Back-to-school is a great time to teach teens, young adults about money

CLEVELAND – Maybe a teenager has her first job. Maybe an 18-year-old is off to college. Teens are often thrust into an adult world that’s filled with dollar signs, requests for personal information and a lot of unknowns. Now is the time to start teaching them what they should know and what questions to ask.

Most teenagers and young adults don’t know nearly as much as they should about money and how to manage all of the moving parts. If you have a high schooler or young adult in your life who’s buying that first car or moving out, consider having conversations to teach them that it’s important to understand how a bank account works, step-by-step; learn the importance of building a credit history; and know how to recognize a scam.

“Many kids don’t know what they don’t know, so they can’t even figure out what questions to ask,” said U.S. PIRG Education Fund Consumer Watchdog Teresa Murray. “With so many transactions occurring online, and so many threats out there from bad guys trying to steal our information, it’s more important than ever to equip our children so they can navigate their financial lives.”

Our consumer guide, ”What to teach teens and young adults about money, bank accounts, credit cards and more,” can help parents, educators and others with children in their lives walk through key issues, with step-by-step guides on opening a checking account, applying for a credit card, freezing a credit file and more.

See our new guide, ”What to teach teens and young adults about money, bank accounts, credit cards and more.”