Teens and financing

Only four states Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Utah require high school students to complete a stand-alone course in personal finances to graduate high school, but every teen should enter adulthood with basic financial literacy. Basic personal finance for teens is critical in order to thrive independently as adults, and these money management skills should be taught when kids are young, so positive habits have time to develop before they leave the nest. Ideally, children should learn to set aside some of their money as savings from the time they start receiving an allowance in the elementary school years. Teens should be encouraged to save money consistently from all the cash or income, including money from part-time jobs, allowances, and special occasion money like that for birthdays and Bar Mitzvahs. Teens should learn to skim this money right off the top and put it into a savings account. This ingrains a saving habit early on, so make it one of your first lessons in finance for teens.

Teens today must compete in the job market — at 16 — with adults who are vying for what were once considered teen-centric jobs. Of course there is more to money than just earning it — although that seems an essential place to begin. Budding young entrepreneurs may be looking for help to give their business idea a go in the marketplace. So where can teens start their financial education? Here, in no particular order, is a financial reading list geared toward teens, based on reviews from a variety of financial experts and parents.

Taking control of debt, free debt advice, improving your credit score and low-cost borrowing. Renting, buying a home and choosing the right mortgage. Running a bank account, planning your finances, cutting costs, saving money and getting started with investing. Understanding your employment rights, dealing with redundancy, benefit entitlements and Universal Credit. Planning your retirement, automatic enrolment, types of pension and retirement income.

I was not good with money when I was a teenager. I spent it on stuff like clothes and eating at the mall. So let us help you avoid the mistakes we made with our money by giving you 8 money tips. What matters is time. And your money has a lot of it.