Back-To-School Financial Lessons
Back-to-school can be the best time of the year to teach your teen that money doesn’t grow on trees! A study by Capital One Financial Corporation found that 52% of parents have not talked to their teen about the differences between “needs” and “wants.” Thirty-six percent of parents haven’t talked to their teens at all about back-to-school finances.
Before hitting the stores, help your teen come up with a budget, and a list of things they really need. After buying all the needed items, you can talk with them about spending any leftover money in the budget for less-essential things. Be sure to talk with your teens about the differences between something they need and something they want. Stress that just because other kids have certain items (iPods or fancy cell phones), doesn’t mean that they’re a necessity.
Back-to-school can sometimes be a painful time for parents. You want your children to have what others have, but sometimes there’s just not enough money. Realize that you are doing the best you can do, and be sure to remind your teens that school is really about the education you’re getting, and is not meant to be a fashion show, or a place to show off electronic gadgets.
With back-to-school, shopping, you can teach your teen excellent lessons about the value of money, about budgeting, and about the difference between necessities and luxuries. They’re lessons that they’ll put to good use for the rest of their lives!
teens, teenagers, back-to-school, school budgeting, back-to-school shopping, money management, fianances, parenting teens, parenting teenagers
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