Skills for Life After High School Go Beyond the Classroom

With so much focus on career and college planning taking place, financial wellness and life skills can often be overlooked during high school, even though they are equally important.

Why It Matters

Managing income and paying bills are lifelong tasks.
Managing money is a learned behavior and comes under the parental adage of “you need to learn this.” Taking charge of personal finances gives purpose toward future goals. If your tenth grader’s future goal is buying a car, attending college or living independently after high school, then fostering budgeting habits at this age sets the groundwork for a strong financial direction.
Saving money isn’t the only real-life skill to learn.
You know what bills your income needs to pay, but does your student? Explain the various bills that require payment every month — mortgage or rent, cell phone bill, utilities, groceries, insurance — and pinpoint which ones require priority because the amounts are pre-determined and outside of your control.
There will always be household tasks.
Maintaining a household is a string of endless duties — laundry, cooking meals, cleaning, paying bills, arranging schedules and vehicle maintenance. Shouldering all of them is stressful and exhausting. An effective leader knows how to delegate. If your student is asking for more liberties, such as a later curfew or car access, now is the time to negotiate a few trade-offs.
Starting early is beneficial.
The phrase “it’s never too early to start” applies to life skills as much as it does to academics and financial habits. Involving your student in daily household management tasks at this age sets a strong foundation for becoming a self-reliant and confident adult.

What Your Student Can Do Now

If not previously done, open a savings and checking account.
If your student already has a savings account for depositing birthday and holiday gifts, and most likely a paycheck, that’s a very good start. Be sure to point out the benefits of compound interest, even when interest rates are low, and the time value of money. Opening a checking account and using a debit card for daily incidental purchases is a good start to simple banking habits.
Set up online banking access.
Many financial institutions have a budgeting component built in to their online banking access. Monitoring various transactions and account balances is essential to managing money and preventing potential identity theft. Thieves are clever and even with the safeguards that are in place, it’s beneficial to keep a watchful eye on banking activity. Everyone is at risk of identity theft with increased debit card usage and online activity.
Offer to help.
Your student’s desire for independence can be the catalyst for offering to help with one or more household duties. Your student may already have an idea about which task they can now assume, most likely playing to strengths and abilities your student already exhibits. A budding chef may enjoy starting the evening meal every day. With possible access to a car, short trips for grocery supplies or shuttling younger siblings to activities give the adult in the household more time to accomplish other things.

What Your Student Can Do Later

Make it a regular habit.
If your student has assumed a household task with competence, acknowledge the contribution and take it off your list of daily duties. Explore other ones your teen can take on without affecting school activities and study time.
Knowledge is power.
Check into any high school classes offering personal finance or accounting. Encourage exploration into additional courses that may offer more in-depth information for your student.

What You Can Do

Talk about needs and wants.
Show your student all that is involved in maintaining a household and describe what bills or activities fall into each category. Explain your decision-making process when unexpected expenses arise and how you prioritize your spending to determine if an expense is affordable.
Give your student a monthly bill.
Decide if your student is ready to contribute toward a household bill. Perhaps a small monthly payment to you will offset the family’s cell phone bill in addition to creating a habitual commitment in your student.
Share your methods.
If you feel you have strong budgeting skills, share them with your student. If not, then here’s your opportunity to learn alongside your student! Explore a particular app to use together and set a common goal, whether it’s a family outing you can all look forward to or an anticipated household item.

Next Steps

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