Parenting Tip #12: Match Your Teen’s Savings

Wednesday July 30, 2008

I got the idea for this tip at the Motley Fool site. The article was about earning and saving money tips for teens and it suggested that teens ask their parents to match their savings. For instance, if your teen makes $65 in tips one week and chooses to put $25 in savings, you would give your teen $25 more to put in savings and he/she would be depositing $50 in savings. This would encourage your teen to think about savings first before spending the whole $65 at the mall.

I really like this idea and I’m going to talk to my teen and try it. Here are three things I will do when setting it up that should make it run a bit more smoothly:

I’m going to put a cap on how much per month I will match. This will keep me from busting my own budget.
We - my teen and I - need to agree on what the savings are for. I’m willing to match the savings of goals like a car or building her net worth. I’m not willing to match savings for the most rad basketball court sneakers for the upcoming season. She knows what her school clothing budget is, the rest has to be all of her own money or what is the point?
Savings then need to stay in savings until the goal is met or my money is returned to me.

What do you think of matching your teen’s savings? Are you willing to try it? Give us your thoughts and opinions in the comments area.

More Teens and Money Resources:

For more family friendly money saving tips, check out the August edition of the All About Parenting Blog Carnival: Money Saving Tips, which is hosted by the guide to the Single Parents site at About.com Jennifer Wolf.