How Does a 15-year old Save for a Car?

Ryan just bought a car. And she’s a beauty, too. 2002 baby blue Toyota Prius with only 57,000 miles. Owned by a 91-year old grannie who used it mostly to drive to church and back. No kidding. Problem is, Ryan can’t drive it; never mind he doesn’t have his license. He barely has his permit. [...]

Kids Earning Money? Set Up a Roth IRA

I took Nathan and Ryan to our broker this morning to discuss Roth IRAs. Both boys have jobs and I thought it was time to have them begin thinking about their retirement. John and I decided to match any money they made this summer, dollar for dollar, and, well, my boys have never been known [...]

Selling on Ebay, A Teenager’s Message

I asked my son, Ryan, to write about his experiences earning some additional money by selling things on ebay. Here is what he wrote, unedited by his mother! ~ Ebay can be a great tool to making money, anyone can do it, too. Kids, adults, it doesn’t matter! I’m Ryan, 15 years old, and I [...]

Spend to Make? But, of course!

I hung out in a second grade classroom last week to talk about saving money and then have the students make their own Money Jar.  It was a fun lesson and the Money Jars turned out unbelievable.  Kids and their creativity never ceases to amaze me. While we were discussing money issues, I asked the students [...]

Are Bribes Okay?

I took Ryan with me to hot yoga yesterday.  Nathan had gone a while back with my friend Rebecca and came back with stories about how he’d never sweat so much in all his life.  Then I started going and found out that he was right.  The heat, plus the difficulty of the poses made [...]

A Win/Win

I can’t believe I have to add figure out Twitter to my list of things to do.  What the heck?  And I’m already behind the 8 ball, so the pressure is really on. That’s when it hit me.  Ryan.  He likes spending time on the computer.  Why not have him do it?  I’ll even pay [...]

The Rubber Trees

Nathan and Ryan had a “job” over the holidays watching the neighbor Tom’s two cats and taking care of the plants.  They’ve done this job before, apparently well enough to get asked back.  Actually, they take the job seriously.  I know, because the rubber tree plants gave them quite a scare. About two weeks into the [...]

To Work or Not to Work

I was having coffee with some friends last week when we started talking about why having a job as a teenager may be a really good thing.  Of course, from a teens perspective, the extra cash is always nice.  But as a parent, there’s nothing like a “real” job to teach kids a few life [...]

Keeping Track

Nathan and Ryan received their second, and final, soccer reffing checks in the mail yesterday. “How much are you expecting?” I asked. “A lot,” was the answer I received from both.  And a lot it was!  Nathan’s check came to $210 and Ryan’s came in at $164.  But as nice as those numbers are, if you are not keeping [...]

Is Love Necessary?

I was talking to Nathan yesterday as he headed off to ref five soccer games.  Reffing soccer is good money.  Depending on how many other refs are involved in the game (there can be up to three), he could easily make $100.  That’s a lot of gas and burger money for a teenager. “I was [...]