Not a worry in the world; not a single bill to pay. Well actually, there are plenty of worries in this world that don’t have to do with money. The graduating season is coming up, seniors are graduating and it’s time to start to get ready to move on, but can we? Some of us are so dependent on Mommy and Daddy that when we get out there we just go crazy and don’t know what to do.

Tony Bustamante (‘09) said, “I get about 50 dollars a week from my parents; I don’t have a job either. I have no bills to pay, but I use a cell phone that my parents pay for. My dad is going to buy me a car this summer. I have a saving system-it’s called my parents. Whenever I don’t have enough cash, I just go to them for it.”

Fernando Huerta (‘09) said, “ I get about 40 dollars every 2 weeks. I like to spend my money on clothes and shoes. I have a cell phone and a car that my parents pay for. I have no bills that I have to pay for. I have about 3-4 thousand dollars saved up for when I really need it.”

Nelly Haghbin (‘08) said, “I get about 20 dollars a week from my parents, which I like to spend on recreational activities like the recreation center. I have a cell phone that my parents pay for. I have a saving system that has about 150 dollars in it.”

So teens have troubles keeping a hold on their money. There is so much cool stuff out there and it’s so expensive! I mean, I want a 32gb iPod touch, who doesn’t - it’s a screen you can touch with your fingers! Who doesn’t want the new iPhone, or Voyager? They only cost 500 dollars! All the cool pop-stars own them! Teenagers in the United States between the ages of 12 and 19 spent more then 169 billion dollars in 2004. Their parents spent an additional 278 billion on them, leaving teenagers with an influence of more then 450 billion dollars in spending in 2004.

Michael Flores (‘08) said. “I have a job, I get paid 8.25 dollars an hour and I have been working a little over 6 months, I have no car, I pay for my own cell phone. I spend about 100 dollars a week on clothes and shoes. The only saving system I have is a coke can and it has about 1 dollar in it.”

Guys, it’s not late to get in the habit of saving money. We still can do it before we get out there on our own! If we start doing it now, it will come easier when we are on our own, because our economy is getting worse everyday.

A great system that I personally use is to put 60% in the bank and 40% for myself. I am using that system because right now I don’t need to pay for rent or other bills. So I will have a decent amount of money when I do have to pay for rent and bills. When this happens I will be in habit of saving my money and I will go to 10-20 percent in the bank and the rest for everyday life.

Think about it. If you get paid 600 dollars every two weeks, which adds up to be 8.75 an hour for 40 hours a week. Which would be a decent full time job, you can expect to make 1,200 a month. If you saved 10 percent of each paycheck, that would be 60 dollars. You would have 720 dollars saved up in a year for hard times. It’s not too late to learn how to build up a system that will help you to not blow all your money on every new gadget that lights up!