10 Ways to Teach Your Teen About Money

While learning how to manage money may not be a high priority for most teens, teaching this skill should be an essential part of parenting. It’s still not something that is taught in school yet but it will be soon. The province of Ontario is currently testing their pilot projects across 28 high schools which are aimed at changing the grade 10 Careers course to include financial literacy in the fall of 2018. Fortunately, there are also many ways you can teach your child at home. Here are some ideas:

• Monthly vs Weekly Budget: Show how to create a budget and stick to it. Giving them a monthly budget is much more effective than handing them money on their way out with friends or giving them a weekly allowance. This will encourage them to limit their spending to a specific amount and learn how to budget for longer periods of time. This may be challenging for them at first, so be prepared to say no when they come to you for more after spending all of their money in the first week.
• Give an incentive to save: Start having discussions with your teen about saving for future trips or large items. Saving is easier with a goal in mind or even an incentive to save. Offer to match the amount they save up to a certain amount each year.  
• Involve in decisions: Encourage your teen to give their opinions about how to spend family money for vacations, giving to charities or other large expenses. Give them the task of finding hotels or flights with a budget in mind. It will empower them to think through bigger decisions with their money.
• The ABCs of investments: Start with opening up an RESP and explain how their money grows. This may also open the discussion to college scholarships or even stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Everyone loves free money and, if they learn the basics of investing at a young age, it will pay off when they’re older.
• How to protect against theft and fraud protection: Get your teen a debit card and show them how it works.  Since teens are often targeted, show them how to protect themselves from fraud and phishing scams by covering their PIN, not sharing passwords or their Social Insurance Number.
• Hire a Professional Tutor: If you’re not sure where to start, or your teen is not open to taking your advice about money, there are financial experts who can help. They can offer in-home or online tutoring sessions and make games and activities to make learning about money fun.

 
Regardless how you approach this topic, it’s important to start the conversation and get your child comfortable talking about money.
 
Julie Diamond
President, Teachers to Go
www.teacherstogo.ca
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