Six Steps To Raising Financially Responsible Teens
By Mrs. Paine
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. 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.
Crystal Paine is a
23-year-old homeschool graduate and the owner of
Covenant Wedding Source, LLC (an online retail bridal
business). She writes articles on a variety of topics
and recently authored her first booklet,
The Merchant Maiden:
Earning an Income Without Compromising Convictions.
She lives with her husband in
Topeka, KS. For more
information on her business and booklet, visit her
website: http://www.covenantweddingsource.com.
