Money courses for teenagers.

[PickleSarnie]

Stupidly, I didn't think about the long term when I set up a Child Trust Fund for my eldest (and a JISA for my youngest).

I didn't put a massive amount in. Roughly what child benefit would have been but haven't had child benefit since it started being means tested years ago but kept up with the same payments. My mum has been putting £20 a month each.

My eldest is now nearly 16. I checked his fund and it'll probably be worth £22,000 when he is 18. I've stopped paying in now. And really regretting now not just putting into my own ISA that I could give him when he's older.

He is an absolute idiot with money. My youngest saves everything, my eldest has money burning hole in his pocket and he has to spend money right away. It stresses me out thinking he'll have 22 ,grand burning a hole in his pocket soon.

Are there any good courses for teenagers on money management? I was so awful with money these days but really good now. I just worry that he won't listen to me so would be good to have some outside input.

Does he know about it? If he doesn’t, start teaching him now and explain what it’s for. He won’t know what to do with it or how to access it, so you can guide him into locking it away.

I was planning on intercepting post and not telling him about it. I know it's not my money. That's fine. I just want him to get it when he's no longer an idiot.

But he had a letter recently with his national insurance number and there was a line in the letter saying "check if you have a child trust fund" and now I've been trying to change the subject when he asks. Which isn't ideal.

Bank of Dad on YT (Pete Matthew’s) or Rebel Finance School on YT and FB.

Surely he will know about it? His peers will be talking about the trust funds as and when they get them. Legally you have no leg to stand on and you are on dodgy ground trying to hide this from him.

Op does he read 1).grandpa's fortune fables 2) the simple path to wealth
3) rich dad poor dad.

Maybe even offer to pay him to read these books.

This often happens where no financial training is put in and then DC are given large amounts of money and blamed when they spend it.

Also get him to open up a Monzo or similar bank account where money can be split into pots.

I forgot to add the most important part !
He needs to invest his money in the stock market I assume his original tf wasn't ?
The exciting part about compounding and growing Wealth.via the stock market maybe enough to keep him steady. Also set aside a small amount to spend.

DS just turned 18...he has agreed we can move his £22k to a Fidelity ISA in his name, but with me still as email/password holder as he frreladmist he will just waste it. He will.want a small chunk to start uni, but then I will oversee it.

I would watch some YouTube videos with him so you can pause and talk about the content with him. I have been having conversations with mine since early secondary about jobs, salaries, mortgages, Rightmove to look at house prices. Plus all the bills the average person pays from Council Tax to insurance. Even though your son will use WiFi at home he probably has no idea how much it costs.

Both of my sons are money savvy luckily but they have seen real life consequences of people we know, namely their kids, getting into financial trouble or just wasting money and have nothing to show for it.

Is he planning on going to uni? I think with the recent talk about the effective interest on student loans, a good place to start if he is thinking about uni would be to have a chat about the effect of compounding interest on student loans. I definitely second him having a look at the rebel finance School. - a lot of young people are interested in the retiring early strategy and £22k is a massive Head start on other people his age… The rebel finance School also has an interesting section on the effect of say taking a fancy car on a lease as opposed to leaving that money in a simple global tracker fund. I think the trick here would be to try and engage him as an adult rather than start from the standpoint that he’s a complete idiot and likely to waste it (which may be true). one of the things I also missed when setting up for CTF years ago was the fact that the YP would have full control over it at 18 and frankly you never know how they’re going to be at 18 with regards to money. DD actually is very good with money And we talk about where to move her funds annually which works quite well. I think concealing letters and hiding information from him would almost certainly result in a complete lack of trust so I definitely would not think this the best way forward. At this age, you have to change your parenting style so that you get the best relationship you possibly can do rather than him reverting to childlike behaviour when he disagrees with your point of view. It is hard, do you want to shelter them from making mistakes but at the same time you have to give them the freedom to learn and figure things out for themselves. Maybe ask him to put together a proposal for what he thinks he should do with the money? It’s a serious subject so treat him as an equal so that he approaches the subject with an equally serious mindset. Good luck!