about managing debt, it’s well worth educating your teenager what happens if they get into a debt crisis and what sort of help they can get.
Savings and Investing
It’s not all about debt. It’s also important instilling a desire to save money. You can do this early on by getting them to save if they have a Saturday job, particularly if they want something like a new phone. Say you will pay the rest if they can save X amount over a certain period.
Savings and investing are not the easiest thing to get teenagers interested in at this stage but starting early at least gives them knowledge of the options open to them and the benefits of having money set aside.
The Benefits of Financial Freedom
The final thing you should teach your children is the benefits of financial freedom. If you are weighed down with debt or simply having trouble making ends meet, money can seem even more and more important in your life.
It’s not just teaching them to save but valuing money and understanding how it can affect what they want to achieve. It’s about them learning how money can facilitate what they want to do in life and exploring ways, such as getting a better job and educating themselves, can lead to financial freedom.
4 Tips for Teaching Teenagers About Money
If your teenager is not bothered about money now, they will be fairly soon once they head out into the adult world and start earning. A little tough love and teaching can make sure they are more prepared. Here are just a few extra tips for getting it right.
1. Give them responsibility early:
The quicker you start talking to your teenager about money and how to handle it the better. It’s a good idea to start giving them responsibility so they know how to handle their cash.
That can include sending them out on the weekly shop and getting them to find the best deals or encouraging them to save towards something they want to buy. A little effort often goes a long way.
2. Set a good example:
It’s no use trying to teach your teenager about the value of money if you are bad at handling it yourself. If you do have problems with money, use this time to help educate them too. Overall, however, it’s important to set a good example.
3. Find the right resources:
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of resources online nowadays that help you teach your teenager about things like budgeting, savings and debt. Seek these out and use them to help create a consistent dialogue about money management.
4. Don’t be judgemental:
Finally, handling your finances isn’t easy. Don’t be too judgemental if your now-adult son or daughter has got it wrong. Be supportive and always make yourself available to help them navigate their way out of any tricky financial situations they may find themselves in.
Teaching Teenagers about Financial Responsibility is a guest post – you mihgt also like my post on how to connect with a distant teen
