Yesterday, I ran into a college student I know who is an extraordinary babysitter, because she is a lifeguard, too, and will watch up to five kids at a time. Everyone loves her. She had just come back from a trip to New York City. She asked if I knew of anyone who needed her because she just bought a $500 purse with a brand name I didn’t catch, and she wanted to make some of the money back. I tried not to stare. She giggled, telling me she had spent way too much money, as if that needed articulating. Then she joked that she should probably get paid by check for the rest of the summer.

“My Dad likes to deposit my checks for me.”

Yeah, I’ll bet he does.

Then I was at the grocery store and ran into an incoming senior at the high school where I sit on the Board. She’s also a babysitter, also great. She’s MVP in two sports at the school, and will play with kids until they drop. She was telling me that she had spent all the money she earned this summer seeing The Hangover over and over again. Had I seen it?

Both these kids are great kids—smart, reliable, hearts in the right place. And their spending habits drive me crazy. They’re not even my kids. When I went home and started planning for my first class of the college semester, it occurred to me that the teen babysitter should start a business, a babysitting dispatch and group-watch service.

The main goal of this business is to teach her about how entrepreneurship is formed, what the economics of running a business are, and hope that translates into more mature spending habits. Taking care of employees has that effect. Besides, when you run a business, you have little time for other things.

By tapping into the parent body at the school—which is pre-K through 12—this teen has a captive market with lots of qualified prospects. A substantial market is key to starting a business. Parents of elementary school and preschool kids always need babysitters.

In this economy no one can afford a lot. That plays into the teen’s favor. Teens are less expensive than other child care providers. And if the teen goes to the same school, there’s a trust formed–and it’s easy for them to pick up the kid at the end of the school day.

So here’s how the teen might form her babysitting business. I am going to get the teen I know to start doing it, see how it goes. Maybe she’ll write a guest column some day.

1. Have your babysitting teen get a list together of friends who are good babysitters, people she’d vouch for. This is an important question to ask the teen: Would you vouch for that friend of yours you call Crazy Carrie? You’ll be surprised how responsible your teen will be when the responsibility of vouching is theirs.

2. Then your teen should ask the people they babysit for if they know anyone else who needs help with childcare. But tell them to approach it carefully because most parents are very squirrelly about their babysitters, and don’t want to share them, because then they won’t be able to get them when they need them. Your teen should say up front that she has friends who are babysitters, very responsible, she’d vouch for them, who are looking for work.

3. Your teen should also tell the people they babysit for that she does group babysitting. Three kids at a time, or more with some notice, because she’ll bring another babysitter with her. When your teen tells parents about group babysitting, have a price ready for multiple kids. If she charges $10 for one kid, maybe $12 for 2 kids and $15 for three. $20 for five kids. Make the prices good, so parents can see the great economics of sharing a babysitter. Have your teen explain that it’s fun for the kids, too.

4. Then your teen should put up fliers at school, ask the school permission to send out a broadcast email to the parent body.

5. The teen should name her business.

6. The teen should have a cell phone with texting capability. When a parent needs a sitter, they should be able to text your teen, and if your teen is busy, the parent should get a referral. Your teen should follow up with both the parent and the referral, make sure the other babysitter has directions if they’re driving, calls back the parent appropriately, etc.

7. If there’s a group babysitting situation with your teen and another sitter, your teen should handle paying the other sitters, and be the one who gets paid by the parent.

8. Your teen should work on getting various skill sets into her arsenal of sitters: lifeguards, teens with cars, boys (hard to do, but many parents of boys like to have boys), etc.

Your teen will learn to manage money, people, and clients. Please share any stories of teen babysitting businesses, especially if the teen is doing something unique.

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My husband says I have a knack for ruining long weekends, conjuring projects that no one likes. He says I’m manic and I should learn to sit in a hammock and drink a cold beer like a normal person.

That may be true, but it’s not happening any time soon. I’ll hang out at a barbecue, but what’s wrong with doing it after your house has been purged of junk, and your teen has spent the weekend doing something other than snoring and shopping.

If your house needs purging, and your teen needs money, host a yard sale. Labor Day Weekend is perfect timing. There are a lot of people roaming around, wanting one last stab at summer, which includes bargain hunting and impulse shopping.

Give kids some guidance, but let your teen run the whole thing. All the stuff that doesn’t sell, they can then sell on eBay or Craig’s List (see post on selling online). All the items will be organized and ready to go. What a great added lesson there, too—learning the difference between selling in person and selling online. They actually need different sales skills—showmanship versus written articulation. Whatever doesn’t sell, they can donate to a local charity.

Split all profits with your teen. Or if you’re feeling really generous and want to motivate them, tell them they can have all the profits from everything they sell, and then make them put a portion of into savings for college (especially if there’s big ticket items, like rider mowers).

Okay, here’s a checklist for them to get that yard sale going:

1. Put an ad in the local paper, and make fliers to put up around town, including schools, library, and cafes. Also make a sign for in front of your house and at the nearest intersection of your street. Once you have the ad in the paper, there’s no turning back. Make sure to name a rain date, unless you have room inside your house as an alternative. Also, give it a good name: Mongo Yard Sale, or something. Be careful using the term Estate Sale, it has an actual meaning. (Of course that was my temptation, because it sounds like you can charge more per item.)

2. If your kid is really ambitious, see if they want to do the yard sale with a neighbor kid. The only reason to suggest this is that a double yard sale is differentiating. Number one rule of business is to make yourself stand out. If it’s feasible, have the joint yard sale in one person’s yard. If there’s a joint yard sale, make a big deal of it in the newspaper ad, fliers, and signs.

3. Go though the house with your teen and put a sticker on everything they can sell. Have them go through again, more thoroughly, and suggest other things to sell, once they get the hang of it.

4. Have them go through all the stuff, and create categories. Once they have categories, such as toys, furniture, electronics, they can plan the presentation of the stuff in your yard—different tables, areas.

5. For pricing, have them be methodical. They should go online to eBay and Craig’s List and see what stuff sells for. This will prime them to sell leftover items online.

6. Have them create atmosphere. If there’s a younger sibling, have them host a lemonade stand. (I was actually thinking my husband should have a cold beer stand. He could sell those foamy bottle holders.)

If you’ve ever hosted a yard sale, what worked, and what didn’t? Any good disaster stories?

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Last week was the last straw with my local computer guru. My laptop felt virusy, the household desktop was so slow I almost threw the monitor out the window while doing bills, and the wifi kept blipping in and out of consciousness. So I called the guy who comes to your house when bringing all your failing technology to his repair shop is impractical.

I watched him for two hours, asking questions. Then I saw his little secret fix-it strategy and I realized there was nothing he did that a smart teen couldn’t have done. You see, there was nothing really “wrong.” It was maintenance stuff that if I had any sense of responsibility—that’s almost a quote—I would have taken care of. “You have to run SpyBot once a week. And it’s free you know.”

For the real problems, you need a wizard. But for the cleanup and patching he did, the $180 he charged me is outrageous. I could pay a teen a $20 an hour, which would be eye-popping glorious to them, and accomplish the same thing. Plus I wouldn’t have to grit my teeth and be polite, or stop the dog from barking and shedding on anyone.

So, here’s the secret: There’s a site called Download.com. It is full of free software you download to fix stuff. Yes, you still need to figure out what’s wrong, but there are go-to places the computer guru started, weekly maintenance chores, and honestly your teen will be better than you at demystifying it.

They can do all the research online, and make a call to your computer guy for a spot of advice now and then. (After all the times they’ve charged me a fortune, they can answer a quick question over the phone.) If you don’t have a personal computer rip-off artist, call Best Buy and ask a member of their Geek Squad desk. All your teen has to do is say they’re trying to determine whether the computer needs to be brought in for repair. Those Geek Squad guys are helpful, and making a call like this is great training for your teen.

So, here’s a starter program for your new Chief Technology Officer:

1. Put them in charge of weekly maintenance. Two things they should do is run AdAware and SpyBot on everyone’s computer. Both are available for free at download.com. Have them check for other supplemental anti spyware and malware applets they can run on your computers.

2. Have them investigate any paid programs you need for maintenance. Here are two: A firewall and antivirus program; and an Advanced Registry Optimizer. The latter is program it takes a few minutes to run that cleans up your computer, not from viruses, but from poor organization of mechanisms and bits and bytes of incomprehensible software clutter that accumulates. They also need to run the Optimizer weekly.

3. Have them set up any new technology that comes in the house. They have better aptitude for following these directions than you do. Remember that at all times. And for new technology, there is a tech support line they can call to walk them through everything. It won’t annoy you if they’re the ones that have to spend the hour on the phone. They’ll be thrilled to be earning money for this, even if you pay them less than $20 per hour. No matter what you pay them, when you look back in a year, you will have spent so much less than you do now.

4. Once a year, have them order new batteries for all the electronics in your life: cell phones, laptops. This alone extends the life of your technology. Have them look for good deals.
Once they’re doing these four things, they’ll start to investigate other things. If there’s a problem, like when my wifi kept blipping in and out, they’ll have the confidence to figure out the problem. They’ll start by unplugging and plugging everything back in, rebooting, resetting. They’ll call the service provider to ask what it might be. They’ll consult the manual. It’s usually that the IP address needs to be re-entered.

5. Have them be in charge of manuals and all IDs, passwords, IP addresses, codes, serial numbers. Make them start a folder for these things. Buy a small file cabinet that is just for Chief Tech Officer stuff. Have them write down all passwords and such on paper, as well as on the computer. Have them organize and label these things so you can access them if need be. I’m always embarrassed when I have house guests who want to use our wifi on their laptops and I have no clue what the password is to get on, because my laptop is set for automatic log on.

The other benefit of making your teen a Chief Technology Officer is that they might actually become very interested in it. Talk about a recession proof side job that can carry them through college!

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By mid August, your teen or college student has the disease: gadget envy. It’s an expensive disease, and there’s no cure. Everything they want starts with an “i”. (For the next stock market blog, I’m simply going to advise everyone to buy whatever Steve Jobs and team are cooking up for back to school and Christmas purchase times. The man can’t miss. If he makes it, kids and adults alike will run over each other to buy it, economy notwithstanding.)

I can’t stand the whining, and endless details about how iPod accessories and iPhone apps change lives. When one teen proudly showed me an iPhone app that looks like a full glass of Coke, which drains like you’re drinking it when you tilt it toward your mouth, and then makes a burp sounds at the end, I decided to declare war.

“You paid for that app?!”

It gets worse. “No, my Dad did.”

Okay, time out, we’ve all gotten out of hand. Let’s pull way back. We need a do over.
After glowering at the Dad over barbecued ribs (my husband doesn’t know why people invite me to parties), I decided I needed to come up with the Henry David Thoreau answer to the computer gadget problem, just to affect some sort of change, some sort of balance.

I mean, here I am, pure as the driven snow, thinking about what sort of brilliant surprise twist I want to add to my syllabus this semester (and okay, the fact that there’s a gorgeous new cappuccino maker that’s practically a robot, which I’d trade at least one kid and a husband for).

And that’s the problem. We’re as addicted as they are.

So, here’s a plan: Get your teen, or college student, to comparison shop prepaid cell phone plans. And if you’re willing, let them comparison shop for everyone in the household. (My husband literally hid his cell phone when I suggested this). The key to comparison shopping for the household is that you need to have a cell phone plan that’s just about expired to really make use of the data the kids gather. But, still have them do it, because if they come up with compelling cost savings, you can keep it in mind for when your contract does expire.

There’s nothing that gets a teen’s buy-in like making a decision for the whole family. It’s true. If they see you using a cell phone plan they chose, they’ll be beaming. And there’s particular cache for tech gadget decisions, because it truly is there domain. They’ve never acclimated to using technology, they were born with it.

To comparison shop prepaid cell phones, have them do three things, all of which they can do online:

1. Have them start the comparison shopping with looking at Cricket Unlimited (mycricket.com) and TracFone (tracfone.com). Cricket in particular is only available in select areas, but these two offer a lot of service for good price, so it’s a good base starting point. The key to comparison shopping is starting with a killer base point. Cricket is a teen nirvana: unlimited texting and picture messaging. Let them beat that. Make them present a chart.

2. Have them look at your cell phone plan—do you even know what it is and exactly what you get? Have them compare it to their choice for best prepaid. Can you still justify your phone?

3. Have them compare what kinds of cell phone you can get with the prepaid plan. When their hearts sink, zap them with a savings plan for the iPhone. Show them how long it will take to pay for an iPhone, including the monthly service fee, if they set aside X number of dollars per week. Have them play around with changing that number of dollars to see how long or short they can make the wait. Offer them side jobs to reach their goal faster.

I strongly encourage you to make them buy their own high end gadgets, even if it’s the only thing they want for Christmas. Don’t get suckered. If they get it for free, it kills their ability to objectively comparison shop tech gadgets, which, as the 21st century progresses, may be the most important self-control, anti shopping disorder skill they acquire. With gadgets, it’s too easy to fall in love, and love is blind. (You are invited to my house to observe my husband on the sofa any Sunday afternoon if you doubt this axiom.)

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If you’re paying $4,000 or more per year for your college student, chances are that you’ll be eligible for $2,500 credit for the tax years 2009 and 2010.

Get involved with this now, it’s worth it, because more and more college-related items are tax deductible. If your kid has $5,000 of expenses, in a tax bracket of, say, 25%, there’s $1,250 deduction off the bat. And your college kid will definitely have that much in tax deductible expense because tuition and fees are included, as well as new and long overdue items like expensive text books and other course materials.

Always calculate what the deduction would amount to by using your tax bracket. Here’s the website for the American Opportunity Credit, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Your kid can get a complete list of what’s tax deductible there.

Don’t do this task for them. They can learn so much about the tax system this way. Have them do these simple 4 steps:

1. Send out a 1098T form, which lists tuition and fees. It’s the easiest way to keep track of those fees, and to let the IRS know they’re paying them. It’s also great for them to start habits of keeping official paper trails, and being as official with the IRS as possible is ALWAYS a good thing. Have them download the form at the American Opportunity Credit website.

I explain to my students that being in college is kind of like owning a small business, and they should learn the habits of being a business owner. They’re investing in themselves, and so the money they spend is a capital investment in their business. They are the product, the intellectual property. It may sound funny, but sending out any form that’s not a W-2 or 1099 feels like you own your own business.

They’ll feel empowered, so do try explaining it that way.

2. Have them get a receipt saving book you get at Staples, specifically designed to record and save receipts. If they have an official place, they’ll use it. Otherwise book receipts and student organization fee receipts will end up in jeans pockets in the laundry.

3. Have them create a list from the American Opportunity Credit website of all deductible expenses and then keep track of them for the tax year 2009. Explain to them that this tax year is well under way. Have them start the whole exercise by retroactively going back to Spring 2009 semester and figuring out what they spent, according to the checklist. Then they’ll be ready to go for the Fall semester starting soon.

4. At the end of the calendar year, have them do their portion of your taxes—they need to organize the information, with the amount of the expenses listed and categorized and backed up with receipts and copies of the 1098T they filled out. Then you show them how to translate expenses into deductions by using your tax bracket rate. Then you take that dollar amount and apply for the credit. Have them fill out all forms.

If you have a younger teen at home, have them at least be aware of what their older sibling is doing, so they’re ready to go when it’s their turn.

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Clothing swaps changed my life. At the school where I’m the Secretary of the Board, each year there are two clothing swaps, a women’s clothing swap, and a kids’ clothing swap. The first time I went, I was high for a week afterward. I calculated that I came home with $500 worth of stuff, easily, for my $30 fee. I got my favorite pair of jeans from that swap— the really fabulous $150 ones I’d never buy.

Now, the clothing swaps for the kids are fun, too, because you save a fortune. I’ve gotten entire kid wardrobes for that $30 fee. (I admit they’re not nearly as much personal fun as the women’s one—wine and cheese, in the evening, everyone’s fantastic clothes they’ve grown out of from weight gain or loss. Okay, but that’s not the point here, is it?)

Clothing swaps are a big movement (see clothingswaps.com), but I have to tell you how the one at our school operates because you could start one, and once the school hosts one, they’ll always want you to do it again. It’s great for the community, and the school is a built-in population of people with huge need. If for any reason your kids’ school doesn’t want to do it, try your local church or synagogue, or the public library. Last resort: someone’s house. But do tap into the school population. You’ll never have a better target market of highly qualified prospects.

One of the teachers at my school spearheads the event, and she has quite a lively approach. Each year the event draws people in from the community. It costs $30 to participate and the school makes $3,000 a pop easily for each swap. That’s the key: You donate the money to the school, maybe even for a special project, or new gym equipment—something they need so they’ll say yes.

Here’s how it works:

1. Secure use of the school gym and find a cause for the donation money. Most school causes have a teacher who champions them, so ask that person to help out. You’re going to need five volunteers to make the swap work, and so put those teens to work! To get the five teen volunteers—and if they don’t appear the first swap, they’ll definitely appear by the second—have the teacher involved appoint them. Tell them this is a green event, and it’s important to support secondary markets. They should really understand The economics of it.

2. You put out a notice that the swap will take place and you ask for clothing donations by a certain date. Tell them that shoes, purses, backpacks, umbrellas—all acoutrements— are all welcome. Have the kids hand out fliers at school, email the parent body. Tell the community that if someone wants to come, to please donate first. Send the notice home with students, use whatever broadcast system the school has.

This step is so cathartic. You get to go through your kids’ closet and throw out everything, that doesn’t fit or that they don’t like. And you can do so without the guilt of thinking you just paid a fortune for it. (Again, more fun to do your own closet. If you haven’t worn it in two years, get rid of it!) Get your kid involved with this. Granted, it’s much easier to get girls involved—I’m not being sexist, but it just is.

3. Set up the gym to look like a clothing store, one side for girls’, one for boys’, and then organized by size. The kids will be great at setting up. You’ll need to find tables, and if possible, borrow or rent some clothing racks. It really makes it look great to have racks of clothes hung up. Serve refreshments, too, because it just creates a better atmosphere. Make it simple, but have some snacks for the teens and their mothers, because that’s who is going to show up. You’ll probably have to provide snacks in a potluck style, from the families involved, unless the school will front the money and get paid back from the profits.

4. The event: Hold it in the evening so you get all the parents who have to work. We charge $30 a person, but I honestly think you could charge more. I’ve been lobbying to charge $50.

5. The teacher who holds our clothing swap hands out shopping bags (or you can ask people to bring their own). Then she has a drill that builds suspense and is so much fun. The doors don’t open until a certain time. Then everyone has 15 minutes to survey the tables and racks. Of course you can make this amount of time whatever you want, but set a limit. Then the first 3-minute round begins. Your teen may choose 3 items they want, put them in their bag. Then the round is over. Then another 3-minute round begins, and your kid can choose three more. Depending on how big the crowd is, you can do one more 3-minute round. After that, free for all.

The point of doing the rounds before the free for all is that everyone gets something really good. By the time you’re at the free for all, people will take their time, try things on over their clothes. So in a way they’re guessing, but for the price it doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t fit, your teen can always donate it back for next year. That’s the beauty of the whole concept, it’s so liberating.

I suggest giving the 5 teen volunteers who set up the whole swap a chance to pick out one item each before the swap begins. They’ll be so excited and they deserve primo choice. I’ve seen kids get leather jackets that would cost hundreds of dollars.

If your teen doesn’t want to be seen with you at the event, make sure to give them a checklist of some items they really need—two pairs of pants, two sweaters, etc. It’s good for them to learn to bargain hunt with a purpose, not just choose what catches their eye.

There is usually clothing left over, so get the teen volunteers involved in driving the bags of unwanted clothes to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or any other local organization that will take them.
Enjoy. It really is so much fun, so completely gratifying.

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Maybe it’s not nice to scare kids, but I do it all the time to my students, and I have to say I’m a believer. Besides, they’re over 18. And how could I teach finance to them without scaring them? You try it. Some of my students point out that I seem to enjoy it, and, okay, I admit that. But I have to be able to get back at them for spending a lot of time staring at their computer screens and checking their email during class. At least scaring them wakes them up.

So, having them comparison shop for their own health insurance will do the trick. And it’s not a gratuitous scare tactic (like some that I deploy before exams). They all need health insurance, and they all need to understand how providing health care is one of the most difficult challenges our society faces. Even if your health insurance policy allows them to stay on until after college, many college health centers won’t accept outside insurance, so you have to buy in anyway. If your kid goes to school at a campus in the middle of nowhere, it can be a problem otherwise.

Also, students avoid important health diagnosis processes if they’re cumbersome or expensive. For instance, there’s a huge black market at some universities for ADD drugs because students don’t want to tell their parents, or pay out of pocket to be diagnosed, but they’re having trouble concentrating.

That’s very dangerous. They could be having trouble for a million different reasons, like the fact that all they eat are Cheetos. I try to explain that if you take medication that’s not right for you, it can cause bigger problems. Health care should be readily available to them, with some privacy thrown in.

So here’s how to get them started comparison shopping for health insurance that you may or may not help them pay for:

I start by pointing out that for families, the monthly cost of health insurance can be as much as a mortgage payment, and still not cover everything. This is when they start to fidget and grumble, muttering under their breath that they’ll take their chances. So then I tell them if they have a knee injury it can cost, oh, I don’t know, about $12,000.

They’re awake again, so I throw them a bone. I tell them that in some cases student health insurance is as little as $20 per month, though their deductible might be $500, $1,000, or $2,500 even. Still, it’s a lot less than $12,000, especially important if they play sports of any kind.

After you explain what a deductible is, tell them to look on their own university website for health insurance information, and then to call the university clinic to find out more. Get a price for the insurance offered through the university. Find out if their university accepts the health insurance your family already has.
But even if the university does accept your policy, have them do the next step:

Tell them to visit the Student Health Insurance website and compare costs. If they see a really good deal, have them call the clinic at their own university and see if they accept the policy.

Last step: Have them compare health care costs once they graduate. Are the student policies transferable to another policy? Their own university policy won’t likely transfer, but another one they find on Student Health might. That’s why it’s important to have them comparison shop even if your policy has them covered for now. The won’t be covered once they graduate, so they may as well get a jump on it.

Please share any stories or thoughts about health insurance problems.

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I can’t wait another second to write this post. Whenever something terrifies me my fingers start moving at lightning speed. For some reason over the last few days there’s been a lot of chatter in blogosphere about buying car insurance for your teen or college student. And what I’m seeing is a lot of discussion about going on the cheap for that insurance.

That is the sort of advice I fear you’ll live to regret.

There are many times when the law determines a best practice that simply isn’t. Making Liability Insurance the sole legal requirement for teens is one of those times. (Not all states are so lenient, but many are. (Check out drivinglaws.org to look at legal requirements for teens by state). Liability only covers your teen as the driver in an accident, not your car, regardless of whose fault the accident is. So even if your teen is a responsible driver, it still doesn’t matter because teens just don’t have the experience to do the sort of evasive and defensive driving required to avoid accidents that are someone else’s fault.

They could spend years paying off damages to someone else’s car for an accident that wasn’t even their fault. Or worse, you could.

Look, I know times are tough. There is a lot of motivation to get insurance that is the least expensive but still meets legal requirements. But teen accidents are some of the most frequently occurring accidents. Of course they are. They don’t know how to drive in snow, rain, at night, on highways. When I think of how little I knew as a teenage driver, I can barely stand watching a teenager drive.

I think an important lesson to teach kids is that sometimes cheapest isn’t best, and spending a bit more up front can save you money in the long run.

Here’s a way to look at the very expensive cost of teen car insurance—and it is extremely expensive, considering that adding a teen to your own policy can double the expense. Just because your teen is of legal driving age doesn’t mean they can afford to drive. This is a huge life lesson. For instance, I am perfectly able to spend weeks on an expensive island resort, lounging in the sun. But can I afford it? No. Bring them in on this discussion. Learning to drive is a right, but getting to driving is a privilege. Ask them for ideas about affording a privilege.

I’m a firm believer that a teen should contribute some money toward their car insurance. It will make them safer drivers. After we’re finished with the rest of this lesson, and they’ve discovered how much you save if you demonstrate that you’re a safe driver, versus how much it costs if you’re not, they won’t want to be paying out more than they have to. Maybe they’ll need a side job to afford driving a car.

So here’s how they should comparison shop for car insurance.

1. First, give them definitions. If it is something you can bear to help pay for, please steer them toward Full Coverage, which includes Comprehensive Insurance and Collision Coverage. That means everything is covered for both parties in any accident, regardless of fault. Liability Coverage covers the driver and the damage the driver causes to another person, their property and car.

Then I suggest interjecting a moment of preaching: Tell them if they ever text while they’re driving you’ll hunt them down and they won’t drive again until they’re 40. I’ve known two kids who have died because they were texting while driving. I see it all the time when I’m on the road, and yes, I’m the crazy lady who honks and rolls down my window and yells at your teen to stop texting.

2. Make a comparison chart. Have your teen use the cost of putting them on your insurance policy, if you’re willing, as the baseline. Have them Google insurance companies that offer Comprehensive Insurance and Collision Coverage and compare the costs. Tell them to beware of insurance companies that only offer Liability Insurance.

3. GEICO gives a test online. Tell the kids to take it and get a rate. Do that at other insurers where possible.

If for whatever reason it’s not feasible for them to get a side job to help pay for car insurance, I do suggest them doing extra chores, or jobs around the house. It’s really important that the teen brain remain aware of the high cost of car insurance. It will translate to them being more cautious drivers.

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