Financial Training For Teenagers

Start early

Ideally, you must encourage children to save for themselves at an early age. Getting them to put money aside, when they get monetary gifts or in a regular savings plan, helps inspire the saving habit. Use the good old piggy bank or try banks, most of who offer special accounts for youngsters.

If you want to start before they are of the age where they can understand savings, look through options available in the market from bonds, equities, saving accounts, mutual funds to insurance options.  

Deposit-based accounts are like ordinary cash savings accounts and pose no risk, though they offer relatively little potential for growth.

Stock market funds, on the other hand, are risky-but over time should far exceed the returns made by cash on deposit.

Don't fall for smart marketing strategies, check the fine print before you zoom in, your focus should be getting the best possible savings rate.

Teenager savings

At this age, teens know very clearly what they want. And if parents are too indulgent, they can spoil them. The trick is to let them earn a bit and you give a bit. By the time your child is a teenager, he/she must have a bank account which can be operated under parental guidance. Early lessons in saving provide a huge chance of promoting savings and shunning debt. Dole out a basic allowance to cover day-today needs and offer incentives for work done around the house.

As parents, it’s fairly possible to stress on the importance of saving often. Talk about your experiences where your savings came into use when you had to pay a mortgage or maybe your high school fees,

If you are a good investor, breakfast can be a good time to discuss the stock market options for the day-teenagers have some clue about the market-its upto you to channelize their interest into right investments that will make your money work for you Try explaining and suggesting mutual funds bonds, recurring savings deposits or fixed deposits that give regular interest on your investments.

The importance of spending less than one makes needs to be ingrained from an early age. More so when teens have so much screaming to be bought-whether online or in supermarkets or malls. Ensure that your child knows the difference between needs and wants. And if your teen wants to borrow money, check that the cause is genuine. If it is for investing, then grant it only after verifying the authenticity. Underline that when they borrow, it must be only when they are sure it will make you more money

Decisions teens make about savings and the manner in which they save are bound to affect their lifelong saving habits. Teenagers who start thinking about money to make conscious decisions for spending, saving and investing can have financial and personal freedom throughout their lives.