Hey there! It's Talk About Money Tuesday, my favorite day of the week!π€
Well, I have to be honest, folks. I keep seeing fall clothes in the stores and I don't like it. Can I enjoy this last bit of summer without all these reminders that fall is coming? π
With new-season clothes in stores β sometimes months before we need them β it's easy for young people to think they need to shop now to keep up with what everyone else seems to be buying. So this is a good time to teach them that what's in someone else's cart doesn't determine what belongs in yours.
Kids are surrounded by financial scoreboards: sneakers, vacations, cars, and gadgets. What they can't see are the debt, family help, savings, or financial stress behind them.
Parents and mentors can help young people focus on their own income, spending, saving, and financial goals by teaching them to ask: "Does this money choice work with my numbers?"
Learning to ask that question can help young people build financial confidence without using someone else's lifestyle to define their success.
Money Stat
$47%
A sizable share of young adults rely on financial help from family and friends to make ends meet. An annual Federal Reserve report that measures how households fare economically, revealed that 47% of adults 18 to 29 received help from someone outside of their household to pay an expense in 2024-2025.
The most common assistance: money to pay for a cell phone bill, general expenses, or housing costs like rent, mortgage, or utilities.
Money in the News
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The news: Some young adults are making their financial limits clear to others instead of hiding them. It's called "loud budgeting" and Gen Z is a fan.
What it means for young people: A big paycheck doesn't always equal financial security. Someone earning six figures can have financial pressures that differ from someone earning half as much. "Loud budgeting" gives young people a socially acceptable way to say, "That doesn't work for my numbers."
Tips for parents & mentors: Because so many young people are talking confidently about their budget constraints, give your kids some practice doing that.
Ask your kid, "What would you say if your friends wanted you to spend $75 tonight and you had another goal for that money?" Let them come up with an answer on their own and then help them practice a simple phrase such as, "That's not in my budget right now, so I'm going to have to pass."
The lesson here for your child is that having a budget gives them an excellent reason to say no without feeling embarrassed.
Get in the Zone
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Money skill: How to build a personal "financial scoreboard"
Why it matters: Young people can't control someone else's lifestyle. But they can learn to control and monitor their own financial decisions. A simple personal scoreboard turns "Am I doing as well as them?" into "Am I moving toward what I want?"
Try this: The healthiest financial comparison may be the one a young person makes with their own numbers from six months ago.
βοΈ Have your child choose three numbers to check once a month, such as savings balance, optional spending, and any money they owe (that loan from their sister, brother, or another family member absolutely counts).
βοΈ Help them record the numbers and look at how they changed from the month before. Ask questions like "What do you notice?" or "Is this moving you closer to something you want?"
βοΈ Rather than judging the numbers they see as good or bad, make the exercise about them spotting patterns and making adjustments.
Over time, these monthly check-ins can help them see their financial choices more clearly.
Smart Money Quiz
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What's the best way for someone to decide whether they can afford a $100 purchase?
A. Their annual income
B. Whether their friends can afford the same purchase
C. Whether they can put the purchase on their credit card
D. How much money remains after their obligations, savings goals, and planned spending
(The answer is at the end of this newsletter.)
The Language of Money
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Use these youth-friendly definitions to talk to young people about what living within their means actually means:
Cash flow: The money coming into your life and the money going out. If more comes out than comes in, you have a problem to solve.
Financial margin: Money left over after your regular expenses. Having some margin gives you room to handle surprises and make choices.
Lifestyle inflation: When you spend more money because you make more money.
Opportunity cost: What you give up when you choose to spend money one way. A $100 purchase could mean $100 less for another goal.
Looking for more easy-to-understand personal finance terms to share with kids, teens, and young adults? ββDownload my Language of Money freebie. β
Loose Change
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ποΈ"Keeping up with the Joneses" has a real-life Jones family behind it.
π¬ Behavioral scientists dug into why people overestimate the wealth of others.
π₯ I've never heard of these Joneses, but apparently they've been around since the mid-1950s.
Thanks for reading! If you want to read some of my past newsletters, click here. And if this newsletter was forwarded to you, please subscribe βhereβ.
'Til next time,
Audrey
βFounder &
Certified Financial Education Instructorβ
The FinLit Zone
ANSWERβ
βD. How much money remains after their savings goals and planned spending. A person's income matters, but affordability depends on what that income already needs to cover. A credit card can make a purchase possible today, but that's not the same as affordable.
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