Money Smarts: Teaching Kids and Teens Financial Literacy for a Brighter Future
By the time most adults figure out how money really works, they're knee-deep in debt, side-eyeing their credit score, and wondering why no one ever taught them this stuff sooner. Now imagine this: a 13-year-old who understands compound interest better than their parents. Sounds wild, right? Not for long. Financial literacy for kids and teens is no longer a “nice-to-have”—it’s survival training for the 21st century. We are raising a generation in the middle of a cashless economy, subscription traps, influencer spending culture, and crypto chaos. If we are not teaching them how to make money decisions now, we are setting them up to fail later—with interest. Why Financial Literacy for the Young Really Matters Forget the old-school “save your lunch money” lessons. Today’s youth need to understand: How digital money works —from mobile wallets to microtransactions in games. Why credit cards aren’t free money. What it means to invest, budget, earn, and grow wealth. And most...