Tag Archives: financial literacy

5 Things to Teach Your Teens About Financial Literacy

teens

With your babies growing up, it’s never too soon to start teaching them the art of being fiscally responsible – but where do you start? According to the Council for Economic Education, only 17 U.S. states require high school students to take a personal finance class in order to graduate. Heartland Bank offers some great ideas on how you can begin teaching your child about financial literacy before they leave the nest.

How does credit work?

A lot of kids don’t know what credit actually means. It’s important to teach your child that credit means to borrow, but at a cost. You will need to explain the importance of a credit card and how keeping balances low are a good plan of action. You can also begin to discuss interest rates, annual fees and how they can check their credit report.

Everyone has to pay taxes.

Starting a lawn mowing business or babysitting will not be the same pay as when your child gets an actual job. If your daughter gets paid $12 an hour to babysit, she gets to take all of that home. Emphasize that she will have to pay taxes and talk about how some of that would be taken out to fix roads. This will prepare them for the future, so they can budget responsibly when waiting on that first paycheck. Since 2016, no state has added a personal finance course to their K – 12 grades. It is up to you to advocate for your child and make sure they understand all things financial.

What is a want vs. a need?

We all want the next cute pair of shoes or cool car, but we need to be realistic with our spending. Start making your child pay for gas, a portion of groceries and other little expenses. This will help show them what types of things they need money for, what portion should be put into savings and what is left can be spent on what they want – after their needs are secured.

You must budget to buy.

Start by having your child put aside 30% of their money for short-term savings and 30% for long-term. Another 30% can be cash they spend on whatever they need, and 10% could be put towards charity or another good cause to teach them giving back. Explaining to your kid what to do with money once it’s earned is commonly a missed step, so this will help you implement good habits.

How do I plan for college?

Begin going over different loan options such as federal and private loans. Explain how they can have an auto-pay set up to pay their bills on time. Seeking out scholarships is also an important point to place in their head. The average student loan balance is $34,144 as of 2017, so they can save a lot of money by getting a scholarship.

Preparing your child for the future is quite the undertaking – especially when it deals with covering topics such as finance. However, your child will thank you when they have fantastic budgeting and savings skills down the road! If your child is interested in opening up a savings account or applying for a loan, give us a call! We’d love to help teach them other financial literacy topics.

How-To Give Your Children a Financial Education with Their Allowance

Financial Literacy

An allowance, when treated as an educational opportunity, gives your child hands-on experience in budgeting, saving, spending, investing, earning, negotiating, and tracking their money. With these tactics, you and your child can make the most of their allowance while growing their financial literacy.

  • Shy away from weekly allowance. A bi-weekly or monthly allowance better reflects a real-world payment schedule than a weekly handout. Additionally, staggered money instead of a steady cash flow opens opportunities to practice budgeting for both spending and savings goals.
  • Pay financial, not household, chores. Paying your children for completing basic household duties can shift their helpfulness from intrinsic to monetary. Instead, link their allowance to financial chores, or spending responsibilities that they take off your hands. While you cover school lunch and back-to-school clothes, vacation souvenirs or sporting event concessions are up to their discretion, allowing them to make financial decisions from a young age.
  • Open a savings account. It’s never too early to start saving. Open a saving’s account with your child and explain the power of compound interest. Establish that they pull 10% of their total monthly allowance to funnel into savings, enabling them to budget the remaining 90% while teaching the discipline and value of saving.
  • Show them the options for their funds. Teach your children the potential their money has by creating four labeled jars for spending, saving, giving, investing. Each time your kids are given money via chores or other revenue sources, have them choose which jar to put the funds in. The spending jar can be used on small purchases like candy bars or little toys, and the saving jar can be put towards larger items that take more time to save.

With each dollar your children learn to save, they will continue to propel their education forward. If you’d like to get your little one’s financial education off to the right start stop by Heartland Bank today and enroll them in their very own checking or savings account.

Grow your financial education this month during Money Smart week at Heartland Bank April 23rd-30th! We’ll share exciting tips and tricks throughout the week to help you learn all about money management.