Teaching Teens that Money Matters

eens want the keys to the world of adult finance, but as the financial choices they must make in their lifetime become increasingly complex, they are going to need driving lessons.

Michaela and Joshua are just two of the close to 100,000 teens who have earned their financial learner’s permit, thanks to Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA’s) Money Matters: Make it Count program, sponsored by Charles Schwab Foundation. Michaela, 17, says she didn’t know much about money management before participating in the program at her local Club in Tucson, Arizona. With a new understanding of money management, and savings from her part-time job, she feels much more prepared to save and budget for college in the fall. But Michaela’s new personal finance skills have done more than help her alone. After completing the program, she signed up as a Money Matters teen mentor to her peers. She’s also been able to teach her mother how to more effectively budget and organize bills.

Joshua, 17, grew up in a single-parent family of four, and always knew that money was tight for college. After participating in Money Matters at his local Boys & Girls Club in the Washington, D.C., area, he also feels more prepared to make financial decisions to help him reach his goal of graduating from college with a degree in mechanical engineering. He has opened both savings and checking accounts, and now saves money by limiting what he spends his money on. “Having stronger money management skills will definitely make college life easier,” he says.

The Money Matters: Make it Count program was created to promote financial literacy among 13- to 18-year-olds by building basic money management skills. “The program aims to provide teens with valuable hands-on experience, which is the way teens want to learn,” says Roxanne Spillett, president of BGCA. “Through fun activities and exercises on topics like using a checking account, managing debt, saving for college and the basics of investing, teens are gaining the practical understanding to deal with the financial challenges of our world today.”

Parents agree that the best way for teens to learn about money is through hands-on experience, according to Schwab’s 2008 Parents & Money Survey. Unfortunately, only one in five parents involves their teen to a great extent in the family’s budgeting and spending decisions, and one in four don’t involve teens in these important activities at all. The good news is that teens are interested in learning about money. In fact, 60 percent of teens agree that learning about money management is one of their top priorities, according to the previous year’s Teens & Money survey.

“Whether at home or through programs like Money Matters: Make it Count, it’s critical for teens to learn about and begin applying the concepts of budgeting, using credit wisely and saving,” says Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, chief strategist of consumer education at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. “Teaching them how to use financial tools like checking accounts, savings accounts, debit cards and credit cards can better equip them for the important choices and decisions they’ll have to make as adults.”

To help teens learn about money management, parents can take advantage of the following tips:

1. Include them in discussions about the household finances. Make discussions about the household finances a regular part of everyday life. Current events in the economy provide additional opportunities for family discussion.

2. Be prepared for their financial rites-of-passage. Whether it’s a first job, saving for a car, using a credit card, or saving for college, real-life events provide opportunities to bring basic financial concepts to life.

3. Teach them how to use financial tools like checkbooks, saving accounts and credit cards. While your kids are still under your roof, you can teach them how to save, use a credit card wisely and the importance of balancing a checkbook.

4. Encourage them to participate in the BCGA Money Matters: Make it Count program. Find a nearby Club at www.bgca.org/clubs.

For more tips on how to encourage good financial habits, as well as calculators and tools to help bring money lessons to life, visit www.SchwabMoneywise.com.