Switched-On Magazine

Money is said to make the world go round, and for the most part, that really is not much of an exaggeration. One can argue that what powers society is something else like love or kindness, but let us be realistic ? money is the fuel that powers modern society. In reality money is an invention of man that was created ages ago to provide a way to exchange goods between people fairly. Without some form of currency the world would consist of a general chaos with people taking whatever they wanted from others. How can a system like that be so bad?

The system can turn on you when people unfairly obtain money or make the wrong choices and end up losing it all. So the question is: How well are teens being educated in the matters of money before they are thrust into a world that deals with nothing but money?

For a majority of teens, money is seen as something that adults deal with and something they receive from their parents when they need to buy something. Some teens that make their own money like the freedoms that come with spending their own money, but really do not know anything about managing it. Teens have a very spend, spend, spend attitude towards money that makes for very short term plans on what to do with it. Money is easy to get, there is an endless supply available, and what I spend it on today will not affect tomorrow ? these are just some of the misconceptions teens believe. Money is usually something that is an adult matter, but preparing the adults of tomorrow in dealing with monetary issues can help them avoid a period of finacial ignorance and instability after leaving home. In recent years, the economy has been anything but great, and a teen that knows nothing about money except how to spend faces a very rocky financial path.

Therefore, the answer is education ? but if adults have made it a priority to teach teens everything they need to know to be a functional adult, why is there such a gap when it comes to money knowledge? Schools offer classes that teach teens everything they need to know about money, but they are not mandatory. Of course, if they were mandatory, most of the information would not really stick ? as important as it is to learn, it may be a complete bore. Since a further attempt by the schools may just bore countless of teens, does it then fall on the parents to teach their children about this whole money thing? Maybe a one-on-one between teen and parent is the solution. Many parents teach their teens to drive, so why not finances? This alternative also comes with many factors that could possibly not make it accessible to everyone, such as a parent that also grew up with no real education on handling money. Then again adults don't always know everything, but they most likely do have experiences on what not to do.

Ultimately it may just fall on the teens themselves to become aware that they will be the ones in charge of the money soon, and attempt to prepare as best they can. Hopefully this awareness comes sooner than later to prevent financially na?ve teens from entering adulthood completely unprepared.