Right? I am sure some high schools teach kids how to budget, save, etc., but most that I have heard of do not offer this type of class – even as an elective. Maybe it is time to get rid of some of the outdated classes (or Trigonometry for heaven’s sake!), and offer classes that will teach kids about the real world, and the importance of budgeting their money.
It is so easy for young people to get caught up in credit woes, especially when they could have learned how to avoid this, in school. Of course, parents should be teaching their kids about safe spending, saving, and budgeting as well. On several occasions we have had talks with our son about the importance of building credit, but we also reminded him that just because he has a credit card, it doesn’t mean that he can go hog wild with spending. All of the money he spends would need to be paid off 🙂
Long before my son left for college, he had a debit card and his own savings account. He quickly learned that money didn’t just “appear” in his account, and he had to plan and save for things he really wanted. When he left for college, we did put money in his account for school expenses and food, and he knew that once the money was gone for the month, it was gone. He did pretty well at budgeting, and only once (shortly when he started college), did he need more money. We then reminded him that in the future, he would have to budget better.
American Express conducted a survey recently, and the results really don’t surprise me:
More than half of parents (57%) with kids in high school and college give schools below average or failing grades in teaching kids responsible spending, with more than one-third (35%) giving a straight out ‘F’. This is compared to 37% of parents who give schools an ‘A’ or ‘B’ for teaching safe sex.
What is wrong with this picture?
Our daughter is 15-years old, and we will soon be getting her a debit card. She has been very responsible with her money thus far, and we want to make sure she continues to be this way. We will have frequent talks with her, and make sure he understands her bank statement, how to balance a checkbook, and file her receipts. Kids are really never too young to learn about loans, interest, and other “grown-up” issues as far as finances go.
Make sure you read these Practice Safe Spend tips from American Express – there are some great ideas here!
A tip! One thing we always did with both kids was when they had to have something (and I use the term had lightly), we always asked, “would you spend your own money on this?”. More times than not, they agreed that they didn’t need the item that bad. It worked like a charm!
How are you teaching your children to spend and save wisely? Does your child’s school offer budgeting classes?
I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of American Express and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
5 Responses
I think it’s SO important to teach kids at an early age about budgeting their money and using it wisely. Too many young adults think once they get a paycheck, you immediately go out and spend it.
This makes so much sense. They have to take metal shop, wood shop, and drafting, but they don’t take a finance class? That makes no sense. Teaching kids how to manage money is critical!
My daughters’ high school does have a finance class that they take as a freshman. However, the oldest headed off to college this fall and has forgotten everything. She called last week requesting money for groceries, but when I went to transfer the money I found she had over $1000.00 in the account. I called to tell her the balance and the response was “Oh, I didn’t know I had any left.” I emailed her a copy of the account and told her to balance her checkbook.
I don’t know if they just don’t pay attention or what lol. It’s nice they taught her in Freshman class, but probably a refresher course as a Senior would have been good too 🙂
You know I am “challenged” in so many ways… budgeting is one of them. So I leave the money stuff to my husband. I just spend it. I am so good at that.