teens | ECV Talks

SIFMA infographic

The infographic above applies to the US and I found it in a program I’ve used previously. You see, I happen to teach a class that focuses on Financial Literacy (at least the way I teach it) yet unfortunately this is slated to be the last year it’s offered in its current incarnation.

So where do parents, teens and teachers who want to try to cram valuable instruction into an already crammed curriculum go to get the basic education in handling money that’s missing from most school districts?

One source is H&R Block. Their Dollars and Sense program has valuable resources for all three groups to guide teen acquisition of money management skills.

Local banks and universities are another great source for providing your teen with a financial education due to the obvious absence in many public schools.

What resources are you using to teach your teen about money and contribute to their lifelong financial wellness?

This will be a recurring series of posts regarding everything I was told or wish someone had told me when I was a teen about money. Of course, teens don’t read unless it’s about vampires, werewolves, alien love affairs or some other fantasy nowadays so eventually these will have to morph into videos.

But anyways…

Save more than 10%

When I was young I heard the whole save ten percent thing. Something about being in the Bible belt; give 10% to God put 10% in your savings account. But if you’re a teen who actually has a job in this still slow economy (ignore the hype about being in a recovery), I advise if you don’t have to take care of yourself with that money because of parents that can’t cover all of your ESSENTIALS due to the current job market, put more than 10% in your savings account. That way by the time you’re legal you’ll already have that rainy day account a lot of Gen Y and some of you Millenials won’t have but will desperately need. Don’t believe me – look at the poverty rates from the Pew Research Center for teens and younger. Thanks @robferdman for posting!