How to get a teenager to start saving money
Teens often spend all their money immediately on fast food, food deliveries, and entertainment, and ignore advice from family. Giving them a set debit allowance for wants can teach budgeting fast because watching that balance drain makes the impact immediate.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 17.1× more often in r/Parenting than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Recommending financial books and shows like The Psychology of Money or I Will Teach You to Be Rich
- 2Suggesting YouTube videos or TikTok content instead of books
- 3Parental intervention and direct control over paychecks
- 4Showing compound interest calculators and doing math on work hours required for desired items
- 5Offering matching savings incentives
- 6Giving a fixed weekly or monthly allowance via cash, direct deposit, or app-based payment
- 7Providing debit cards or authorized user credit cards tied to parent accounts for tracking or building credit
- 8Tying extra money to chores, grades, or requiring teens to find part-time jobs
- 9Covering basic needs and school events while making teens pay for social outings or non-essential wants
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“How are we handling giving our teens money to manage? Debit cards? Cash? Allowances weekly or monthly? Do they have to pay for certain things on their own with their money like outings with friends, movies, mall shopping, etc?”source ↗
“Now my kid wants her nails done, dinner out with friends, concessions at school games, etc. and I don’t want her to be the kid with no money to spend, but I do want her to learn to budget for things she wants.”source ↗
“Looking for any ideas on how others handle teaching their teens about money.”source ↗
“Our teens get their allowance direct deposited to their accounts 2x per month. It’s not much, it totals out to $40 per month.”source ↗
“My kids get a monthly allowance that’s not tied to chores. They have bank accounts and debit cards. We provide all of their needs and a lot of their wants. Their allowance is to learn money management. They give, save and spend from their allowance.”source ↗
“Give her a set debit allowance for wants, because watching that balance drain teaches budgeting FAST.”source ↗
“He spends his money as soon as he gets it…fast food, food deliveries, and occasionally a game or electronic gadgets.”source ↗
“His parents and I have all been talking with him about the importance of saving a portion of his money every week but obviously not having any impact.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to save money when your parents have access to your bank account
- 5How to save money for a future nonprofit tax-free
- 3How do I split my savings between retirement and investing?
- 2How do I know what I'm actually saving for?
- 3How do you actually start saving for a house?
- 9Where to invest money for a child when college plans are uncertain