Your First Paycheck- Teaching Youth about Money

Your First Paycheck- Teaching Youth about Money

As Career Centers we help people of all ages find jobs and employment, including youth ages 14 and up.

One of the most important things we teach as party of our youth programs is financial literacy and the importance of managing your money from your paychecks!

If you think your youth could benefit from learning more in depth about managing money from their first job, reach out to your local career center and see what resources they have to offer you for free!

There are options such as budget worksheets, free workshops, free online courses, and more.

If your youth prefers to explore it themselves independently, then here are a couple great resources for you to explore:

1. Local Library- Not only is there unlimited book access, but many libraries have youth oriented programs and often partner with local agencies to provide financial literacy information and programs.

2. Books- Some books we can recommend for exploring financial literacy are: I Want More Pizza: Real World Money Skills For High School, College, And Beyond by Steve Burkholder, and Heads Up Money by DK. These books start at the very basics of what money is and how one can budget, save, and how to track spending between wants and needs.

3. Community Credit Union- Credit Unions are community run and community owned financial institutions that often offer special banking accounts, classes, and other learning tools to help teach youth. Some even have programs for ages 5 and up! They are a great real world way for a youth to get more advanced and in-depth information on financial management, and can even provide an opportunity to put their learning into practice.

These are all great free resources for independent exploration, but if you and your youth need more help and guidance navigating employment and financial literacy, Employment and Training Specialists can provide that at your local Career Center!

If you know a youth looking for help getting their first job, or a youth who has their first job and needs some help figuring out how to management, remember, your local career center is here to help!