Talking to your Teen Tip #4
Review Their Successes and Mistakes with Them
If you have shared your financial successes and blunders with your teen, they will be likely to share theirs with you. They should be reviewing their savings and investment decisions on a regular basis, and it’s more enjoyable to do this with someone who also enjoys it.
Chris Jackson, the author of "Money Management Revealed," emphasizes the importance of reviewing personal and financial goals and choices regularly. You can also emphasize your teen’s need to constantly review, change and “tweak” their goals, savings percentages and investment choices.
Teens should accept the notion that their goals in life are a “moving target.” One day they’ll want to be a chemist and the next day a rock star.
Either way, they will need money along the way. As with everything else, sometimes they will handle their money well, and sometimes they won’t.
Make a goal of sitting down with your teen monthly or quarterly and talking about their money. How much are they saving? How much are they spending? Did they purchase anything that they regret (that’s a good lesson!). What is their savings balance and how much has it increased during the period? What is their goal for their savings balance? How did their investments perform? Have they read any good books lately or magazine articles?
Your teen’s successes should be seen as a valuable lesson. Your teen’s mistakes should be seen as a valuable lesson (do you see the pattern here?)
Remember, the more that money is discussed, the more that it is understood.
Click here to read the next article:
"Discuss the Entire Range of Investments"
