Teens: Ignite Your Financial Future

With PrimeTrust’s StartRight Checking you can now gain a strong financial foundation where you will learn smart money management habits. Provide yourself with the tools to allow your money to mature as you do.

You can take advantage of free, on-demand eLearning courses, podcasts, webinars, and guides designed to help teens manage their money more responsibly. Click to view these resources provided by GreenPath Financial Wellness.

Throughout the learning process, StartRight Checking is designed to bring mom and dad along for the journey. StartRight gives parents real-time visibility into how teens are managing their money with features. Take full advantage of the account by:

• Linking your child's StartRight Checking account to your PrimeTrust digital banking profile to review debit card transactions and account withdrawals/deposits as they happen
• Setup SMS text message alerts to receive real-time balance and transaction alerts to your mobile phone
• Add notes, tags, and images to any transaction inside of your PrimeTrust digital banking profile
• Turn debit card access on or off from PrimeTrust online banking or our mobile app

If you’re not making a lot of money right now, it’s not the end of the world. What matters most is time, and your money will have a lot of it to mature and grow because you’re still young.

To bring the power of time home, if you were to invest $1,000 at a rate of 5% and let it sit for 50 years, they will have $11,467. Imagine how fast your money will grow if you start saving early. Start planting the seeds of financial knowledge now, and they will pay literal dividends later.

The next tip is to create your budget categories. When creating categories, keep in mind two main ones: saving and spending. Under these two categories, list out the different expenses that you’ll be putting your money toward. You can see an example of budget categories below.

Saving

• Savings account
• College fund
• Short- and long-term purchases (ex: a car of a laptop)
• Retirement savings

• Necessary expenses
  • Gas money
  • Phone bill
  • Lunch money
• Other expenses
  • Gym membership
  • Subscription services
  • Other food/treats (coffee, fast food, ice cream, etc.)
  • Clothes and accessories
  • Grooming and beauty services
  • Entertainment and activities

Most teens don’t have to worry about paying for housing or utilities, so don’t include those if someone takes care of them for you. If you do contribute to those, though, feel free to include them as necessary spending expenses.

Now that you’ve decided on a way to budget, it’s smart to always contribute to savings before you start spending. If you start spending before you save, there’s a chance that you might blow your budget one month and not have anything left over to save. By prioritizing the act of saving, you practice discipline with your money and make it easier to stick to the budget you planned in the first place.

Track Your Habits & Don't Be Afraid to Make Mistakes