I'm doing a good job educating the current teenager.  It's the earlier version that I messed up with.  My credit was always bad, and I always paid cash, so he never really learned the concept of credit.  He joined the military, and suddenly he was an adult living on his own and got a lot of credit card offers.  Plus add to that the lump sum the military gives as a signing bonus, and he got off to a really bad start.  He got depressed over his financial situation and it affected his performance, so the officers had to step in.  He did financial counselling on the base, moved from the fancy apartment to on-base housing, got rid of one of the cars.  Now he's doing a little better.  He still does too much impulsive buying for my tastes, but he hasn't had to ask me for money and I haven't had any more of his bill collectors calling me so I guess he has learned something.