Any suggested advise for young people to learn about credit?

[youdontkillmoney]

---

@BluePoodle wrote:

---

@youdontkillmoney wrote:

---

@BluePoodle wrote:

So my 19 year old daughter will be home for summer. I would really like to talk with her about finance and credit. There are tons of books out there an budget and finance. Does anyone here have some websites or books to share about learning about credit?   I doubt she would want to spend time on MyFico forums but I think being able to discuss some basic topics would be great.  Has anyone else ever done this with their children or family members who are just starting to build their credit profiles?

What should be some things I should stress to her?

---

^^^

One thing you can show her is to keep records of her account balances to track them and in this way, remember them to pay them on time. Tracking accounts also shows her the little expenses here and there add up.

She's not a typical teenager. One credit I have to give her is she is VERY frugel with $. Both her $ and mine.  I am a single Mom so she is very concerned with making sure we don't go overboard.  She seldom spends $ on herself.  But I agree, it is a good lesson to learn.

---

^^^

Maybe you can devote that card only for her use only so you two will not go over the limit

[fezwhy]

I agree a credit card and explaining the pitfalls of having a card. Also throw in something about budgeting. I know adults who still struggle with budgeting. They make plenty of money but don't manage it well. Maybe sit down with her and show her how you make money last each month. I am doing the same thing with my 8 year old son. He now understands why I can't just go buy this or that and that you have to put something away for an emergency fund. He has 1000 in his savings and is very good with money. On the flip side my younger sister was about 20 when she got her credit card. Unfortunately she let her boyfriend use it and he maxed it out. She got another card and somehow that was maxed out.. Only making 7 dollars an hour it took her about 5 years to pay everything off in full.

[BluePoodle]

---

@fezwhy wrote:
I agree a credit card and explaining the pitfalls of having a card. Also throw in something about budgeting. I know adults who still struggle with budgeting. They make plenty of money but don't manage it well. Maybe sit down with her and show her how you make money last each month. I am doing the same thing with my 8 year old son. He now understands why I can't just go buy this or that and that you have to put something away for an emergency fund. He has 1000 in his savings and is very good with money. On the flip side my younger sister was about 20 when she got her credit card. Unfortunately she let her boyfriend use it and he maxed it out. She got another card and somehow that was maxed out.. Only making 7 dollars an hour it took her about 5 years to pay everything off in full.

Fezwhy, this reminded me of when my daughter was young. She wanted to go buy something and I told her I didn't have the $ for it. She replied, "Why do you go to the bank and put your card in that machine to get some?"  That's precisely what they see too!

One thing I have decided on is saving all my print outs of my 3 credit reports (wish I had kept my old ones when things looked really bad). Anyway, I am highlighting the positive and neg issues and will be discussing those with her. I also like that it shows the interest rates based on the scores for auto, mortgage, etc.  I think she will easily see a $ value in the better scores and she can see too how important it will be just to watch your credit. Even for those with good scores, it seems using a credit watch is valuable periodically. Just to make sure things are looking good and that there are no surprises!

[youdontkillmoney]

---

@fezwhy wrote:
I agree a credit card and explaining the pitfalls of having a card. Also throw in something about budgeting. I know adults who still struggle with budgeting. They make plenty of money but don't manage it well. Maybe sit down with her and show her how you make money last each month. I am doing the same thing with my 8 year old son. He now understands why I can't just go buy this or that and that you have to put something away for an emergency fund. He has 1000 in his savings and is very good with money. On the flip side my younger sister was about 20 when she got her credit card. Unfortunately she let her boyfriend use it and he maxed it out. She got another card and somehow that was maxed out.. Only making 7 dollars an hour it took her about 5 years to pay everything off in full.

---

^^^^

Good for her for paying that off at $7 / hour....what will power and i am sure it taught her an important lesson about money

[Roarmeister]

I came across a survey today that I thought was highly applicable to this situation.  Not sure about the US but in Canada, more parents are more afraid to talk about money with their kids than they are about talking about sex. The survey answer was fairly consistent across the country except for Quebec.  They have a bit more liberal sense of sexuality in that province (but they are also the most indebted province).

http://www.canoe.ca/Canoe/Money/News/2014/04/16/thetalk1000.jpg

So the fact that you want to provide your daughter guidance is excellent in my books,perhaps more parents should sit down and have the "financial talk" with the kids!

[BluePoodle]

---

@Roarmeister wrote:

I came across a survey today that I thought was highly applicable to this situation.  Not sure about the US but in Canada, more parents are more afraid to talk about money with their kids than they are about talking about sex. The survey answer was fairly consistent across the country except for Quebec.  They have a bit more liberal sense of sexuality in that province (but they are also the most indebted province).

http://www.canoe.ca/Canoe/Money/News/2014/04/16/thetalk1000.jpg

So the fact that you want to provide your daughter guidance is excellent in my books,perhaps more parents should sit down and have the "financial talk" with the kids!

---

Thank you! We are very close and she is a smart enough girl to learn from her Mom's mistakes!  I agree that more parents should. I am surprised that people are more willing to talk about sex with their kids, haha. I didn't enjoy having to do those lessons.