This post was brought to you by Genworth as part of a campaign by the Brandfluential team. All opinions, humor and thoughts in this post are my own.
I can say that when I was growing up I had no one in my life to turn to for financial advice, wish I knew about Genworth back then. When you are 17 with your first job most kids turn to their parents for advice on how to open a bank account, balance a check book and just overall financial direction but for me that help was never there which really sucked. I feel that is why to this day I am still not the greatest when it comes to money and why I am what you would call the spender in my marriage but thankfully Melinda is the saver. Melinda even had me start the 52 week challenge where you put money away every week for an entire year and I must admit so far it’s going pretty well (24 weeks in I think).
Picture courtesy of Tax Credits via Flickr
Being that I never really had any sound financial advice when I was growing up I wanted that to be different for Sabreena. Sabreena recently landed her first job about a month ago and like most teens had no idea what she needed to do to get started. First I had her read an article on Yahoo title Women and Money : Why You Need to Take Control Now. Again, I am not the best saver but I do have a degree in finance and have worked in the banking industry my entire career so I figured I could at least help her with the basics so that she could be a better saver than I was when I was her age. I opened a checking a savings account for her so that she could have her paycheck direct deposited with no effort on her part. The other day I helped her create a log in so that she could go online and look at her account to see her transactions and how much money she has in checking and savings (even though her savings isn’t to be touched) and I am also teaching her how to balance her checkbook. Melinda jokes and says Sabreena will be married and I will still be balancing her checkbook and doing her finances for her and I disagree. I want Sabreena to be an independent women who knows how to manage her money on her own with no help from any one (unless it’s from me of course, LOL).
Do you have teens that currently work? Are you there for them to help them with financial advice when needed?
