Teaching Kids About Money: Teens

Teens have one foot in their parent's home and one foot out with the rest of the world.  The 'real world' is fast approaching, but often times these kids are not prepared to deal with fiscal responsibility.  Here are a few tips for your teens:

• College:  Around the end of eight grade or freshmen year of high school, you need to have a discussion with your teen about college.  This is an investment that is very important, but you don't want them paying for it for the rest of their lives.  As a parent, you will need to start to research how it will be payed for and involve your child in that discussion.  Also, insist that your child start a savings of their own. 
• Getting A Job:  Nothing teaches the power of a dollar like earning it yourself.  This part-time gig should not interfere with school or sports, but it is an important part of the puzzle.  The more flexible the hours, the better.  Even regular babysitting or lawn mowing can be very lucrative.
• Learning about investments.  Even if you are not a financial wiz yourself, you can always steer your child to good resources.  I have even heard of buying stocks as gifts so your child can learn to follow the market.  There are sometimes accounting groups or other clubs at the high schools.  My husband thinks that entire classes should be taught in high school about personal finance. 
• Credit Cards:  By the time your child hits junior or senior high school, they need to start to understand how credit works.  Talk about interest rates, 'teaser' rates to get you hooked and other tricks that credit card companies play.  Experts suggest sitting your teen down and going through your own credit card bill to explain grace periods, due dates and other potential foreign things.  If you decide to let your child have a credit card of their own, continue to go over statements together to ensure smart shopping.  In my opinion, it is imperative that the basics of credit be taught either way.  When you child reaches college, there will be opportunities around every corner to sign up for credit cards.  If your child is not equipped with the knowledge of how credit cards work, things can get out of hand very quickly, just ask my husband.  He learned many of these things the hard way. 

These are not always easy things to talk about, but I think that it is important to be honest about your financial history.  If you don't know an answer, don't be afraid to say you need to look it up.
Good Luck!