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Tips for teaching your teen about money management

As a parent, you want to encourage your child to make good choices and learning how to manage money is a part of that process. While the early years might be spent teaching the basics of money and how it is used, the teen years bring an additional set of challenges. Allowances and money earned from jobs, as well as peer pressure to buy the latest and greatest, can add a whole new dimension to learning the ropes of managing money. However, these challenges create a new set of teaching opportunities. The following tips from Thrivent Financial can help you and your teen get on the right track towards establishing a financial foundation to last a lifetime.

1.) Create spending and savings patterns: Start by instilling the values of spend, save, and share in your teen. First, discuss using 10 percent of each child’s earnings for charitable contributions so that they can learn the value of giving back. Next, take an additional 40 percent and put it into a savings account. The remaining 50 percent can be used at the child’s discretion. Setting some easy-to-understand patterns while they are living under your roof can help kids develop good budgeting habits.

2.) Get started on a path to build credit: Set up a checking or savings account, make regular deposits and keep the account in good standing. Getting your son or daughter started on the right financial foot today may make it easier for them to someday buy a new car, mortgage a home or secure other types of loans. As an added bonus, having a checking or savings account allows your teen to learn about online banking and using ATMs. Sometimes they can even build credit without the risk of credit cards if you co-sign a small overdraft protection line of credit on the checking account. You can monitor its use and help encourage the student to pay it off as soon as possible after it advances.

3.) Set goals: Have your teen write down a list of certain items or special gifts that they would like to buy with their money and set a reasonable date for the goal to be accomplished. Having an end goal in mind can help teens put away the money needed for that special something and can serve as a great lesson on how to meet those goals through proper money management.

4.) Begin saving for retirement. Yes, it is never too early to think about retirement. If your teenager is working, he or she should consider opening an IRA. Even the smallest savings can turn into a considerable amount if given enough time.

5.) Don’t bail them out: This is one of the most difficult, yet important lessons to teach. If, despite all your best efforts, your teen gets overextended on credit, take a firm hand. Let them experience the consequences of bad financial decisions. It’s better to help them take responsibility for a $2,500 debt than a $25,000 debt later on!

The teen years can be challenging even for the most patient parents. However, by teaching important lessons about money management early on, you might be giving your son or daughter the gift of a lifetime of good financial habits.

This article was prepared by Thrivent for use by Janet Geist. She has offices at 12021 Pennsylvania St, #108 in Thornton and can also be reached at 303-451-7297 or janet.geist@thrivent.com.

About Thrivent Thrivent is a not-for-profit financial services organization that helps Christians be wise with money. As a mission-driven, membership-owned organization, it offers its more than 2 million members and customers a broad range of financial products, services and guidance to help them obtain a life of contentment, confidence and generosity. Thrivent and its subsidiary and affiliate companies offer insurance, investments, banking and advice over the phone, online as well as through financial professionals and independent agents nationwide. Thrivent is a FORTUNE 500 company with $134 billion in assets under management/advisement (as of 12/31/18).For more than a century it has helped Christians make wise money choices that reflect their values while providing them opportunities to demonstrate their generosity where they live, work and worship. For more information, visit Thrivent.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. THRIVENT IS THE MARKETING NAME FOR THRIVENT FINANCIAL FOR LUTHERANS. Insurance products issued by Thrivent. Not available in all states. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Thrivent Investment Management Inc., a registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC, and a subsidiary of Thrivent. Licensed agent/producer of Thrivent. Registered representative of Thrivent Investment Management, Inc. Advisory services available through investment adviser representatives only. Thrivent.com/disclosures. 2684447-081419

March 26, 2021

Dear friends,

Greetings, we hope this letter finds you healthy and in good spirits. As native Coloradans, we know that more needed snow could still be coming, but also that there are warmer days ahead! This is the time of year to celebrate Hands’ successes of the past year while fully moving forward in anticipation of who we will get to serve in 2021. We might be looking forward to 2021 more than any years in the past. It truly was an honor, as a staff and as a Hands community, to be here as a source of help and hope for single mothers during 2020. All of us, especially the women, have been on a dark and stormy highway called COVID-19. For 197 women served in 2020, Hands was like a gas station appearing in the distance just as the “get gas now” light came on. Those women needed the hope offered and Hands’ work on their cars to get work and protect their children. How many more are out there needing Hands services and support?

In 2019, there were a total of 236,496 Jeffco households. Of those, 13.8% (32,636) were led by a single mother, many of whom had limited incomes and significant childcare and housing expenses. Hands serves those mothers for whom a car repair could lead to financial disaster. A recent survey of Jeffco residents reported,

“financially vulnerable residents, especially those in or near poverty, often delay or cannot make needed car repairs in order to pay their housing costs or other bills. Once their vehicle becomes unusable or unreliable, these residents begin to experience employment impacts (e.g., missing work, losing jobs), miss health care appointments and human service appointments, and have increased difficulty maintaining or reaching self-sufficiency.”

In recent months we’ve highlighted in our Storytimes some of those women, including Soraya who is completing her business degree and Evangeline who will not have to take the bus to Aurora anymore for work; both caring for their children. There are so many more families such as these out there in Jefferson County and beyond. We need to expand our reach because they need us to do so.

We need your wisdom, support, and prayers. Please join us for a short virtual gathering of the Hands community of Champions on Thursday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. (time to be finalized) During this 30-45 minute meeting we will share with you Hands’ plans to serve more single mothers across a greater portion of the Denver region in the coming years, beginning with an expansion to the North metro area in 2021 (Broomfield and portions of east Boulder and west Adams counties)

Your engagement with Hands has been vital. Each check, car donation, volunteer, and connection to others contributes to the clients’ success. This work could not be accomplished without the resources provided by each person, foundation, church, business and civic group that is part of the Hands community of Champions. We are personally grateful for you and your generosity. We truly hope you can give a few moments of your time on April 8th for this important conversation. I am certain you might have an important “piece of the puzzle” that will make Hands growth possible.

Please RSVP today by sending an email to Daniel at daniel.mondragon@ehands.org. He will confirm your reservation and will send the link to join the April 8^th gathering on TEAMS a couple days before. Thank you – We are grateful to be engaged in Hands automotive services work with you. Together we are making it possible for working single moms to navigate all the dark and stormy roads they face.

Blessings,

Dan Georgopulos                                                                     Daniel Mondragon
Founder/CEO                                                                            Resource Development Director

P.S. We will be joined by a special guest from the Denver Broncos.

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