Just for Teens
As a teenager, you might not feel like you have much power in your house. But in the consumer world, teenagers are a force to be reckoned with. Teens have significant discretionary spending power, influence the purchases their parents make, and spend a great deal of time shopping.
In time, you will be responsible for buying more and more essentials (food, housing, education, transportation) so learning good money management skills now is critical. Fortunately, good money management skills are not difficult to learn or hard to follow:
- Establish financial goals. We’re not necessarily talking about your retirement here! Just things like future schooling, or even a car or backpacking around Europe. It’s always good to include a fund for emergencies too;
- Follow a budget. Buy keeping receipts or writing down what you spend each day for a week, you can establish what your current spending habits are and what areas need to be scaled back in order to reach your financial goals;
- Pay yourself first. Consistent, frequent, small deposits of just 10% of your earnings in a long-term savings account over an extended period of time will ensure significant growth of your money. Have this money automatically transferred into a savings account on each payday and you’ll never even notice the difference.
Many teens are interested in buying a bike, purchasing a cell phone, and returning items if you change your mind. We encourage you to explore this site to learn more about buying retail and the various store policies that you will encounter, and other top consumer issues.
Working Teens – Budget and Save
Most teenagers have some financial goals or at least a list of things they would like to buy.
Determine what your goals are, write them down and establish how much to save each week and what will be left to spend. List your needs and your wants separately. It’s o.k. to save a little for the latest fashion must-have, but your savings is for your needs first and what’s left can be used on those items on the ‘want’ list.
- Start by keeping a ledger of daily spending and save all receipts. Do this for a couple of weeks and the unnecessary expenses should become obvious - then you can determine where cuts can be made.
- Pay yourself first and put at least 10% of your earnings into a savings account for emergencies.
- Have a money saving strategy that will work for you and try not to make too many changes at one time. There are key areas where we all can save money; entertainment, clothing, transportation, cell phones and food and beverages.
- Consider sharing DVDs with friends instead of buying new ones. Share magazines and look for second hand CDs and movies. However, do not download DVDs or CDs and make copies for distribution. Click here to find out about Copyright laws in Bermuda.
- Don’t be afraid to shop the sale racks when looking for that new outfit. Most local stores have good sales and if you are patient and shop around there are savings to be had. Check the labels and try to buy clothes that are washable rather than dry clean only.
- Motorbike riders can really save on gas if they walk around the corner to your friend’s house instead of revving up the bike for a two minute ride. Get a peddle bike if you’re working close to home.
- Cell phones, and more specifically, BlackBerry’s, seem to be the must-have item for all teenagers. Be careful, this is one area where many a tear has been shed when the bill arrives. Especially those teens that took the BlackBerry on vacation and came back to an up close and personal encounter with the dreaded roaming charges. Data roaming is expensive. If you don’t really need your mobile device when you are away, turn it off.
- Make sure you are on the right cell phone plan, get unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited text messages, use your device during off-peak hours and always check the bill.
- Eating out takes a big chunk of any budget. Pack a lunch, use up those left-over’s and cut back on eating out every day. A lot of restaurants serve large portions that most people can’t complete, so instead of everyone ordering separately share meals amongst your friends.
Budgeting and saving money doesn’t have to be difficult. Find easy ways to cut unnecessary costs and save on a regular basis.
Internet Tips for Teens
The Internet is a wonderful tool for teens, but there are some dangers and you should know how to avoid them.
The Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce (METEC) is partnering with Hector’s World to bring innovative and media rich educational tools to Bermuda as a part of their ongoing initiative to promote child safety.
Their informative website, Cybertips, is a great source of information on internet safety. This site provides practical tips, resources and contact information to help parents, children and educators to use the Internet safely and be on guard against online predators and other inappropriate online content.
Click here to visit the Cybertips website.