4 Reasons Teens Should Fill Out Their Own Tax Return

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Tax season is upon us all, not just for us adults, but also for our children with part-time jobs. I was reminded of this fact when I opened the mailbox and found my son’s W-2. He wants to get his taxes done as soon as possible as he knows he will likely get a refund. I could just sit down and quickly pound out his taxes, but I want him to be involved in the process. There are several reasons kids should be involved in the process of filing their taxes. Understand Amount of Taxes Paid Teenagers typically looks only […] Read more »

My Daughter Is Taking A Personal Finance Class!

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My daughter asked me to look over her class registration form for her senior year in high school. We made sure she had all the required classes first, then discussed electives. I was tickled when she stated she thought a personal finance class was a good idea. I think her exact reasoning was, “So she can be a smart, independent woman.” A quote from somewhere I’m sure. Financial Education Is Important If high school prepares students for the rest of their lives, giving them the skills needed to be productive successful adults, then personal finance should be a required class. […] Read more »

Teens And Money: Developing Good Financial Decision Making Skills

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Sometimes we don’t realize just how much of adult interaction kids soak in. I’ve written in the past how sometimes teens can surprise us with great financial decisions, and I had another such situation occur over the weekend I just had to share with you. My daughter and some friends planned to travel an hour and a half to an amusement park to celebrate a birthday. They were first meeting at the mall to have lunch and then hitting the road from there. Just as I got to the gym for a workout, I received a text from my daughter. […] Read more »

Teaching Your Teen How To Eat At A Restaurant

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My daughter’s high school recently held their annual homecoming celebration. All the usual activities were included such as the football game followed by fireworks, and the homecoming dance the following evening. One activity not on the official list, but I added to my daughter’s agenda was a life lesson in finances. \My daughter and her friends spent the afternoon putting on makeup and doing their hair, and planned to go out to eat before going to the dance. She and her friends sat in a corner booth, while my wife and I took a table across the restaurant. We were […] Read more »

Feed the Teens with New Goldfish Puffs

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Summer vacation is here and our house is a revolving door of our kids and their friends. Teenagers are a high metabolism, snack destroying breed. Where they mingle, snacks are required, and a lot of them.  After a school year of eating the same after-school snacks, both Tori and Tristan have been recently begging that we try something different.  Walking through Target, the new Goldfish Puffs from Pepperidge Farm caught their eye. Goldfish crackers have been a staple of our snack drawer for years, so we were confident that the snacks would be a high quality. My main concern was […] Read more »

How Can We Love Our Children More?

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That’s How! Our Children Really Are The Future If you have children I can not think of anything as important as teaching them how to manage money at a very early age.  Think about it for a second.  If you would have learned about money at a young age you could have avoided so many of the financial pitfalls that most of us deal with.  I know I would have loved to learn this stuff early on.  It would have kept me from paying extensive amounts of “Stupid Tax”, as Dave Ramsey calls it.  Stupid Tax is money that we […] Read more »

Teenagers and Decisions

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Perhaps you are about to graduate High School. What’s next? The decisions you make now will eventually become your reality. The normal path to follow would be to choose a career with favorable pay, right? What college will you go to? What if I said you skipped a step? Maybe you should first consider how you are going to manage your money. If you can’t manage the money that career produces then what’s the point? 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck! So basically, 70% of Americans don’t manage their money. In my opinion NOW is the time you need […] Read more »