Based in Grand Rapids, MI, David Scholl offers clients of high net worth dedicated tax and retirement planning services. A current nonprofit project David Scholl is leading focuses on creating a platform for children in Grand Rapids, MI, and beyond to gain familiarity with core concepts of personal finance, such as saving, that will serve them for a lifetime.
The teen years are a pivotal time for learning best practices for money management. Still living under their parents’ roof and abiding by the financial rules set out by their elders, youth typically earn their first paycheck and take vital first steps toward financial independence during this time.
Carefully allocating allowance or pocket money is one important way of instilling a sense of responsibility. Money given may go beyond simple leisure uses and be targeted toward specific items in ways that emphasize managing a budget. For example, parents can give their teenager a specific monthly budget from which to purchase lunch or buy the ingredients to make their own meals. The money is theirs to manage, so long as they meet set budget constraints (and maintain a healthy diet). This approach underlines the importance of taking care of necessities with economy in mind, as well as the concept that money not used can be saved or used for other purposes.
An increasingly common money management technique in the digital age is to set up children with mobile devices that they must manage the associated costs and expenses for. A benefit of this approach is that dedicated apps on the device itself provide a range of expense-tracking resources that their parents did not have access to growing up.
