Title: Teaching your teen good money habits - With Glen James, host of My Milennial Money

My name's Glen James. I live on the new South Wales, Central Coast and I've lived here all my life. I run a money podcast called, "My Millennial Money." I left school, I did a trade. Then I studied finance. Then I became a financial advisor. And now I'm here doing a podcast. 

Title: what if I'm not so good with money myself?

If the parents are self aware enough to know that they're not so good with money, I think they should be self aware enough to know that well, hey, how can we help our kids with something that we're not so good at and maybe even say to their teens, "Hey, let's do this together. "Let's both learn to be better with our money." So I think the best thing to do with being a practical, encouraging example for your kids are both set a goal, both set a time limit, both set a monthly amount and check in on each other each week, each month and work to your goals together. Even though the amounts and goals could be very different, do it together. 

Title: How do I explain budgeting to my teen?

The money that we get each week, each month, are we gonna give some, are we gonna save some and we're gonna spend some. What that can do is it can help you have balance in your financial life. I give some, save some and then spend some in that order. So I first give some, there's always someone worse off than me, so I wanna help others. Then I need to save some. So I need to look after future Glen. I put some away in a savings account or an investment account, but then I need to spend some because I've got life expenses. So I think whatever way you cut it, I would encourage parents to set some type of framework around money with their kids. So then it doesn't matter if their teenager earns a hundred dollars that week, because they've just got a framework that works with any income. 

Title: How do I teach my teen about the dangers of credit?

The best way to lead is by example, because more things are caught than taught in a family. I think you need to be very serious. If you are going to have that credit card that Afterpay, that buy now pay later discussion with your family and particularly your kids. It's probably going to be a bit rich if you're out there, racking up credit yourself. I think if there's one kind of practical that you can start to talk to your kids about, it's like, no, we don't buy anything that we consume with credit. We save up, we get a goal, we put a plan in place. And then when we buy it, the item, the object, the experience is more satisfying because I've had to work for it. 

Title: Should my teen have a job?

So we know every family is completely different. We get that. But as an example, if you've got a young teen that you know, that they can benefit with less distractions while they study, which might mean not working after hours or after school, maybe you can say, "Hey, we'll give you an allowance "or some pocket money each week "on the proviso that if we're giving you $40 a week, "we wanna see written budget "of how you're allocating that in your life. "And it must include, you've gotta give some, "you've gotta save some, you've gotta spend some, "and in that order."