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Enabling Your Teens To Be More Money Savvy With enableMe

Thursday 17 May 2018, 1:15PM

By Beckie Wright

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Despite being tech savvy and more sophisticated about many aspects of life than their parents were, today’s teens have don’t have the financial nous they need to thrive in a world that’s more complex than ever. While previous generations got by with limited financial skills, kids leaving home these days need a much deeper understanding than their parents had.

The times we live in make it harder to be financially successful, so that means our teens need to have a better grasp of money matters, and the first way to introduce them to this is to put them to work! Hannah McQueen, founder of enableMe says “Work equals independence, helps develop soft skills and general life experience.  All kids should have a part time job by the age of 15 (not working for the parents).  When you first get started, learning to earn money is more important than spending habits.”

Hannah also recommends paying teens an allowance and have them manage their own clothes spending, entertainment and other costs, so they learn to budget. Hannah also believes that by the time the kids are fifteen your family finances should be revealed. This means that you want to show them what you earn, how you spend, how long before you are mortgage free, and whether you are on track for retirement. Hannah says, “You can’t expect your kids to take money seriously if you don’t.  If you are not on track with your own finances, then get help to sort it. Show your kids that it’s okay to get help, especially if it gets you ahead faster.”

Old financial mores won’t help these days, so if you want to create financially independent kids, then you need to show them you mean business, and that when you are in control of your money, you are in control of your life. At enableMe they educate, coach and support their clients to become smarter about how they spend, so to find out more about budget advisors, financial advice NZ and personal financial planning please go to http://enableme.co.nz .