Teen Budgets and Finances
Find a Conversation
Teen Budgets and Finances
| Thu, 01-04-2007 - 11:15am |
Hi all....it's been a while, but I've been peeking in from time to time.
I am always working on teaching the value of the dollar to my kids and think I have probably spoiled them too much already, but nontheless, I need to


Pages
I'm afraid we're pretty indulgent with our kids too, so I don't have a lot of btdt advice to offer but I do have an idea.
You might want to broach this with her now, if you haven't already. Prepare her for this time so she is mentally prepared when it arrives. My suggestion is to have her start keeping track of all her incidential expenses -- the vending machine sodas, the movies, fast food, etc. She will most likely be surprised how much she spends and how quickly. It still shocks me when I do this for myself. Maybe ask her to do it for just a short time, a week perhaps, then she can multiply that $$ out to see how much she spends in a month. Then you can review with her what expenses she will be responsible for in the fall, how much she will need to save, etc. I imagine it will be a real eye-opener for her.
Sorry I am not more help; I'm sure there will be others with better advice or suggestions.
I'm going through somewhat the same thing right now, but ds17 started driving in October. So far we are paying his insurance and gas because he doesn't have a job. It's going to be difficult, because he has LD and has trouble maintaining a C average. Right now dh and I are trying to decide just how much gas we are willing to pay for - I also want him to run out of gas and realize that he can't drive his truck. That has already happened once. With us, the thing is that while school is in session, he does drive himself and his sister to school and back so we feel like we need to give him some amount of gas for that, which shouldn't be much.
I am interested in what others have to say about this.
Would it be better to give in on the gas money since you know you will anyway and insist on a % of her money going into savings for college fun money?
This has been an issue for us with the college freshman(and yes, the one who has no idea about money) He went through what he saved last summer in a heartbeat and I honestly dont know how much that was. I mean-stupid stuff-fish aquarium, live food for the poor Oscar. He has his car and drives somewhere every day out of boredom and off to see the GF at a different college on a whim. It's been a bigger challenge than high school was and high school financing wasnt easy but we could SEE firsthand what was going on. Its so much harder from a distance.
Maybe give her a gas card in a predetermined amount each month and anything past that is up to her but INSIST she bank a certain amount a month for noneducational college expenses?
I DO give a gas card now BTW instead of cash and did find one locally that you can only use for fuel-eliminates worries about cigarettes or snacks-unfortunately they dont have that station at his school
I'm worse than your dd- either we decide we're buying the DVD (which is definitely cheaper than even 2 of us going to see it at the theater) or we wait til we can get it from the library for free (7 days on DVDs).
Sue
Well, I guess I'm the mean one since my DD has to pay for gas and insurance (which is very expensive here, about $2500/yr.) My mom gave her a car and before that if she was just added to my policy, ins. would only have been about $1000. We made sure she agreed to that deal because we sure didn't force her to have a car, even though it has made life a lot more convenient for me. For Christmas she asked for and got a tuneup and oil change, really exciting, but better than her paying for it. The way they do ins. here if you are on a payment plan is not to divide the payments equally by 12 mos. You have to pay a larger % the first time, then the last 3 mos, you don't have to pay anything. I have warned her that she should save some of her paychecks toward the big payment next March. She does have enough saved in the bank to cover it, but I don't want her to waste all her money.
On the one hand, she is a very good sale shopper and loves getting a bargain, but she does buy too many clothes. She also likes to go out w/ her friends too much. I will buy her the necessities of clothes, like a winter coat, but she doesn't ask for much. I also give her money for school things.
Personally I think you will be doing her a huge favour.
Yes, I really like the idea of broaching the subject with her now. I also like the idea of maybe paying form 'some' of her gas and require her to do some extra saving for college expenses when she is re-employed in March.
Oh yeah...we've created the same problem with our DS17. He, too, has a seasonal job reffing indoor soccer--quit his other one cuz he had to clean bathrooms at the grocery store and he was above that, I guess. (Since then I've made him begin cleaning his own bathroom at home.) Also decided he no longer wants to ref outdoor soccer. And he's always buying clothes, mostly Tshirts--he must have 30 of them--and sweatshirts. He's saved nothing. Yesterday he asked if he could have $7 to go for dinner with a friend and I told him, "no, our refrigerator is full of food". So he spent his own $ to go out.
Lots of good advice here: having them make a list tracking their spending on incidentals, sitting with us as we pay bills, visiting the 'parents of college students' board, putting a % of each paycheck in savings. I'd like ours to get in the habit of setting aside some for charitable contributions, too, and involving him as we make ours. (Any time we mention The amounts we donate it kills him that we give our money away but we won't give him everything he wants.) It's too bad kids can't have checking accts before they're 18 cuz that's a good way to get them started early on the financial stuff.
Thanks for the thread and all the good advice!
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/meet_the_new_health_.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTBYQlQ7yM
Actually, kids CAN have checking accounts. DD has had one since she started high school. We use it mostly for the debit card (it acts like a credit card so it can be used in emergencies); she hasn't had an opportunity to write an actual check yet. Many banks offer accounts that are fee free for students. Check out some of the larger banks in your area.
Pages