Financial Literacy Is Required Reading

I remember riding my bike to work at 5:40 in the morning for my new summer job. I got hired at 15 and a half to work in the produce department of a local grocery store. It was close to where we lived so the bike ride wasn't too bad. Plus, early summertime mornings growing up in Visalia, California, were quite warm, but still the coolest part of the day. I worked a split shift -- I'd work from 6:00 to 10:00 AM and then come back and work from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Each week that summer I worked 35+ hours, ultimately saving enough for my first car. I worked part-time during school and then again nearly full-time the following summer. 

This is the second summer that our oldest Beatrice has worked nearly full-time as a camp counselor at a summer day camp. Like I did way back then, she rides a bike to work early, around 7:10 each morning, although one big difference is that she rides an electric bike. The electric bike I bought a few years ago that I thought I'd use a lot more but ultimately did not. At least Beatrice is ensuring we're getting our money's worth. She doesn't work a split shift like I did, working straight through to 3:00 PM.

Beatrice is "making bank" as the saying goes and she's saving money, not spending it all. She even has a savings CD for goodness' sake. Her mom Amy and I never did that growing up. We spent it all! Yes, I saved and bought my first car, but that was about it back then. 

Beatrice isn't buying a car anytime soon, but she is going for her driver's permit later this year. When that happens, that'll open a whole new world of car insurance calculus for us. Our insurance will go up at least 30% once she starts driving. Thankfully she's not in a rush to drive, and neither are we, at least until she starts college.

Since Beatrice has been working and making bank, Bryce wants some of that action now, too. But they're only turning 15 this year, and there aren't many jobs they can legally work at that age. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk offers jobs for 14+ years old, but neither Beatrice nor Bryce have been interested in that. Bryce loves going thrifting with Amy, so that's of interested once they hit 15 and a half, to work at a thrift store. 

The adulting is here. Financial literacy and fiscal responsibility are practices we've worked to instill in both Beatrice and her sibling Bryce. It started when the bank of Mom and Dad set up payment plans for iPads they purchased, taking part of their allowance each week until the devices were paid off. Allowances that they have actual chores to do to earn. And they do them. Not without parental reminders and cajoling at times, but they get them all done. We also occasionally negotiate the current set of chores for each, which we don't have a problem doing, as long as the sets don't decrease in activities. 

Both kids have mutual fund accounts we started for them, and again, Beatrice has a savings CD. Having their own money to spend is exciting and freeing, especially for Bryce, which is why we're emphasizing savings more emphatically. Something that Mom and Dad didn't do very well at that age. We also don't want them to spend more than they have and get overextended on credit (something that I screwed up in adulting). And now that the world of work is being transformed by continuous economic upheaval, artificial intelligence, and more, financial literacy is required reading in our house. 

The First Job Win

My first job was a paper route when I was 12 and it was only for one summer. Folding the papers and delivering them wasn't too bad, but having to collect the payments from the people I delivered to was horrible. Excruciating at times. Most people on my route were nice about it, whether they had the money to pay me then or not. But there were those who were just downright mean at times. Ridiculing me because they said I threw their paper in the bushes or barely on their driveway. 

A few years later when I hit 15 and a half, my true first job enfolded. I applied for and was hired to work in the produce department of a local grocery store. While my boss was a jerk most of the time, one of my co-workers warmed up to me and became a good work friend. It didn't start that way, but thankfully it ended that way throughout the three years I worked there. I had no idea what I was doing at first, but over that first summer between training and just doing the job, I learned fast. I worked a split shift -- from 6 am in the morning to 10 am, and then I'd come back at 3 pm and close the produce department at 7 pm. It was tough to get up that early, but I did it, and by the end of the second summer working there, I had enough for a down payment on my first car.

And now it's time to live that all over again with our own kids. Our oldest, Beatrice, had volunteered the past two years as a junior leader at a summer day camp for Parks and Recreation. This year was her opportunity to apply to be a paid camp counselor -- and she got the job! She was one of the best junior leaders they had the past two years, so her experience definitely paid off for her. 

She's completed her week of paid training and next is the actual camp. She'll be working about 30+ hours per week, which is a lot when you haven't worked before. Both her and her sister Bryce earn their allowance each week for the chores they do, but that's maybe a couple of hours per week, if that. 

This is different than doing weekly chores for an allowance. Real paying jobs always are. Beatrice is going to be one tired teen by the end of the summer wrangling all those campers every day, but she loves the work, and she also knows that she'll be saving some "bank". She's already making a list of what she may want to buy at the end of the summer. Not a car like I bought when I was 16 (with a co-signed loan from my mom and dad), because she's not ready to drive yet anyway. It'll be fun for her to decide either way. 

And she'll be saving money, too. We want her to contribute to her mutual funds account we set up for her and contribute to -- get her in the habit of saving (something that my wife Amy and I didn't do enough of when we were their age!). The same with Bryce (both have their own account), although Bryce doesn't have a real job yet. Bryce is picking up extra chores for more money, though, which helps for spending and saving. 

It's the first job win for Bea and we couldn't be prouder. I keep telling her she's going to have to buy us all dinner at the end of the summer, but all I get is a big "no". That's all right. At least she'll be saving, too.