7 Important Saving Habits for Teens
byConnections Academy
6 min to read
High school students juggle academics, sports, volunteering, activities, and their social lives, all while learning to take on adult responsibilities. When it comes to those responsibilities, they are constantly observing and relying on their parents and other role models to guide them.
According to the PISA 2018 Financial Literacy test results, 96% of students say they learn about money from their parents and the other adults in their family. This makes the home the best place for children to start learning about financial literacy and savings habits. When taught correctly, the financial decisions you make as a parent, how you make them, and the impact of those decisions can go a long way in how your teen views money and the importance of saving.
While school curriculums—including online school curriculums—often include financial literacy for high school students, teens can also learn to be responsible with money by adopting simple savings habits. In other words, you don’t have to rely solely on a financial literacy curriculum at a K-12 school to learn more about being financially literate.
Habits To Help Your Teen Save Money
1. Teach them the value of a dollar
To learn how to save money, teens need to earn it first. They can start by finding and working a summer job. It could be babysitting, pet-sitting, mowing neighbors’ lawns, camp counseling, or even working as an intern at an organization.
Any job—even doing chores around the house—can help teens learn about and practice financial literacy because it gives them the opportunity to learn the value of money through the hard work, perseverance, and knowledge it takes to earn that money, and it helps them better understand why mindful spending, saving, and/or investing matter.
Additionally, when your teen has a job, you can teach them to read their paychecks, distinguish between gross and net salary, and learn the basics of filing taxes.
2. Find a suitable bank account
A survey by Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Bank of 1,000 teens between 13 and 18 years old found that 54% of teens said they felt unprepared to finance their futures. Around 49% of them cited the cost of pursuing education after high school as one of their biggest concerns.
Your experience with bank accounts and prioritizing one bank over another puts you in a great position to guide your teen. Start by asking your teen about their immediate and long-term goals. Do they want to save up for a new laptop, or maybe thier first car? Once they have their goals in mind, help them make a plan and break downthe financial requirements for that purchase.
For example, if your teen wants to save part of their paycheck to save here and there throughout college so they can graduate with an emergency fund already in place, you can help them set up a budget and find a bank or credit union that has programs and benefits that align with their goals and work best for them.
3. Learn to budget like a pro
To help teens navigate budgeting, parents must first teach a simple step: identifying short- and long-term goals. Once teens can do that, they can develop a budget and timeframe needed to complete those goals.
For teens, short-term goals can be anything from back-to-school shopping to attending concerts to going to camp, while long-term goals can be pursuing higher education, making solo travel plans, buying a car, and more.
Teaching your child how to categorize their needs and wants can help them understand the urgency and importance of a goal. While needs are must-haves for survival (e.g., medications, insurance, commuting costs, etc.), wants are non-essential things that are desired (e.g., eating at restaurants, entertainment, traveling, etc.).
Consider teaching your teen to follow the 50-20-30 rule of budgeting: 50% for needs, 20% for wants, and 30% for savings goals. This will give them a clear idea as to how they should allocate their income.
Teaching them to budget can also be a way to introduce them to credit cards, debt management, interest rates, credit scores, retirement accounts, and how social security works.
4. Master strategic shopping
Shopping at discounted rates, using coupon codes, and buying generic instead of name-brand products are great ways to be a smart shopper. Packing a lunch is another smart-shopper choice you can teach your teen to make.
When teens know what they want for lunch, they can make a meal plan for the week or month and shop for ingredients and produce accordingly, helping them to avoid waste. This practice is a good way to account for the expenses allocated for groceries versus other things.
5. Practice no-spend days
Teens are susceptible to eating out and ensuring their fashion or tech choices are up-to-date, which can get expensive. But learning how to make no purchases for a day can help them rein in their spending.
Choosing a few days a week or more where they buy nothing outside of necessities can help your teen learn restraint. For one, it allows them to pause and measure the pros and cons of purchasing or not purchasing something. It also encourages them to appreciate the things they have and make sure their decisions to spend are decisive.
6. Fix things themselves
Changing a tire, repairing faucet leaks, tightening door hinges, and even replacing a window pane may seem like tasks better suited for a professional, but if teens learn how to fix household things themselves, they can save the cost of having someone else do it for them in the future. Before going out an buying something new, see if the item can be repaired first.
7. Engage in savings activities and games
Financial literacy for students can be taught at home throughout your child’s life. Even before they become a teen, you can introduce them to activities that increase their financial literacy and give them firsthand experience at tasks that will help them become financially independent.
The good ol’ piggy bank
Easy and traditional, yet extremely effective when it comes to finding a spot to store coins that are lying around, a piggy bank is a simple way to save. Plus, it can teach your child to value the smallest denomination and how even incremental savings can add up fast.
Financial literacy games for kids
Playing games that involve the exchange of money like Monopoly or Life can help children understand budgeting, investing, burrowing, and even giving loans—all in a competitive environment.
There are also numerous app-based games that children can use to learn about saving, tracking their expenses, and calculating how much they would need for what they want.
What comes after learning to save when becoming an adult?
Whether your teen is attending a virtual school, is in home school, or is at an in-person K-12 school, they will soon transition into adulthood. At that point, they will go to college or get their first –full-time job. And that calls for them being independent and proactive. Learning to save at home before they enter the world as an adult can help them manage finances, plan events, and prepare for challenges throughout their lives. To help them navigate this crucial period, you can read our article on what it means to become an adult.
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