The Best Way To Teach Your Teenager The Real Value Of Money

Nowadays, it seems that there are an increasing number of things for our teenagers to spend money on every day. There are designer sports shoes, expensive clothes, mp3 players, video games and so much more. If, like most people, you do not have pots of money, then it is clearly difficult to give your teenagers everything that they want and that is why it is very important for us to help them to understand the value of money.

It is very important to begin to teach your kids about money from an early age. Beginning at about age 10 you should give them a few dollars every week that they can spend however they want. This weekly allowance should not 'free' but has to be dependent on their undertaking some household chores. You must however work with your children and let them decide what they want to do instead of giving them particular tasks. It is also important not to set limits on what they can spend their money on and also that, once they are getting an, you do not then go on buying them things they want. They need to, and soon will, find out that if they spend all of their allowance the moment they get it they will not be able to buy some of the more expensive things they want.

It is also vitally important for you children to learn the principles of budgeting at an early age and discover exactly how much things cost. Take them to the mall when you go out shopping, have them help you with working out the household budget and allow them to look over your shoulder when it is time to pay the bills. It will not take them very long to get a feel for just how expensive everyday living can be.

As your kids get older, and certainly by the time they get to the age of about 13 or 14, gradually increase both their level of responsibility and their weekly allowance. For instance, add their lunch money to their weekly allowance and make them responsible for buying their own lunch. As they learn to accept more and more responsible, teach them to create a budget for larger items such as clothes or an mp3 player, and then make them stick to that budget. Once more, you will find that they will quickly learn that if they want to purchase expensive items, then they have to make sacrifices elsewhere.

Remember also that you can always backtrack. If you find that your kids are not learning how to to use money sensibly and for its intended purpose, then step in and take control of that money again until you are satisfied that they are able to handle it.

A some stage, your teenager will decide to get a job and this is a very good point at which to introduce them to the benefits of saving. Teach them to put a proportion of their wages into a savings account which they have to come to regard as a resource for funding major projects, such as their college education or another significant pursuit. Also, get them into the habit of putting a small amount of their wages on one side to pay for less important, but nevertheless expensive, items such as a computer or video game system. Having made these provisions, you can then allow them to spend the remainder of their wages in whatever 'mad' way they choose and, if you are concerned about where they are spending their money, then open a checking account for them that you can monitor.

Teaching your kids about money can be a long and slow process that takes a number of small steps and is not going to be without its problems. Your kids, and especially your teenagers, will mess up but do not forget that we learn some of our most valuable lessons as a result of the mistakes that we make.

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