Why Don't Teens Save Money? Friday, January 13, 2012 By Seamus Ertel - Yahoo Advertising The message is beaten into you at the age of six. You hear it every time your parents do their taxes, every time you receive a paycheck from your part time job.  You think about it, but still your adolescence shines through. Why is it that teens don’t wisely save or invest their money, instead of wasting it at the mall or on the newest video game? I admit, I have purchased the newest video game, and I probably have wasted my money on many pointless things through out my childhood. However, this is nothing compared to Katie Broussard who managed to spend over $8,000 since the school year started. “I went out to eat a lot, bought a lot of clothes, spent about over $1000 on Christmas presents, and spent a lot of money on gas,” she explained. Broussard revealed that she has has a checking account and when she got a debit card for her 16th birthday, that's when it all went down hill. Her parents don’t worry too much about her horrendous spending habits. “I mean, it’s my money, so they don’t really care, but when my bank account got down to $26, my mom scolded me on my fiscal usage,” she explained. So why do teens mismanage their money? In my opinion, it's because we do not fully realize the effect it has on us later in life. While living in the moment, you do not realize that saving your money now can help you retire in the future and not work your entire life. However, since most teens haven’t had to work a full time job for several years in a row they do not fully understand what it would be like to retire from a job. By the time this does happen, the possibility of going into retirement, at least in this day and age, is very unlikely and near impossible. The reality is, saving or investing early can payoff later, but teens now do not appreciate the chance they have and, thus, fail to take advantage of the situation. Who is to blame for this? Well, I do not blame the parents because, let’s be honest here, how many kids listen to their parents advice anyway. I’m not saying they don’t listen at all, but sometimes they don't to the little things that would really help if we took advantage of them, things like “do your homework now and don’t procrastinate” or “don’t spend all your money you should save some and put it in the bank.” I point the finger at the schools. Yes, in my school we have EPI, which has a unit that covers stocks and “money management,” but it’s a very short unit, and it really does not get the point across. If schools took the time to stress how important it is to save money or had someone come in and talk to the class it would help a lot. A majority of teens would not listen, and I understand that because a majority never listen anyway. However, for the select few that do, it would help a lot.  Often teens are not made fully aware of the situation they are in and the endless possibilities that exist for them if they take advantage of the opportunities that they have in front of them.

Back to the articles list