In this episode of the Dollars and Sense Show host Carol Topp discusses teaching your teenagers about money.
Show notes:
Recap: Our motivation to be teaching kids about money:
Other people’s bad examples are all around us, including the US government.
Avoid excessive debt. College debt now exceeds credit card debt.
Someone is watching!
Avoid boomerang kids. We are raising adults, not children
How to Teach
Natural style. As you go about your day. Real life examples.
Get someone else: Sunday school, Scouts, Homeschool co-op
Focused teaching: Family nights, games, books
What to Teach: Teenagers
- What things cost and what jobs earn.
- Career exploration. Post high school education.
- Checking accounts and financial software (Ace Money Lite is free)
- Budgets. One teenager is given $150/month in allowance, but she has to buy everything: clothes and gas.
- Avoid credit card debt (but start building credit history in college)
- Student loan debt. With her dad out of work, a college student chose a state school when show the debt she would have.
- Taxes and federal spending
- Entrepreneurship. Micro Business for Teens. Ethan pays his own cell phone bill. Linnea pays her way to China.
- Investing. Stock Market simulation.
Resources:
Career Exploration article Pursuing Their Dreams: Career Exploration for High School Students
Schoolhouse Teachers offers my Career Exploration 8 week class
Free! National Endowment Financial Education (NEFE) High School Financial Planning Curriculum https://www.hsfpp.org/
Generation Change for youth groups and Foundations in Personal Finance for schools at https://DaveRamsey.com
Discovering God’s Way of Handling Money from Crown.org 10 weeks , individual or class
Money Matters for Teens Ages 15-18 Edition by Larry Burkett (oldie but still available on Amazon.com)
Micro Business For Teens books at https://MicroBusinessForTeens.com
Starting a Micro Business television show on YouTube
Our federal budget graphically displayed at https://WallStats.com
Tax return simulations from the IRS at Understanding Taxes www.irs.gov/app/UnderstandingTaxes
Tune in for the next Dollars and Sense show on February 27, 2014 when I will discuss tax breaks for homeschoolers.
Carol Topp, CPA
