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Kids and cash coda

June 11, 2007

Interesting article on MSN Money about the earnings expectations of today’s teenagers. According to columnist Liz Pulliam Weston, most youth are grossly misjudging how much money they’ll one day make.

TeenagersWeston cites a "Teens and Money" survey that Charles Schwab released earlier this year. The poll of 1,000 Americans aged 13 to 18 from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds found that 73 percent believed they would earn "plenty of money" when they were adults; specifically, the teenage boys expected to make an average $174,000 annually, while their female counterparts expected to earn $114,200.

Reality calling today’s youth: Fewer than 5 percent of the U.S. population, according to the latest (2005) U.S. Census Bureau data, makes more than $100,000. The median earnings of men who worked full time that year was $41,386; for women, the median annual income was $31,858.

These kids need to be disabused of their whack financial ideas and soon!

Weston’s advice echoes that in my earlier Kids and cash post: Talk with your kids about money and its real-life applications. Do so early, well before they hit their teen years, and often.

You don’t have to crush the kiddies. Continue to encourage your children to dream big. Just make sure those dreams are rooted in reality. If they hang onto get-rich-quick, American Idol fantasies too long, they’ll be so far behind the real money curve that they’ll never catch up.

Financial carnival, not just for kids: The 104th Carnival
of Personal Finance is now available for your perusal. This week’s
host, Getting Green, has opted for a minimalist edition. Or, in GG’s
words, "Nothing flashy here, just 78 great personal finance articles."

I’m pleased to report that my above-referenced Kids and cash post is
among those included in the
Carnival’s Family & Money section.

You’ll also find the other 77 items spread across such categories as Budgeting and Saving, Credit and Debt, the ever-popular Making Money and the always useful Everything Else. Enjoy!

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The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

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TAX-SAVVY WAYS 
TO WRAP UP 2026

It’s over! With October’s extended filing deadline behind us, it is now time to focus on year-end moves to reduce your 2026 tax bill. 

You’ll find ways to do just that on the Tax Tips page (see the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of the blog), as well as the separate tax tip pages for each month, notably October through December. If you’re on the Tax Tips page, you’ll find a monthly list at the end of this column. If you’re on another blog page, you can head straight to the October tips; at the bottom of that tips page you’ll find links to all the other 11 months’ collections of tax advice.

Not to spoil what you’ll find in that tax advice, but it does cover such things as tax deductions for charitable donations, investment moves that could reduce tax due, and ways to max out your tax-favored retirement savings. 

Finally, as the year winds down, things get hectic. There are lots of other things to occupy our time, like the much more fun upcoming holidays. But don’t lose sight of taxes, since timing is key. To be of use, most tax moves must be made by the end of the tax year. That’s Thursday, Dec. 31, which also is the last business day of the year. 

So that you don’t miss that final tax year deadline, also keep an eye on the countdown clock below. It will keep you on top of just how much time is left to make important, tax-saving moves. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

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Comments
  • Carol
    19 years ago Reply

    $174K a year, huh? Boy are they gonna have a wake up call! I have taught a personal finance class to teenagers for two years now and I feel like I’m teaching them the most useful class they will ever take. I only get about 8 kids a semester. Why don’t I have parents & students lining up outside my door? I guess they’re focused on Trigonometry, like that’s going to be really useful in their future(!) Thanks for linking the Schwab survey. Looks interesting.

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