6 Step To Raise Financial Responsible Teens
In today's money-driven society,
teens are constantly bombarded by magazines, television ads, and peer pressure
which make them feel less than ideal if they do not wear the latest clothing
style and drive a "cool" car.
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Briefly visit your local mall and you
will observe multitudes of young people who shop as if credit cards have no
maximum spending limit. With all this push for extravagance, is it even
possible to raise your teens with money sense and save them from making serious
financial mistakes?
Although I have yet to have
teenagers of my own, I was blessed to be raised by parents who taught me from a
young age to be a wise steward of money. Let me share some things my parents
did to instill in me that money is a limited resource and must be spent with
care.
1. Start Early
Just because your child is too young
to have a real job, does not mean it is too early to start teaching basic
financial principles. From the time we were little, we always received an
"allowance" from our parents. We only received this money if we had
done all of our daily/weekly chores. This taught us that money is not free; it
is earned.
2. Set An Example
You cannot expect your teens to
wisely spend money if you do not set a good example for them. Do your children
see you buying things on credit because you want them now and do not have the
patience to wait until you are able to save up enough money? My dad was an
excellent example in this area.
Before making any large purchase (such as a
car), he first decided what he could afford. Then, he began shopping around.
Sometimes it would take him close to a year to find what he was looking for,
for the price he wanted to pay. His patience always paid off and it left an
indelible impression upon me.
3. Don't Buy Everything For Them
It is easy for many parents to want
to "help teens out" by buying most everything for them. But, is this
truly "helping"? When your teenager enters the real world on their
own, they are going to have some hard lessons to learn if you always bought
everything they needed and wanted for them.
As soon as we were able to begin
earning money, my dad had us start paying for some of our own things such as
clothes, gifts for other people, things we wanted, and so on. Because my
parents did not buy everything for us, it taught me the value of hard work, to
think before I spend, and to look for the best buy.
4. Teach Your Teens the Value of
Hard Work
In a day when laziness is rampant,
teach your teens instead the importance of being a hard worker. What you work
for, you usually appreciate more. If your teenager has worked hard to buy
themselves a car, it can be almost guaranteed that they will appreciate it more
and take better care of it.
5. Train Your Teens to Think Before
They Spend
This might seem like a no-brainer,
but learning to think before I spend has literally saved me hundreds of dollars
over the years. Teach your teens to ask themselves at least three questions
before making any purchase:
1) Do I have the money on hand to
pay for this?
2) Do I need this?
3) Can I buy this somewhere else for
less?
Oftentimes, in asking these
questions, I will talk myself out of making the purchase! I will realize I
don't really have the money to pay for it or I don't need the item. Other times,
I will think of a way I can purchase this item for less.
6. Encourage Your Teens to Get the
Best Buy
In addition to asking these
questions, also train your teens to look for the best deal. It is amazing what
variation in prices you will find out there. For instance, the water pump burst
on one of our vehicles recently. When we took it into auto shop for repair,
they said that we would have to take it to a more specialized shop, since the
engine would need to be taken out in order to replace the water pump.
The first
price we were quoted was $775. Knowing that was out of our current budget, my
husband began calling around to different body shops. One place quoted him
around $500 another quoted him a little over $300. By calling around to find
the best deal, we are going to be saving hundreds of dollars on this repair
job.
