MCU: StartPoint (sm) Parents' Guide

Teaching Teens About Money

When your children were younger you may have taken them to their local credit union, opened up a passbook savings account, encouraged them to put money into it, and over time it would grow. When your child becomes a teenager, their priorities on spending, saving, and using money change.

Teens generally desire freedom yet need security. This desire for freedom may lead them to reject some of the money management principals they used earlier in their life. Here are a few ways to help your teen set new money goals that will teach them more sophisticated lessons about money and match more closely with their current priorities.

Let teens earn money from summer jobs

Encourage long-range savings by focusing on specific activities such as a vacation, gift, or special activity

Teach teens to comparison shop for items

Teach teens not only to shop for sales but about different purchasing channels such as the Internet or catalogs

Teach your teens to read product labels

Encourage teens to join groups like Junior Achievement, Future Business Leaders of America or the Stock Market Game

Let teens be involved in family discussions about money

Have your teen help you write out the checks for the family bills - teaching them how to write out a check and more sophisticated ideas of budgeting

Encourage saving in a different type of account. Having them save in an IRA for example reinforces the idea of savings but teaches them about other financial tools while providing a greater return

Learning these skills will help them to be a better shopper and saver, and prepare them to go out and do these same activities on their own, giving them the freedom they want.