(NC) Parents have a key role to play in teaching their kids about money and helping them develop good money habits early. Knowledge, skills and confidence when managing money will help young people throughout their life and will contribute to stronger financial well-being as adults.
When your kids reach their teen years, focusing on money matters becomes even more important. Here are a few things you can teach them:
1. Sending and accepting money transfers
Treat e-transfers like cash, because they cannot be cancelled once they have been deposited. When sending an e-transfer, your teen should make sure to:
- send money only to someone they know and trust, because some scammers may try to get money by e-transfer in exchange for goods, services, or a prize;
- choose a security answer that someone cannot easily guess;
- safely share the answer with the recipient. This means do not share it in the email notification message.
2. The importance of protecting personal financial information
It may be tempting for your teen to download and use a third-party fintech app to help manage their finances like their student budget, get rewards or check their credit score. Here are some general principles you can share with them.
It’s their responsibility to keep their personal financial information confidential. Sharing personal financial information could mean that no matter what security features the app has in place, the financial institution may hold them responsible for any losses resulting from unauthorized transactions.
3. The importance of reading bank account agreements
Bank account agreements contain important information, such as fees for certain types of transactions and the steps that your teen must take to protect themselves from authorized use of their account. For example, it’s important that your teen read their bank account agreement to know what fees are associated with each type of transaction, such as e-transfers.
As young people enter new life stages, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada provides unbiased and fact-based information you can count on at canada.ca/money.
