1. Millionaire’s Club: Raising a Money Smart Teen
CUNY Collaborative Programs: A NYGEAR UP Partner

2. Agenda: The Big Money Ideas
Setting Goals
Earning Money
Budgeting
Understanding saving and investing
Using credit responsibly
This presentation will discuss ways to introduce financial concepts to your 9th grader, including the best ways to spend and save money, budgeting, and understanding credit.
From ages 11 to 18, here are the big ideas that kids should begin to understand when it comes to managing money.
There are six major areas of personal finance. Almost every financial skill your child needs will fit under one of these topics:
• Setting goals
• Earning money
• Spending money wisely (budgeting)
• Understanding the time value of money (saving and investing)
• Using credit responsibly
You don’t have to teach all of these lessons at one time. Think about where your child is and what areas they may need to work on or have more information about. It’s all about practicing and developing habits. And we can teach about good money management even when we are still working on some of these areas ourselves – nobody is perfect at managing money.
This handout could be useful in figuring out your child’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to money.
[Distribute Handout – Your Teen’s Financial Identity Quiz]

3. First Step What are your money values? Thoughts Behaviors Attitudes
How to be a good money manager is a complex subject and each one of us has our own values and priorities when it comes to earning, saving, and spending money. That’s why the best person to teach your child about money management is you! You can pass down the lessons you’ve learned and the values your family has about money and finances. But where do you start?
There is so much to teach– how to earn money, how to save it, how to invest it, and how to stay out of debt or manage debt. Plus, there’s constant social pressure like marketing and all the things big companies want your child to buy and when they need to buy it – usually NOW. And then there’s the peer pressure from school and friends ro buy the latest brands or products. Also, money is much more abstract than it used to be, we don’t use cash or coins as much anymore. We get our money from a machine in the wall, we pay with plastic cards or order things online. So how do you teach the same money values to your kids that your family taught to you? How do you get the attention of kids who live in a high-speed, high-tech, consumer society? How can they learn and practice habits based on healthy financial values?
The first place to start is with you…..
What are your spending and saving habits, attitudes, and behaviors?
This handout can help you think through what some of your values are when it comes to money so that you know how to communicate them clearly.
[Distribute Handout A: What Are My Financial Priorities?]
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4. Including Your Child Involve them in financial planning
Cutting costs like utilities, groceries, non-essentials
Allowance and ways to earn money
Introduce savings and interest
What does it mean to be a smart consumer?
Check prices at grocery store and online vs. retail
Does the school or community offer finance classes for students?
Once you’re clear about the ways you and the other adults in your household approach money, you can more clearly communicate those values to your child and include them in the planning.
1. Involve children in financial planning of the household – For example, by involving the family in building a tighter budget, everyone will have buy-in for any cutbacks you choose to make as a team. Your efforts are more likely to result in concrete, positive changes if you work together. If one person is cutting back drastically and the other continues to spend money (or denies there’s even a need to limit spending), any spending cuts will be for nothing.
2. Help find ways for your child to earn money – either through a weekly or monthly allowance or getting a part-time job.
3. Show your child how to be a smart consumer – show them how to examine prices at the grocery store or retail prices vs. online prices including shipping
4. Enroll your child in a finance course – Does the local bank, university, library or community organization offer free finance courses for teens or young adults?
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5. Goal Setting Let them make their own money decisions Open dialogue
Bucket List
Needs vs. Wants
This age is a good time to reinforce the ideas of goals setting, saving, and basic budgeting. When they go to college, they will be responsible for many aspects of their finances and they can start learning and developing good habits now.
Goal setting:
High school is a good time for kids to make their own decisions with their money (within limits) even if it’s something you may not necessarily agree with. This is a good time for them to learn from mistakes without getting into big money troubles or debt.
Keep the dialogue about money open. And let it be a discussion rather than a lecture.
Ask your child what things are on their “bucket list”, whether it’s something they want to buy, thing they want to do, or a place they want to travel to. See if earning money can help them achieve these goals.
Help them see the difference between needs and wants by asking them to discuss whether any of the things they spent money on recently were items they needed or wanted. Talk about common “needs,” like clothing and food and “wants,” such as frappucinos and designer jeans. Discuss how needs and wants relate to one another: What happens if you spend all of your money on things you want? What if an unexpected “need” prevents you from saving for a “want”?
See more at:

6. Earning & Saving Earning paycheck Earning an allowance
Checking and savings accounts
A debit or pre-paid credit card
Investing
Roth IRA and compound interest
Earning, Spending, and Saving
Whether your child wants to save for a new phone or new tennis shoes, thinking about more long-term goals, like saving for college, can be a bigger challenge.
Ask your child what they do with the money they receive from jobs, allowance or gifts. Do they spend it? Save it? Keep it at home? Put it in a bank account? Many financial advisors recommend the 80/20 rule – spend 80% of everything you earn and save 20%. Depending on your child’s savings goals, they might use a percentage that is higher or lower than that.
But to begin saving, either short-term or long-term, your teen needs to have some income.
1. Earning a paycheck. There’s a lot to learn a lot from having a job. One of the most important things is the concept of “pay yourself first.” If your child begins to set something aside from every paycheck, their savings will grow. More important, they will establish a lifelong habit that can result in financial security in the long run. In addition, by looking at a pay stub, they can see how taxes affect their take-home pay and how many hours of work it takes to buy a pizza or new shoes. Help them figure out how many hours they would need to work to afford something on their “bucket list”.
2. Earning an Allowance – If jobs aren’t an option, an allowance will help your child work out ways to spend and save their own money. You could also provide an incentive to saving. for example, if your child saves $20 by the end of the month, you will give them an extra $5.
3. Managing a checking and/or savings account. To help them save and possibly earn some interest on their money, consider opening a checking or savings account with the smallest balance requirements and no fees.
4. Debit or pre-paid credit card - Some checking accounts come with a pre-paid credit card where you can determine how much money to put on the card. This helps your teen establish credit while at the same time protecting them from overdrafts and credit card debt.
5. Investing – your child may also be interested in investing some of their money. For example, you can tell them about a Roth IRA - Did you know that if a 15 year-old invests 2,000 a year in a Roth IRA for just five years (until she reaches age 19), she will have almost one-million dollars tax-free at age 65, if the account earns a little over 10 percent? This is the magic of compound interest, where not only does the money you put in the account earn interest, but the interest made on that money also earns interest. This should impress most teen-agers and may be an incentive for saving. Some mutual fund companies will allow your teen to start a Roth IRA account with the initial $2,000 deposit and low monthly deposit amounts after that.

7. Budgeting Create a Monthly or Weekly Spending plan
What is my financial goal?
What is my INCOME (amount coming in)
How much am I spending?
Fixed
Variable
Having a plan for spending and saving is called a budget. Start by asking your teen about a financial goal they may have. It could be saving for prom, buying a new video game, or saving $20 each week to go out to lunch with their friends. Or it could be a longer term goal like saving money for college. An important part of creating a budget is tracking exactly how much money comes in and goes out each week or month.
Explain that there are different types of expenses: fixed expenses that are the same each month, such as a rent, phone or car payment, and variable expenses , which change in price and frequency each month, like food or entertainment.
Explain that as they become more independent, more expenses will become fixed. Next, ask your child if they’ve earned any money this month (e.g., birthday cash, paycheck or allowance). How do they keep track of what they make
and what they spend? Explain that just like we need to track our outgoing expenses, we also need to track our incoming earnings.
This budget can help your child think through some of the ideas we just discussed and will help them reach their financial goal.
[Handout C: Student Budget Template]

8. What do Teens Need to Know about Credit Cards?
Credit card purchases are LOANS
Interest
Paying more than minimum
Paying on time
Shop around for the best credit card deal
Interest rates
Annual fees
Late fees
Rewards
If you do decide to get your teen a credit card, here is what they must understand:
1 . Credit card purchases are loans. The price for the loan is called “interest.” It can be very high, especially if you pay only the minimum each month and you cannot make late payments, or you will be charged fees and it will negatively affect your credit score. You can avoid paying interest by paying off the entire balance each month. Always do this, except in true emergencies.
2 . Shop for the best deal - Compare interest rates, annual fees, late fees, and rewards programs.
We will talk more about credit and credit cards as your child approaches graduation day. Many college students have or will need some form of credit card, so it’s important that they understand it’s benefits and drawbacks.

9. Resources NEFE – National Endowment for Financial Education
Smart About Money (SAM)
Jumpstart.org

10. Questions?  Workshop Evaluations
Additional information you may want to add to slide:
Contact information
Date of next parent event or workshop
Exit activity
Raffle
Please allow time for parents to complete the workshop evaluation form, collect them, and send copies to Sarah McConnell at CUNY via fax, , or mail.
Sarah McConnell
16 Court Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11241
FAX: (718)