Teaching teenagers about personal finance

Jim_Brown_2

I am planning to start educating my 14-year old son about Personal Finance (something no taught at schools generally). Can anyone recommend a good book to help me. Something not too dry and heavy that is going to put a teenager off.

dark_star_3

How about "The Money Diet" by some guy called Morton Lewis (or something)

System

I watched on tv about this couple who gave their kids money whenever they asked for it ( i can remember their 12yr old son sayin "mom buy us that lego its only £20". In the end they gave their kids a certain amount of money a month for everything they needed (except food). new clothes, toys, haircut, school trips etc came out of their money. whatever they had left could be spent how they liked or saved up for bigger things. I thought this was a great way to teach kids the value of money so when they become older they wont be so stupid to spend spend spend without actually having the money to pay for it all.
Just teach them the basics first. Get them to go along with you to open a savings acount and a regular account
then poosibly get them to make a direct debit up so a certain amount from their pocket money goes dirctly into the savings account. I find if i set up these direct debits i dont miss the money and in no time at all the amounts add up. As they get older you can show them more things

andyee

I watched on tv about this couple who gave their kids money whenever they asked for it ( i can remember their 12yr old son sayin "mom buy us that lego its only £20".

I saw that too. I think it was Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

A good way to teach teenagers about personal finance is to get them doing a part time job.
When I was 13-14 I worked at my local restaurant/pub. I knew not to squander my wages as I knew how hard I had worked for them!

System

Sorry, but it doesnt always work.

My children had an allowance from an early age, it wasnt much but enough to start them on the right path.  They also had post office accounts to save their money in.  As they got older the eldest three got paper rounds to supplement what we gave them.  My eldest son also got a gardening round and bought himself a brand new bike out of his savings.  My daugher, had rotten teeth out of her paper round money, no matter how we tried, she was content with having nothing.  My other daughter, well, shes better with money, but seems to spend most of it on rubbish too.  My other son, wont get a paper round and i can see him doing nothing with his life.

Incidentaly, my eldest son who bought the bike, and saved so hard as a child, hasnt worked for 2 years and doesnt seem to be in any rush too either, no matter how me and his father dispair.  My daughter, whos got a mouth full of fillings works hard, but lives hand to mouth.  The eldest two dont live at home now by the way.

It isnt as though they havent had a good example.  My husband has pushed himself through college as well as balancing a full time job, he works long hours, sometimes away for days on end and is able to provide a decent standard of living for me and the kids that are left at home.

No matter how you encourage them, they do things their own way anyway.

robnye

No matter how you encourage them, they do things their own way anyway.

'you can lead a horse to water.........' saying comes to mind....

aliasojo

I agree with every word Judi said (and she didn't pay me ;D). Seriously though, my middle child is now 15 and has a morning paper round and a Sunday job in a local restaurant. His income from these two jobs is usually a minimum of £40 a week which to my mind, is more than enough to be able to put something aside on a regular basis. After trying for months to encourage, cajole and even demand that he start to be a little more concerned about keeping some money aside for future needs, I eventually had to accept that he was going to do what he wanted with the money and in order to keep some sort of relationship with my son, I had to let the matter drop. Admittedly, he does tend to buy clothing which I can't really argue with, but he does waste a huge amount throughout the week on rubbish, (empathy with Judi's despair over daughter's teeth). He reckons that he works for it so he's entitled to spend it on whatever he wants and he doesn't see the point in having money just sitting there.

I keep hoping that one day maturity will change his opinions but I'm not holding my breath. I believe that there are two very divided camps with regard to money. There are those who believe money itself is a valuable commodity, and therefore appreciate what it can do for you, and there are those who believe money is valuable only as a short term means as an end to get what they want.

robnye

on a slightly different tact....

what amount of money do people think is a reasonable amount to give as pocket money to children.

ie £1 at age 8
£2 at age 10

i am curious, as i know the media reports that kids pocket money averages about £8-£10 per week, but i have yet to come across any one who actually gives their kids that much.

DiggingOut

Aliasojo, I have a magic word for your son. "Car." Whisper it in his ear from time to time. "Car. Wouldn't you like to have a CAR in a couple of years?" "How will you be able to afford a CAR?"

"You could open a savings account and put only £10 a week in it. You would still have most of your money to spend now, of course. But in two years you will have over £1000 for a CAR!"

In two years, of course, the magic word will be INSURANCE! But by then, maybe he'll have a little bit of a savings habit.... ;D

missprice

my kids are 11 and 12 years, and they are both very different with money matters.

the 12 year old (boy) gets £20 a week from me. and before you all gasp with shock, it has to cover his school bus fares (£6.50 week) and school dinners.dunno if he never eats but he always has £8 to£10 a week left. every so often he will spend £50 on a ps2 game(or whatever) and give me £30 to put away. i reckon i have him sorted moneywise.

on the other hand my daughter of 11 gets £3.50 a week (the same as the other child should have left) and tries to save some, yet never quite manages. she always decides a day after "saving" that she needs something.

so despite the same upbringing kids can be chalk and cheese when it comes to money/music/politics etc ;D


simone

aliasojo

Thanks for the idea DiggingOut, I will actually try that from next week. He regularly mentions cars he would like to buy as soon as he is old enough so it may well help to put the idea in his mind that this is a possible, but only if he starts to do something about it now. Notice I said next week, this week I am finding it very hard to even SPEAK to my darling offspring, let alone help encourage him positively for the future! (Testosterone has a lot to answer for! >:()