The Best Teen Budget Worksheet to Teach Optimal Saving Habits

Teens and kids alike love instant gratification. They love to BUY things. Anything. All the things. But we as parents know how important it is to teach kids to budget their money and for them to learn how to save money. So we’ve put together the best teen budget worksheet to teach kids all about the budgeting process and develop optimal saving habits.

Here’s how to build a budget

Start with Income

First thing’s first. Our lovely teens need to be very clear about how much money is coming in the door. They also need to know where it’s coming from, and on what days it gets deposited into their bank account.

Teens could have multiple income streams, just like us adults.

Maybe you have them on a fixed weekly or monthly allowance.

Maybe they do random jobs for neighbors, like babysit, walk dogs, or mow lawns.

And then maybe they actually have a part time job, where they’re paid every other week based on an hourly rate.

In the Budget Worksheet, have your teen start by filling out the top portion for sources and amounts of income.

QUICK TIP: You can even save copies of this worksheet for every month, so they can plan ahead throughout the year.

Have them total up the amounts at the bottom. And then drill this number into their head. This is how much they have – no more. And they’re going to have to figure out next how they want to spend – or save (or invest or gift) their earnings.

Break It Down – How to Divide Their Earnings

The budgeting worksheet is where we start to help our teens figure out where their money is going to go. Start this section by having them come up with a percentage of their income that they want to devote to each of the four following categories:

• Spending
• Saving
• Investing
• Gifting

Maybe they’ll put money toward all of these categories, or maybe only spending and saving to start – branching out into investing and gifting (charitably) as they get more comfortable with their budget and spending habits.

Teens are incredibly lucky, because they typically will have a lot of freedom in making choices in how they spend their money at this stage in life.

They don’t have a lot of fixed expenses, like rent, utilities, and car payments. So it’s a little easier to just say, ‘hey, I’m going to put 25% of my earnings towards savings.’ They don’t always have to be burdened by expenses that we adults maintain.

Move Onto Expenses

For teens, this is the fun part of budgeting – figuring out how to spend the money that burns deep holes in their pockets. Because, as I just mentioned, they’re not beholden to a lot of fixed monthly expenses each month.

If I were a kid again, man would I go back and save more money. I’d tell my younger self to forego the car in favor of a nice investment that would yield dividends down the road.

But I digress, because sometimes we just have to learn these lessons along the way. But we wouldn’t be good parents, though, if we didn’t teach our teens valuable lessons like budgeting, now would we?

If your kids do not need to make car payments or other fixed payments, then they can choose a % of their income that makes sense for them, but still allows them some wiggle room to have fun, while learning the importance and benefit of also saving money at the same time.

Teaching Teens to Budget Savings

This is really one of the hardest things for teens to want to do – save their money. I’ve been hard-pressed to meet a teen who wasn’t itching to buy the latest and greatest iPhone, or pair of shoes, or just use their money to go do something fun with their friends.

To teens, saving money equals BORING. And sometimes there’s no getting around that mentality. Saving money is one of those things that we have to drill into their heads – to cement into their habits – early on….

And as parents, we have to HELP them stick to their goals, so they can taste what success feels like.

Let me repeat that… PARENTS: It’s up to YOU to teach your kids how to be regimented in this regard. Because it doesn’t come naturally to most young people. So if you want to teach them to be better at saving money, you have to teach them how to do it – and to hold them accountable – so that they reach their goals.

So where to start?

I recommend starting with a percentage of your teen’s overall budget that feels substantial – but not overwhelming. Maybe it’s 35%, maybe it’s 25%. A teen budget at this age is malleable, so if one amount is too little or too much, it can easily be changed.

HELPFUL TIP: Help your kids understand why they are saving. Have them set a goal of what they are saving for.

Eventually, that teen is going to want a car. Or an apartment. And money – to a large extent – buys freedom. So the more of it they have saved, the better off they’ll be.

And – in my humble opinion – the harder it was to save their money that they worked so hard and so long to earn – the less they’re going to want to part with it – so it becomes a virtuous cycle of earning.

Investing for Literal Dividends

Investing is so important, and you can do one of two things:

You can put an extra percentage away to help your teen learn the stock market – or put into a more conservative vehicle, like buying gold or silver.

Or, you can use a portion of your savings money to do the same. So maybe part of your teen’s income goes to his or her savings account, and part actually goes toward an investment of some kind.

Gifting Pays Dividends To Your Soul

Gifting, to a large extent, is equally important as investing – but it pays a different type of dividend. It pays a dividend that’s more like food for your soul – because we feel so good when we can help others. Our generation is very focused on doing well by others, and part of that is teaching our kids to put some of their income toward helping others.

Talk to your teen about what causes they feel compelled toward – and share with them the causes that are near and dear to your own heart.

You can make gifting a family activity and even turn it into a friendly family competition of how much you can help others.

Download Our Teen Budget Worksheet Now!

Download the best teen budget worksheet we’ve put together just for you – and your teen will be on the road to financial wellness for life!