Financial issues are almost always thought to be the realm of adults exclusively. However, it is true that we might just need a change in the way that we think about this. Teenagers need to learn about personal finance just as much as anyone else. In fact, many would suggest that they actually need to learn even more than most.
Start with the basics
You can never know exactly what level of knowledge your teenager has on personal financial issues. If they are like the vast majority of the public, then they have very little knowledge about these issues. In fact, statistics show that you may not know everything that you need to in order to teach them. It may just turn out to be the case that you and your teenager are able to learn some of these things together. It is thus best to start with the very basics. You are first going to want to teach them about simply balancing their checkbook. This is to say that you are going to want to show them how to maintain order over how much income they have coming in and how much they are spending. This is just a simple monitoring of how much money they have and how much they are spending on anything that they buy. If you are able to teach your teenager good spending habits early, then they are likely to carry this with them for some time to come.
A discussion about credit
Credit is something that is inescapable in our modern world. It seems that we all have credit of some kind. There are some financial crusaders out there who refuse to take on any type of credit at all, but these people are few and far between. It is better for you to make sure that you are teaching your teenager all that they need to know about using credit responsibly. You want to explain to them that the money that they borrow on credit must be paid back with interest. It is best if they are able to avoid borrowing any money at all, but that is just not likely a reality in the modern world.
Teaching your teenager about personal finance is something that probably does not seem like it has to be done right now. The truth though is that they are becoming of an age when they are going to first start experiencing many money challenges. A first job, a car, and college expenses are just a few of the things that are going to be coming at your teenager before you know it. Make sure you give them the proper instruction in how to handle these issues and thrive in their personal financial life.