Every child can barely wait to grow up so that they can work and earn money … just to spend it all on unimportant things. There will be a day when they will have their own jobs, with their first salary coming into their hands. But we wouldn’t want them to blast it all away in one go, now, do we? This is where adults begin teaching the little ones how to be savvier with their ‘wealth.’
In the past, the first thing you would do is go into your local bank branch and deposit the money there. However, nowadays, Internet banking is the “real” thing. If you find the right bank account, your teen can have full control over what they spend and what they save. Keep in mind that if you teach your teenage children into following the right habits from an early age, it will be much easier for them later on, when they start thinking bigger: buying a car or a house.
The Before-Working Stage
Once your child is getting ready for their first shift, you can go into mom (or dad) mode by helping them out from the start. Before they start working, be careful to complete these two steps:
- Open a bank account: It’s high time that your teen can go shopping with his or her own credit card instead of yours. Opening a bank account will make it easy for them to receive their money, so it would be best if you had everything up and running from the start.
- Apply for a Tax File Number: It’s easy and it’s free. Each school should have such a form that you can fill in and send to the Australian Taxation Office. All teens will require a tax file number when they get a job, so setting it beforehand can make things much easier.
Once you have all of that ready, you’re good for the next step.
Open a Savings Account
This account will be attached to their main account, which will teach them how to save from their salary from the very beginning. Teaching them the joys of interest and money saving will allow them to save for the bigger things in life, and not blasting all the money on trivial stuff. Your teens will learn how to “grow” their money so that it could be wisely spent later on the things of most importance. For them, that interest will only look as “free money” which they would spend later on. Remember – the earlier you start teaching them, the sooner it can become a habit.
Now, all that is left to do is to trust your teen. You will see that the earlier you start, the sooner will they discover the joy of saving, and you’ll realise that they won’t spend all their money right away. Before you know it, they will have saved enough to buy important stuff, such as a car, a house or even a piece of land.
