Remember the days when you knocked on the neighbours’ doors after school offering to wash the car or do the babysitting for a few bucks in the pocket.  Those days are long gone with many teenagers today juggling formal part time work alongside their education.  A recent survey noted that nearly half of those aged up to 19 and studying full time were also in paid work. 

It’s good to see many of the younger generation are out there working and learning about responsibility. Some of today’s teenagers however are earning a sizeable income with Australian Bureau of Statistics showing year 12 students are today receiving an average of $245 a week.   That’s a far cry from a few bucks earned from Dad for washing the car back in my day.

I’m not sure why the Y generation isn’t called the I generation given the amount of i-gadgets and i-gizmos in the market place, but regardless of whether you think they are the “Y” or “I” generation, a Commonwealth Bank survey[1] found many of these young Australians have no plans to save or budget, yet most of them still plan to buy a car or go on an overseas holiday. 

What’s frightening is that nearly three quarters of those surveyed had some form of debt, with around half not concerned about their debts stating they do not let the amount of debt they are in affect their daily lives.  While the easy availability of credit is causing some problems, it seems that mobile phones consistently seems to top the list for causing debt.  It makes you wonder how important those gadgets are …. but I digress.

The good news is that young people are keen to learn about managing their money.  The report Financial literacy: Australians understanding money by the Financial Literacy Foundation noted that the majority of teenagers want to learn about budgeting, saving and managing debt and see leaving school as a significant milestone in which they can start gaining control over their finances. 

So if you have a significant young person in your life, or you happen to belong to the Y generation, it’s never too early to start down the path of managing money.    Start surfing, web surfing that is, because there lots of great websites full of ideas and practical tips that set young people on the right path to managing their money.   The Financial Planning Association for example has created Dollarsmart, a web based and CD financial toolkit for teenagers to help improve their financial skills and give them confidence when dealing with financial matters throughout their life. 

It might also be of use to start looking for a financial planner who can help you on the road to accumulating enough assets so that you get to decide when work becomes optional.  A good place to start is with the planner your parents use, check the websites and make a few calls, it could be an excellent investment for you to make.

Please Note:

This publication has been prepared to provide you with general information only. It is not intended to take the place of professional advice and you should not take action on specific issues in reliance on this information. In preparing this information, we did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. Before making an investment decision, you need to consider (with or without the assistance of an adviser) whether this information is appropriate to your needs, objectives and circumstances. This information is provided for persons in Australia only and is not provided for the use of any person who is in any other country.

Popularity: 23% [?]