Goal Setting for Teens

Teaching financial literacy has been my passion. Over the years I’ve had an opportunity to speak to parents who want to know how to talk to their children about money and want tips to help them become more independent before they go off into the real world.

For many parents it seems like just yesterday that your children were on their way to kindergarten, but now that they’re in middle school things seem to be happening way too fast. Tweens seem to go from having play dates to group movie dates right in front of your eyes.

And they’re fashion conscious and brand sensitive far earlier than we ever were. This is all the more reason for us to help them get a financial grip on money and the need for saving by talking to them early and often about ways to save and spend money responsibly.

Here are a few things you can do to get your tween ready for the day when you’ll need to cut the strings and watch them spread their well-prepared financial wings.

Giving your tween an allowance is a great money move. It will help you as a parent reign in their budget-busting requests while teaching them the value of a dollar and saving for the things they really just “must” have.

In her book, “Kids and Money: Giving Them the Savvy to Succeed Financially,” author Jayne A. Pearl says this about giving your children a fixed spending budget. “Allowance is an effective way to start transmitting to your kids financial literacy, values, and decision-making skills.”

When tweens have access to money they can better understand the meaning of it and the proper ways to use it. Trying to help them understand the basics of money management using something that they have earned and saved for is powerful. Often that new “thing” they just had to have when you were paying for it becomes less important to them when they come to realize that it will greatly reduce the amount of money they will have left.

If your family doesn’t embrace the allowance concept but still wants to help your children have first-hand experience with money management, another way to teach tweens about money is through interactive learning experiences and board games such as:

Life
Payday
Monopoly Jr.
The Allowance Game and
Cashflow for Kids

These are all wonderful ways to teach lasting lessons in an entertaining way. Not only will these games help your child strengthen their math and problem solving abilities, they’ll also understand basic money concepts.

Finally, encourage your children to save with a purpose and if possible offer to add a small percentage to whatever they have saved. This teaches the lesson of compound interest and how money grows if left untouched.

The next time your child wants a new bike, skateboard or series of Karate lessons use it as a chance to challenge their desire for what they want by having them save for it. As an extra incentive agree to match their savings dollar for dollar up to a set amount or a specific period of time.

The benefit of this to you is that your child will develop discipline and a habit of not spending every dime they get their hands on. Plus, when you make the goal one that’s reachable even if they fall short, you can assist them so they will be encouraged to try again next time.

The biggest thing to remember is to encourage their new saving habits and find ways to support them so they’ll actually think of it as something fun. Once that happens you’ve created a situation that will develop a positive attitude toward saving for a lifetime!

Tips in Goal Setting for Women

Careers in recent years has become very important to women. When before, women are expected to tend to the house while their husbands earn a living; now, women are slowly but surely climbing the corporate ladder and are even filling top executives position.

This is because the business community is starting to acknowledge the contribution that women make when it comes to business. They provide creativity and innovation to the company. Women are also more adept in marketing and in advertising compared to their males counterparts.

Although many are already becoming legends in the business community, their climb to the top is anything but easy. In fact, they have to work twice more than the males, perform twice better to show that they are really capable. This is because the stereotype is still there despite the recent achievements that women have made in different fields of endeavors.

A successful business career, especially for women, does not come easy. In addition to the mind set and the single-mindedness that is often attributed to men, they also have to take care of their emotional and family lives. Balancing these two sectors in their lives is sometimes the hardest part in having a career. They must do their job well and at the same time make sure that they are not neglecting their familial duties.

To help women who have conflict between their career and their family duties, here are some ways to properly goal set.

Prioritize

One should always come first. Problems arise when women try to do both and wind up shortchanging both. One should be able to define what is more important to them. For women who are single, prioritizing is still something that they can be flexible with. This is because they live a single life and do not have a family, to whom they are committed to. Things change when they get married and have children. At this point, prioritizing is already a moot point. Husband and children should be the first priority.

Think hypothetically

There will be times when your career and your family schedules will clash. A work emergency crops up just when you are about to go on a vacation with your family; a crisis occurs that needs your immediate attention at the same time that you have to attend your eldest’ recital; you have to work overtime just when it’s time to fetch your youngest child at school; these things happens and they can’t be avoided. If you want to be prepared, think hypothetically and already think about what you will do in these kinds of situations.

Set limits

Goal setting is not only something that you do when you want to get ahead but also when you want to stop and limit yourself. Set limits to your goals. If for instance a promotion will cut your time with your family in half, then limit your goals to your job and not seek for promotion anymore. This may mean not getting ahead of your career but hey your family is more important.

Make negotiating your goal

There are some people who get away with spending less time at their job and still occupy a high position in the corporation. When you are good at your job, you can actually become a consultant, which are paid really high but are not required to come to work all that often. To do this, you have to set your goal towards being indispensable to the company and to learning as much as you can from your industry while you are still young and single.

Finances and budgeting are almost never taught in today’s educational system. Although our kids learn advanced algebra and the history of economics, they rarely get the practice they need learn how to make a budget, stick to it, and start saving money as soon as they land their first job. Add to this the practice of credit card companies in targeting 18 year-olds and other college-bound youth, and the result is a potentially dangerous combination of irresponsibility and mounting debt.

This means that it is the job of parents – and the finance industry – to make teens responsible about money. And while it might seem complex to teach fiscal responsibility to a generation known for acting first and thinking later, responsible money management is one of the most important lessons you will ever teach your kids.

What to Teach Your Teens about Money

The most important thing teenagers – and adults – need to learn about money is that it is important to set goals. Telling your teen that he or she needs to take 10 percent out of every babysitting paycheck and put it in a savings account only teaches them that they need to listen to Mom or Dad. Urging them to save $1000 to invest in mutual funds along with your own investments allows them to visualize a goal and calculate what sort of returns they can expect later on down the road.

Seeing those numbers written down on paper can go a long way in solidifying a teen’s comprehension of finances. After all, safely invested money looks much like free money after awhile, and when your teen combines this type of goal with the goal of a large purchase he or she wants to make – say, a down payment on a car – he or she will have double the incentive to save.

Learning to Budget Early

Most teens should also learn the value of budgeting. In today’s society, the general urge for teens is to buy first, and ask questions later – and Mom and Dad will take care of the rest. Whether a purchase is made on a credit card or at the expense of this month’s gas money, many teens are later “bailed out” by parents who don’t want to see their kids racking up bad credit scores.

While protecting your child from a lifetime of bad credit is admirable, you’re often better off letting them learn from their mistakes. Have your teenager make a budget and stick to it. If he or she goes over, resist the urge to provide the funds they need to get by and force your teen to skip out on movies or new clothes until the budget is balanced. After all, learning about not overspending now – before your kids live on their own and the real danger of debt becomes a threat – can actually help teens in the long run.

No matter what happens, make sure you discuss finances with your teen openly and honestly. Allow teens to make mistakes, but require them to evaluate and learn from those mistakes. After all, fiscal responsibility is something than even many adult struggle with, and you’ll help your kids the most by starting financial planning early.