Should High Schoolers Take Personal Finance? Part 1

Personal finance (or money management, as I like to call it) is an essential topic everyone needs to learn. Money affects every aspect of our lives, from simply surviving to furthering education and career to making family memories. The earlier our children learn about money, the more wise they can be in managing it throughout their lives.

The obvious areas money effects are financial and physical. Money is a tool to be used to help us live and grow in this world. When it is not used properly, it can hurt us. When it is used wisely, we can bless our own lives, our families’ lives, and the lives of those we have the opportunity to serve.

When we can move past survival mode, where we focus on needing money for the basic necessities of life and worrying about when our next paycheck is coming, to being financially self-reliant, we have greater capacity to thrive and flourish in all areas of life.

I could feel the stress radiating from my parents, who were in an exhausting cycle of spending all their income, using debt, getting out of debt, then repeating.

One particular January, when I was 15, my mom was worried about having enough groceries for the month, because Dad got paid his January paycheck in the middle of December, which Mom promptly spent.

Sometime that month, my mom came home beaming one day, as she told me about her cousin giving her about a dozen bags tater tots from the truck load he was delivering to those in need.

After this experience, I became determined to never use debt, even for college, which pushed me to learn everything I could about money management.

Emotionally, when money is not managed well, we are more likely to experience high levels of stress. When mental illness is a concern, money is needed to care for those individuals. There are many things that can improve our emotional health. We need financial resources to be able to engage in those kinds of activities, for example art or sports. Developing our talents also helps our emotional health, because it can provide purpose and meaning in life. Financial resources are also needed for these experiences.

Spirituality is affected, because it can become more difficult to pay tithing, or a person may not earn any money to pay tithing from. When there is no money to give, we cannot contribute to good causes in our communities, nor can we help our families or friends. On the other hand, when we are self-reliant, the Lord can use us to more to further His work. For example, when you are self-reliant, you have the opportunity to serve a mission or pay for someone else to serve.

Recently, a family I know moved across the country. Previously, this couple would have used a credit card to make ends meet for a move, but they were determined not do go into debt this time.

How did they do it? Through acting in faith and relying on the Lord.

This couple remained calm, even when meeting costs didn’t seem possible. They would picture having a BBQ on their relative’s back deck in the state they were moving to.

Scattered throughout their moving process, money would show up. The wife usually did most of the packing, but she assigned her husband to pack his stuff this time. In particular, he was to pack up and go through his books.

As he went through his book collection and picked up his missionary scriptures, he remembered stashing money inside in years past. He decided he might as well check. There was $715 within the pages!

Not only is that amount amazing, but the fact that it had been there through 3 or 4 previous moves without being discovered!

Through this move, this couple’s faith in Jesus Christ grew. They know that He will take care of them as they rely on Him and strive to go and do what the Lord wants them to do.

Our social lives are effected by money in many ways. We can feel distant from our family and friends when we lack the money to be able to join family reunions, fun outings, going out to eat, or other events. However, when we have sufficient resources, we can be proactive in creating these kinds of bonding experiences. Specifically for our teenagers, sports, theater, band, and other social and skill-building activities can be chosen when we have the financial resources.

Most education costs money. College, trade school, books, online courses, etc. all require a financial investment. We cannot further our education without money. In order to pay for college without parental assistance, students need to start preparing in high school. With financial knowledge and skills, new college students can be more wise with scholarship money, as well as money he or she earns from a job.

When I was about 10 years old, my grandpa taught me a simple budgeting method. That, along with wanting to avoid the financial stress I felt from my parents, sparked my interest in learning all I could about money management. This learning and practice allowed me to reach my goal of graduating university debt-free with several thousand dollars in the bank.