5 Things Teens Should Be Taught About Money

rygon

what about food on a plate and a roof under your head is much better than those latest designer labels.
i see a lot of ppl (my mates) who are buying all these designer clothes (£60 for a jumper) who cant really afford them. for that i could get 2 jumpers, a t-shirt and money left over. and they are all good enough to go out in.

dont smoke - not only bad for your helth but very expensive as well.

To me even though schools can help a bit, its all down to the parents to bring them up correct and value money.

budgeting - save so much money as you get paid (you wont notice it missing) plan how much you need for bills and whatevers left over for you to spend (or save for something bigger) ive opened a few accounts up to help.
one for day to day spending. one for saving long term. another for short term saving. and the last one for car bills etc

highwayman_2

Learn simple arithmetic. (There is no point seeing something at a reasonable price and then missing the fact it can be even better on a multibuy)

A bargin is generally something you don't really need at a price you cann't afford to miss.

Learn the importance of saving.

Live within your means.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

satlink

When you're in a hole stop digging…..

chriswilton

The best thing my parents ever taught me was how to cook a cheap meal that I could eat on more than one occasion - saved me a lot of money at university.

Student loans are not your drinking buddy! I took my 'free' £7000 and drank the lot, as did most of my mates. Trouble is, I have to pay off £135 a month for the next five years.. something they don't advertise too well when they are handing the money out like sweets.

Another thing is checking your bank statements regularly. I used to go months without looking at the detail of my bank statements, just pressing the balance button on ATMs. It often turns out just by spending a couple of minutes looking at a bank statement, you can spot where you are spending too much money, and sometimes find that you're being charged too much for things.

Anyway, in 4 years 8 months I'll be debt free!

susan47

I taught my two teens the same lessons...not to get into debt, and to only use a credit card that they can pay off monthly and keep a track of their spending. The result? It worked for one but not the other.

My daughter got her student loan from the Student Loan Company - over £10k - and she saved it all in a high-interest account and then used it to buy a flat. I had told her that the interest rate payable on the loan would be better than any mortgage rate on offer. After a year she sold the flat and made a £10k profit and moved in with her boyfriend - the cash is now back in a high-interest account.

However, my son? That's another story. The first two years at uni he listened to me and deposited the loan money in an ISA. Fine. But the third year he started to 'enjoy' himself, and now in his fourth year as a student, well the fun never ends...He has never dipped into the ISA, but is forever close to being overdrawn and talks about 'needing' a loan to fund his visits to the pub!! He knows that he has to buy a flat (in London!) next year so won't dip into his ISA - I trust him there - but as for what is going on in his bank account, that's another story!!! He thinks it will be ok to get a bank loan and I seem to be hitting my head against a brick wall persuading him otherwise. So it just goes to show, you can keep on telling them the right thing to do, but it's pure luck whether they will listen to you!

IvanOpinion

Only got one for you - a piece of advice given to me by a member of the Citizens Advice Bureau, and something I have never forgotten.

"Credit is a privilege, not a right"

And like any other privileges it should be respected and treated with responsibility otherwise you will lose it.

Ivan

Magoo_3

::)1 Is it absolutely necessary or nice to have?
2 Learn Accruals accounting. Once you order it the money has been spent
3 No such thing as a free meal.
4 Money does not grow on trees.
5 Shop around. There are best buys, deals and non major brands

Sacre_Vert

I have just one tip - Check your receipts.

These nice shops give you an itemised bill but most times they forget to program the tills properly. They either charge you full price for items that are on offer, forget to give you the reduced price for 'reduced to clear' items or just get the price plain wrong. ::)

Over the course of a year one Safeway store did not get a single transaction right for us. We had some HUNDREDS of pounds in refunds for incorrect pricing. Of course it is up to you if you tell them when you are undercharged ;D

S-V

Sadperson

I agree with most of the advice so far, but would add that if you don't start teaching them about money when they are young children you probably haven't a hope in getting anywhere with them when they are older.
Mine are 10 & 11, and know that I will buy them essentials but if they want luxuries or labels they have to pay the difference, and once savings are gone, they are gone. Whether they can exercise self-control later in life I suspect will be more down to personality than what they have been taught.
All you can really keep reinforcing is that money doesn't grow on trees and that grandparents/rich relatives won't be there to bale you out forever (nor will they necessarily leave you huge sums of money when they pop their clogs).
Then hope they respect you enough to ask for advice when they need it... :-[

MissSurfer

Interesting...I am a teen myself (I'm 15) and whilst most of the advice people have given is posts is very good, I get the impression people do not understand teenagers so well in parts of what they have said.

There has been a lot of talk about buying designer labels. I can see a lot of people a school buying expensive trainers ('Nike Air' being popular at the moment) but when I needed some new trainers I bought some £24 reeboks. So yes, many teens do buy for the label and yes, I agree it's a waste of money. But please do not think all teens are like this!!

However, some of us don't know the first thing about money. My friend moved house a couple of years ago (she was 13) and she was completely unaware of how much a house cost ("my mum can't afford £10,000 for a new house...she'll have to save!!" I remember her saying).

I think there should be some advice for people like me who are more aware of looking after their money. After earning something like £3 an hour outside in the rain delivering papers, I'm very hesitant of spending my money. Really I need to learn to spend!

If I could have some personal finance education, I'd want to know...

1. Exactly what all the words mean and HOW they work (e.g. APR I know is Annual Percentage Rate but what does that mean in simple english?)
2. Student debt - is it worth going to university and if it is, how is best to get through it with minimum debt?
3. How to keep to a budget.

I also think people should be taught to give to charity, and help make the world a better place because even a small amount makes a whole difference (I very nearly started up a campaign for 'give a pound, just a pound' because if everyone in the country donated just £1 to charity that's £60m!

Woah...what a long post!! It's my first post so hopefully my future ones will be shorter!!

P.S. All of Martins tips I'd agree with, and pretty much most other people's...I'd just disagree with the details of some.