Parents always ask me how to teach teens or college students about money.
They often want a recommendation for a book.
The truth is, it’s going to take more than a book or even a financial class in high school or college. Your children are watching you and, it turns out, you’re the most influential model of good money behavior.
In a report on money habits, Bank of America found that 80 percent of millennials believe their parents shaped their financial attitudes and habits toward money “a lot or some.”
In another survey by EverFi, most parents said that talking to their kids about money is important — but only 43 percent think they are prepared enough to do so.
Many parents aren’t prepared because they’re still struggling to figure out their own finances. And yet, not talking about money — not getting teens and young adults to focus on personal finance — could lead to major issues once they begin to run their own financial lives.
A survey from Citizens Bank found that 80 percent of millennials who have student loans worry about their ability to pay back the money.
We live in an age in which information is digested in 140 characters, in bite-size posts on Facebook or through the lens of an Instagram photo.
So how do you get your teen or college student to focus long enough on finances to make a difference?
If you don’t have the skills, for this month’s Color of Money Book club I’m recommending a guide with millennials in mind. It’s the $12.95 “O.M.G. Official Money Guide for College Students” by Susan and Michael Beacham and their 24-year-old daughter, Allison.
Susan is the chief executive of Money Savvy Generation (msgen.com), which she co-founded with her husband. Both have a background in financial services. Allison is a recent graduate of Miami University who is a national accounts manager for Rust-Oleum and writes a blog (lifesabeacham.com) that includes posts about money.
The book is a mere 52 pages — nine chapters and a short resource section — easy enough to read between tweets and Snapchat conversations. It’s colorful and definitely has a millennial vibe with its use of emojis and breakout boxes throughout like “Messy Money Moment” and “Major Money Moment.”
A sample messy moment: Being driven to exhaustion by your part-time job while in college. The money is nice and probably needed, but think about the consequences. “The bigger paycheck is awesome, but all the hours away from the library and your computer mean that you’re not studying enough for tests and not submitting assignments on time,” the Beachams write.
They also point out a host of financial tips that young adults might not be aware of, such as saving sales receipts or realizing that while away at college, they won’t have access to everyday items that are readily accessible back home. When I took my daughter grocery shopping for the first time for her off-campus apartment, she was stunned almost into tears at what she needed to set up her own kitchen. She kept asking, “Do I really need that?”
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“You mean, dishwashing liquid?” I replied. “Unless you plan on just licking your plates clean, yes.”
And she already had gotten a lot of money lessons from me. But they don’t really know until they start paying for stuff.
“If your parents are planning to help you out financially while you’re at school, you need to know who is going to pay for what,” the authors advise.
The short chapters are all framed around questions such as “How Do I Keep My Expenses Under Control?” or “Will Student Loans Hang Over My Head Forever?” Speaking of student loans, there’s a brief but helpful list of financial aid terms that every borrower should know. The book is available on msgen.com and Amazon.
Millennials are being trained to consume information in the amount of time it takes to heat food in a microwave — quick. “O.M.G. Official Money Guide for College Students” is an engaging way to communicate important financial information that hopefully will lead to a lot of longer conversations.
I know talking about money can cause mental paralysis. But this book takes major money topics and downsizes them into digestible pieces of information.
I’ll be hosting a chat about the book at noon Eastern on Nov. 3 at washingtonpost.com/discussions. My guests will be Susan and Allison Beacham, who will take your questions about managing money as a college student. Parents: Text, tweet or Snapchat your kid and invite them to join you online for the chat. I’d love to see some families participating together.
Michelle Singletary welcomes comments and column ideas. Reach her in care of The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. N.W., Washington, DC 20071; or singletarym@washpost.com.
