How Smart Tweens and Tweens Set and Achieve Financial Goals

Poet Maya Angelou once said “when you know better you do better. So why is that every time a new gadget, a new nail polish, or a cute skirt is displayed in the window at the mall you have no money to purchase them? Everyone is familiar with this scenario: Just Bieber, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or Kesha is touring your city and you heard the concert was amazing to witness, but there is no money left from baby sitting or completing chores because you spent it as fast as you earned it. So any chance you had of going to the Kesha concert is a distant dream, but your friends will tell you all about it at school the next week. Wouldn’t it be great to have the money saved to purchase concerts tickets without the stress of not knowing how you will pay for it.




Why is it important to save even if you only save 10% of all the monies you earn? Saving your money will help you pay for big ticket purchases, achieve financial goals that you have set for yourself, and let’s not forget the rainy day fund. Buying Lady Gaga concerts tickets would be considered a big ticket item, ordering your yearbook would be a financial goal that your will want to accomplish before the payment due date. Both of these purchases are important and must be planned for. So how do you save and spend your money? One you must decide what it is you want to purchase, and what is the average price? Once you have assessed the cost make a decision for a timeline, your timeline can be a week, a month, 6 months or a year. After you have established a timeframe take the cost of your goal and divide it by the timeline. For example if you want an Ipad at a cost of $600.00 and you want it in 6 months the formula is (cost of goal/ timeframe = savings goal) $600.00/6 months = $100 per month is your savings goal. You must save $100.00 per month for six months or $25.00 per week for 24 weeks. Once you know what your weekly or monthly savings goal is you can now develop a strategy. Your strategy might be starting a dog walking business, or raking leaves, and it may mean doing more chores for additional allowance money. Whatever your strategy is to create income, be consistent for the duration of your timeframe. You might even get to your goal much quicker than you planned. Smart Teens and Tweens make smart purchases because they plan for their spending so they never miss out on what’s hot.