Teen Money Is It Too Late?

I have deliberately positioned Kids Money Packs towards 6 to 12 year olds, because they have time on their side. That time can be put to best use by the use of compound interest and the new habits they learn have plenty of time to become well developed habits by the time they reach the age of 18 and become the number one target for marketers of credit cards loans and storecards.

We are currently working on Teen Money and I know some great Teenagers personally who are busy studying hard, they have part time jobs, they have a good attitude towards their peers and they are a pleasure to talk to and be around.

I also know the Press love to print stories and pictures that sell papers, but as a Parent myself, I can honestly say I have never witnessed such appalling sights as the ones I have seen in a newspaper today.

I myself enjoy a glass of wine, I frequented pubs myself and have been slightly worse for wear on one occasion and never wanted to experience that ever again. I think as a nation we currently have an enormous problem with anti-social behaviour and an out of control booze culture that we seem to fondly regard as “the young enjoying themselves”.

A few years ago, for whatever reason, the classic booze fuelled Ibiza holidays were being reported on as “kids having a great time, drunk all day & nightclubs and free spirited nights”. It all depends on how you view ” a good night out” I suppose but in my eyes, young girls vomiting in the street, wearing skimpy clothing ( whatever their dress size ) , getting so drunk they cannot even stand up and requiring an ambulance to stop them choking to death is disturbing viewing.

If these young people have so much money every week to simply drink themselves to oblivion whilst their parents are working night shifts, extra hours, second jobs and goodness knows what else to just keep up with the mortgage payments then I would say for a certain element of the nation, Teen Money advice is already too late.

Financial Education begins and ends with Parental Guidance, what lessons and from whom these young girls are learning from is a complete mystery and genuinely very sad.

Update on Teen Money

As part of my campaign to raise awareness for the need to bring financial education into schools immediately to help stop the rot of the last decade, I have become a member of WIRE
which stands for Women in Rural Enterprise.

It comprises of 1000’s of women members who join to provide a community of women in business thriving in rural and semi rural locations throughout the UK. I joined as a Mum & business owner myself to promote Kids Money Packs to a largely female audience.

After several months, meetings and networking, I realised there were some difficult situations for Mums with Teenage children and how to best handle the subject of money with them. The principles are almost exactly the same as Kids Money Packs, so we are currently working on Teen Money Manuals to help provide parents with a more consistent way to help prepare their Teenage sons and daughters for later in their young adult lives.

I will say, that Kids Money Packs are aimed at 6 to 12 year olds for a very good reason, TIME is on their side, but Teen Money can be put to good use straight away to help stop those terrible arguments parents seem to endure every weekend!