Teens and Personal Finance: Five Ways They Can Learn on Their Own
When it comes to teens and personal finance, education around money management is pretty non-existent. Another scary fact, according to Bankrate.com, only 18 percent of Americans have enough savings to live off of for six months. Furthermore, half of all families in the U.S. have no retirement savings. So what does this all mean for teens and personal finance? Unless they get the financial education they so desperately need, you can expect many young adults to wind up developing bad money habits. On a positive note, there are plenty of free resources that teens can access to help boost their financial literacy.
Below are five free personal finance resources for teens
1. Next Gen Personal Finance
When it comes to teens and personal finance, self-study is a great way to learn. 15 minutes a day is all it takes. Next-gen personal finance offers free lessons and resources that cover everything personal finance for both middle school and high school kids. Budgeting, investing, managing credit, and paying for college are just some of the topics they cover.
2. Junior Achievement
JA is a nonprofit whose mission is to prepare young people for success. On their website, you will find personal finance resources for both middle school and high school kids (for elementary age too if needed). Their lessons cover financial literacy, career readiness, entrepreneurship, and more.
3. Free Resources From Banks
Banks have tons of free resources for teens to take advantage of. Here are just a few banks offering some great financial literacy resources:
Everfi’s mission is to produce financially capable kids by offering free and fun resources to make financial literacy fun to learn. When it comes to teens and personal finance, they are good at breaking down complex topics like entrepreneurship and investing. For grades 6-12, they cover important topics like goal setting, careers, credit cards, and interest rates.
From pre-k to college, Visa is offering free lesson plans and hands-on activities that will help instill good financial values and knowledge in your teen. Lessons are broken down by grade and each comes with presentations, PowerPoints, student activities, and a teacher’s guide. Lessons cover money responsibility, saving and investing, comparison shopping as well as how to work with allowances and creating a spending plan.
TD Bank’s WOW! Zone offers free financial education resources targeting grades K–12. Teens can learn money management easily and simply. They will develop the skills needed for a strong financial future with TD’s money management and investing tools.
For grades sixth through eighth:
- How Checking Accounts Work
- Balancing a Checkbook
- How to Create a Budget
- How to Put Together a Savings Plan
- Tips for Comparison Shopping
For grades ninth through twelfth:
All of the above plus:
- Building Good Credit
- Learn About The Stock Market
- All About Car Insurance
- Everything To Know About Getting a Job
- Income Taxes
- Preventing Identity Theft and Scams
The perfect place to find free personal finance activities, lessons, and reading materials. They will help your teen prepare with skills for college and career readiness. Their “Standard” Personal Finance Curriculum is targeted at high schoolers and addresses the six National Standards for Financial Literacy.
4. MoneySKILL
The MoneySKILL curriculum covers a broad range of personal finance topics and is broken out into 37 free modules (in both English and Spanish). They will cover everything from how to handle credit, money management, insurance, and more. Furthermore, middle school through college students will enjoy this curriculum for free.
5. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
To achieve financial well-being as an adult, teens must develop the right habits and financial knowledge about money. With CFPB, young people can take the reigns on developing their financial literacy with these lessons that include saving for the future, borrowing money and choosing a career, and more.
