Teenagers and money

[Ajw67]

As a teenager I was hopeless with money. Was in debt etc etc. Couldn't feed myself or pay bills. A total nightmare.

Nowadays I am very anal with money. Not tight fisted but everything is written down budgeted for etc

My ex husband is useless with money...bankrupt X2. You get the picture. We divorced years ago and have a 17yr old son.

My concern is my son and his spending. He seems to be going down the being useless route and I worry this life will be dominated by money.

At first we paid for his phone bill clubs etc and gave him money when needed.

Then we a set amount but still paid his bills.

Now we have increased the amount and he has to pay his own bills.

No success with any system. He is currently too broke to buy his grandad a birthday pressie and he has 3 weeks til his next allowance.

How am I supposed to teach him how important this is?

I don't think you can. He has to learn himself.
Maybe when his phone gets cut off because he's not paid his bill, it will be a lesson?

Does he have to do anything to earn the money you give him? I never really appreciated money fully until I started working, and could see that an hour was worth X amount. Prior to this I was given pocket money without needing to work for it, so £20 had no value to me as I didn't fully understand how long it would take to replace it should I spend it.

Make him earn his allowance and never bail him out. You could help him budget but if he thinks he always has a safety net he won't learn to be responsible.

We are moving to Scotland next week so lots bailing out going on so he can see his friends etc for the last time but certainly need to come up with something for once we are moved.

As for earning his money, sadly he got made redundant for his first two jobs but obviously once we are settled he needs to look for another job.

In the house he basically has to do everything we ask which isn't a problem. Thankfully no behaviour probs

is that a namechange OP? think you logged in on the wrong one for this thread...

How old is he OP?

OP said 17

How much do you give him and why?

Is he earning himself?

Sorry missed further update due to namechanhe

Lol....Sorry for the confusion I obviously have two accounts - this one on the phone and the other on the computer. I must have Registered twice over the years

He currently gets £100 a month where he is supposed to pay his bills and social life.

I still pay for school related stuff but everything else he is supposed to pay for

OP said 17

Thanks,...So she did,..sorry.
He needs to find some work again then but in the meantime, I don't think £100 a month will go very far if he has a phone and a social life. Until he can earn he has to cut back on both.

Do you think we are being a bit stingy with his allowance? It's hard to work our what the norm is 😕

How am I supposed to teach him how important this is?

By leaving him to learn.

Don't increase the allowance. That won't help him at all. He needs to learnt that grandads birthday comes before other things.

That said, how much is he having to spend each month?

Stupid name change again....sorry

His phone is about £20. His cadets is about £10. The rest goes on games and things like spotify

I think offering him a £50 overdraft is fine in this case. You can lend him the additional £50 but next month his allowance is just the £50. And as he’s had a big move his spends will probably go down if he doesn’t know anyone until he starts back at school.

It's not a lot for a month but really he should be getting part time work so his lesson should be he has to cut back until then.