Nathan Hodgens not only learned how to invest in the stock market with help from his mother, but from his younger, 14-year-old investor brother Ryan.

This summer, once Nathan got the stock market under his skin, too, he started doing his homework and investing.

“The first thing I bought was two shares of Wal-Mart, both at $48.49 and I still have them today,” Nathan said. “I specifically chose Wal-Mart because not only is it a company that will grow over time, but a company that is socially responsible because of its urge to go green.”

Hodgens explained that Wal-Mart is in the process of making a label similar to the nutrition label on food, which lets buyers know how the environment was affected by the manufacturing of a product. The company is using compact fluorescent bulbs and putting doors on their refrigerated areas.

“Doing things like this makes me want to invest in them,” Hodgens said, adding that eventually he wants to invest in other green companies, and characterizing himself as a long-term investor. “Solar, ocean energy, wind, as well as companies that I believe are making a difference, like Wal-Mart.”

Investing in what he believes in gives Nathan patience and focus, something most adult investors could use. In fact, Nathan seems to have patience with all aspects of stock investing, including missed opportunities.

“I had thought about buying PSUN or PacSun, a local company in California, then got lazy and did
not invest and within three weeks, it had gone from $1.67 a share to $4.44 a share, and I was going to invest about $500 into it,” Nathan explained. “There goes some easy gas money. But again, you can not predict the stock market.”

Nathan’s parents started him on his investing path when he first started making money from a paper route, They put some of his earnings into mutual funds, specifically the Vanguard 500 Index, a well rounded fund that reflects the the market itself, much like the S&P 500. Nathan learned early the lesson of things being unpredictable. Showing teens an overall snapshot at the outset, including fluctuations, can certainly be valuable, so their expectations don’t get too high.

Nathan has certainly learned about fluctuations by being an investor this year.

“Recently when me and my mom went onto Vanguard to check how my mutual funds were doing, I realized just how bad the economy was, as my money had dropped about 25 percent! And this was around the time that I was buying a car,” Nathan said.

The motivating factor for Nathan getting involved in the stock market was something that drives a lot of teenagers:

“Mainly the fact that I need money for gas in my car, and thought that over time if I put some money in the stock market, it might help pay for repairs, etcetera, later.”

Very practical.

Today Nathan still owns Wal-Mart and even more shares of the Vanguard 500 mutual fund. He invests for the long term and sticks with solid companies, two very important habits. Another habit is knowing that you don’t earn your salary from the stock market, you put a portion of your salary into the market to earn interest.

Since his paper route job, Nathan has taken on other work as well.

“I earn extra money doing yard work for my neighbor. He pays $15/hour!,” Nathan said. “I also referee soccer during the season, which is 10 weeks long.  I can earn anywhere from $13 to $20 per game and I like to ref 4 - 6 games a weekend.”

Going forward, Nathan wants to invest in green companies deal in solar power, ocean energy, and wind, as well as other companies that he believes are making a difference, like Wal-Mart. And he’ll keep his attitude.

“I feel that I go for more the low risk kinds of stocks, and do a ton of research on the ones that I believe I might be buying into,” he said, adding that he has no intention of making a living stock trading.

His career goals right now do have to do with the economy, however.

“I would much rather try to control some of the economy and stocks by going into government and working towards making our economy better, making third-world countries’ economies better, as well as getting our country less in debt.”

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(Naresh with President Obama, both volunteering at the Houston Astrodome in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina)

Naresh is not your average junior. He has been investing in the stock market for one year, since he was 19. He got his seed money from his father, as a birthday present. Before that, Naresh never accepted birthday presents.

“I celebrated my birthday when I was in the 5th grade,” Naresh said. “I’m turning 21 very soon. Instead of throwing a big birthday bash, I’ll just sit back and take in life as is. Presents are material possessions I’m not very interested in. I’m a pretty simple person, and I’ve always been one.”

Very mature—more mature than I’ll ever be—but even more than mature is the curious nature of his statement, given that his passion is investing in the stock market. If not money, what is Naresh interested in?

The game, the challenge, the movement, the mechanics. And politics.

“I took an economics class in high school. We played a stock market game and learned several ratios and ways to research companies. The introduction got me very interested in the stock market,” Naresh said.

He’s very studious. Since that high school eye opener, he’s been listening to guys like Peter Schiff. “And former guys at TheStreet, James Altucher and Frank Curzio, have given some great advice. My bosses, current and former, Daniel “The MoneyMan” Frishberg of BizRadio, Mike Norman of Pitbull Economics, and Dan Cofall of Noram Capital Holdings have had the biggest influences,” Naresh said, rattling off his sources.

Do any stand out as the biggest influence?

“This is still premature, but my finance advisor, mentor and professor at school, Dr. Fernando Diz, will likely be the biggest influence in the shaping of my worldview,” Naresh said.

Good thing he knows that at age 20, calling a most profound influence could still be premature. But maybe not. That’s what so important about a financial education early on. Most of our inspiration and influences are locked in by age 21.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned in the market is never to look back,” Naresh said. “It’s like that ex-girlfriend you broke up with. You make decisions and move on. Otherwise you’ll always be thinking ‘what if?’ and find yourself in misery.”

Sounds like Naresh may have gotten burned a time or two when he started out loving the adrenaline rush of the stock market. At first he invested on a daily basis.

“I bought Aflac, Microsoft, Apple and Ebay on my first day because they were near their 52 week lows,” Naresh said. “I sold them the next day and made more than $500 by 11 am.”

Easy to see how he’d get hooked on day trading. Naresh admitted that his short-term victories didn’t last, even though he was shy about those details.

“I quickly learned, as a beginner, that is not the best way to trade,” Naresh said. “At this time, I’m concentrating on the longer holds, six to eight-month intervals. I have developed the patience and discipline to buy and hold and not look at the markets on a daily basis.”

Interesting that to a 20-year-old eight months for an investment is a long time. Everything is relative, and for his age and risk tolerance, it makes sense. Still, instilling longer term thinking as he goes forward will important, something his trusted advisors are probably watching closely.

It turns out that Naresh himself is thinking about it. He is certainly thinking about his long term future.
“I’m now part of an elite group at Syracuse University called the Orange Value Fund,” Naresh said. “Approximately 10 students are selected. We take MBA-level finance classes and learn the philosophies of bottom-up, value investing. The research reports we’ll be doing will be integral to my own investment methods.”

In addition to being a full-time student, Naresh works in the financial media industry as a producer of two financial talk shows for CNN Radio in Dallas/Fort Worth. B

“Being in this business for more than a year, I developed a grasp of the economy and financial markets. I thought the beginning of this year was a great time to enter the market since everything was so cheap. I had also taken several economics and accounting classes throughout high school and early in college, so I had a basic understanding of things,” Naresh explained.

Naresh emphasizes that teens get started in high school, to learn the financial markets. And anyone can keep up with Naresh on Twitter as he looks forward to October.

“I think October will be a great time to buy individual stocks, after the Third Quarter earnings come out. As a result, for short-term trading, SKF (Ultra Short Financial) is a good pick,” he said.
Hmm. He still likes those quick buys.

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Karyn Hodgens has two boys, 16 and 14, who invest in the stock market. And it was the 14 year old, Ryan Hodgens, who invested first.

(Nathan, 16, and Ryan, 14)

“I made Ryan, my youngest, read The Motely Fool’s Guide to Investing for Teens before he bought his first shares,” Karyn, who is the co-founder of kidnexions, a website dedicted to connecting kids with all sorts of learning. “The stock market is not for everyone, and it’s best to know that up front.”

Well, apparently the stock market is made for Ryan, age 14: Here are his philosophies:

The first stock Ryan ever bought, in September 2008, was Chipotle, and the reason he bought it?

“I love Chipotle’s food,” Ryan said.

And there you have it. Ryan’s rationale is one of the most sound investing principles there is: Buy what you know and what you think is great.

But Ryan didn’t just buy it because the food tastes great. He researched it. He used his love for Chipotle’s as a starting point, but then went for hard facts. Sound investment principle number two.

“I sold two of my five shares when it had nearly doubled in price per share, so I still own three shares of it,” Ryan said.

He’s on a roll now. Keeping an investment that is sound over the long term is sound investment principle number three. He may have sold two of his shares for quick gain, but he kept the majority.

Ryan said his parents were responsible for teaching him about the stock market, as well as the Motley Fool book his mother referred to. And he got his seed capital from his own hard work, including his paper route and being a referee for soccer games.

Whose money they use is an important aspect of teaching teens to invest in the market. It is possible that they’ll be more careful if they’ve worked hard to earn the money they’re risking. Ryan made sure to cash out of some of his Chipotle investment once it almost doubled. That way, no matter what happened to the rest of the investment, he at least made most of his initial investment back.

That’s a careful guy. He even described himself that way.

“I would say I am very calm about buying into stocks, because when I buy, I am not exceptionally nervous about it, and I know it’s going to be more of a long term stock, so I don’t get too worried,” Ryan said.

There are a lot of adults who could take that advice.

Ryan said he’s never had a scary experience buying stocks, but he did get mad once:

“I was going to buy into Chipotle some more, but forgot to, and it jumped thirty dollars a share from when I wanted to,” he said.

Well, you can’t win them all. Ryan did say the best buy he ever made was his beloved Chipotle’s. “I had bought in at $47, and it had a 100-percent increase, up to $93 dollars per share.”

Wow. Paper routes have gotten more lucrative in the past 30 years. The fact that he could afford to buy five shares to start is remarkable. That’s a $235 buy-in. He sold 2 shares at $93, so he socked away $186, not quite his initial investment.

Right now Ryan’s portfolio, which has grown, consists of: three shares of Chipotle, five shares of Costco, and five shares of Netflix. He doesn’t do any social responsible investing, but plans to in the future. In terms of other sectors he’s interested in:

“I tend to go toward companies that interest me, like Costco because I like the free samples, I use Netflix to watch movies, and Chipotle, well their burritos are just amazing,” Ryan said.

Ryan does not intend, so far, to go into investing as a career. He’d prefer to follow his passion and go into marketing and advertising. It may certainly be worth keeping tabs on Ryan.

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I was just at a back-to-school Board meeting, where I suggested that we add something to the curriculum: teaching the high school kids about the stock market.

You should have seen the looks I got. Stares. No reply for a while. And these are intelligent people, each one successful, making enough money to send their kids to private school. Then someone laughed.

“That’s all we need. To be sued when underage kids start day trading.”

I knew that most adults have a fearful, adversarial relationship with money, even if they’re successful earners. If they do invest, many trust their brokers or financial planners with all the decision making. What I didn’t predict is that they’d rather raise their kids with the same fears and anxieties, rather than risk helping them.

Now, I don’t think this is intentional. I think it’s a deep emotional disposition, conditioned by our society. So, of course I started busily outlining how the lesson plan would work, how it would fit nicely as a special, experimental curriculum addendum to either math or social studies, depending on scheduling preferences of the faculty, for the spring semester, 2010. And I volunteered to be the guest teacher.

I’m not all that good at taking no for an answer.

Here’s the approach and rationale: First, the lesson will include the fundamental of buying stocks (see Teach Teens What Stocks Are and Mutual Funds Give Teens a Feel for the Market posts.)

But then comes the really deep part of the lesson: Are you someone who should invest in the market at all? What is your investor personality?

If people wait until they’re adults to ask these questions, it’s too late. The fearful, distant, dysfunctional relationship with money has already sunk in. It’s like waiting until you’re 25 to have your first kiss. Picture the implications of that one.

The most important part of the lesson addresses the fear that surfaced immediately from that Board member: That they’ll become gamblers. So the disposition of the classroom lesson should be that despite the post-modern philosophy that everyone should be a stock investor, it’s not true. Some people should not.

Now, in most cases, this class will never be taught in high school. I’ll keep you posted about whether they actually let me do this at the very progressive school where I’m on the executive committee of the Board.
And that brings me to the point. You’re the one who has to teach your kids about investing, even if you don’t know a thing. It’s up to parents, just like explaining that butterfly in the stomach feeling after your first kiss.

You answer the teen questions about love: How did you and Dad first meet, how did you know you were in love, how many boyfriends did you have before you got married? (My husband claims I give a different answer every time.)

These are much tougher emotional questions than which companies to invest in to start a good life savings program, and how to have a healthy relationship with money and earning so you’re not broke and stressed out by the time you’re 40.

If you think about it, nothing causes more stress in adult lives than money, so why would we even trust these lessons to institutions like school? Investing money is all about what your personality is like. Do you like risk? Are you obsessive? Are you too laid back? Who knows your kid as well as you do? No one.

You must bring the “should you be a stock market investor?” lesson home. Here are some suggestions about how to find out your teen’s investor personality, after you’ve explained the fundamentals—using our previous posts, as well as the resource links below. And remember, if they don’t want to invest in stocks, the investor personality questionnaire can lead the way to you helping them decide what they should invest in, given their dispositions.

This, of course, isn’t an absolute determination, just a guideline. The important thing is to have a structure for the dialogue you’ll have with your teen. When I’ve tried this questionnaire with teens and college students, they often tell me what their investor personality is, and ask to be taught about specific investments. One teen said to me:

“I’ll obsess if I invest in individual companies. Aren’t mutual funds a bunch of companies, and less up and down in price?”

Great question, and I immediately focused on mutual funds in this teen’s area of interest: greentech.
There are some side benefits of teaching your teens about their investor personality: What they learn can help teens with a lot of other things in their lives: school, dating, jobs, depression, angst. Analyzing how to approach money in a healthy way can be a great lens into general problem solving.

The Stock Market Personality Questionnaire:

If they’re 13, they’re ready to start. Sit down with your teen and make a personality profile, answering these questions:

• How much money would you like to earn by the time you’re 25?
• Are you easily stressed?
• Are you an overachiever?
• Are you obsessive if you don’t get something right?
• Are you high strung or laid back?
• How many extracurricular activities do you participate in—none, two or less, three or more?
• Do you play sports?
• How competitive are you?
• What sort of student are you? Straight As, As and Bs, Cs?
• What is your favorite subject?
• Are you well rounded in your interests—some sports, time with friends, time doing nothing.
• What is your favorite hobby?
• How much do-nothing time do you have each day?

Do the personality profile questionnaire yourself, especially if you fear investing. Your teen will feel more comfortable answering these questions if you answer them, too. Answer the ones about high school by remembering what you were like in high school. Your teen will love this part.

Okay, when you have your answers: If your kid is high strung and overachieving—busy every waking hour, expects to make a $1 million by age 25, driving all over the continent on Saturdays to play different sports—it may be a huge miscalculation to assume he or she would be a stock investor that doesn’t get stressed. They may be very good at it, but they should be aware that it could cause them stress, especially if money is really important to them.

What’s fun is that the kinda lazy, dreamy kid of yours at home—the one snoring at noon on Saturday instead of playing on three different sports teams and belonging to six different school clubs? You may have a sleeping giant on your hands. You may worry that they will never amount to anything, but with some training these personality types are sometimes great money minds.

Being relaxed without too great a sense of urgency is a definite plus in investing. And the ones who let themselves be kids, not in too much of a hurry, tend to think long term. They tend to have patience with money matters, too—perhaps the single most elusive quality for any of us.

And guess what: long-term investing theories make for the healthiest relationship with money. In fact, long term thinker and well rounded kids are arguably the best investor profile, according to studies done by the Jump$tart Coaltion, a non-profit organization devoted to teaching kids about money.

Try to teach all teens about the soundness of long term investing, and if that doesn’t appeal to them at all, then steer those teens away from stocks altogether—bonds, mutual funds and CDs (are all good options.
Show your teens the following two profiles:

This one is of a kid who should never invest in the market: Addictive Gambling Personality: Bad Boy Cole Bartiromo.

For comparison, here’s a stellar kid personality for investing, Damon, The Golden Boy of Stock Buying.

Ask what they think of these profiles, and where they think they fall on the investor spectrum.
Once you’ve decided what sort of investor personality your teen has (and you, too!), then steer them in the right direction, get them started learning what to invest in. Here are some resources:

• Jump$tart Coalition - A non-profit organization devoted to educating kids. A great resource for parents who don’t have a savvy relationship with money.
• Sharebuilder - Custodian stock trading accounts are available here, so parents can start teens investing with a watchful eye.
• Financial Planning Association
• MoneyTrack - PBS’ website for money management shows.

The overall lesson here is to find a relationship with money that is tailored to you. If that expectation starts in teenhood, it will last a lifetime.

Stay tuned. Soon I will post profiles of teenage investors who have done quite well. We’ll see what they read, what their online sources have been, what role their parents played in their stock market education and trading process. You’ll see that many of them do not have money savvy parents, but those parents helped anyway.

Please share any stock training stories you have.

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You can stop laughing now. Really. If you must know, my husband has not stopped laughing at this post, and for the first time offered to post his email address on this blog, in case anyone wants to write to him, to inquire about my sanity. He won’t vouch for me, if that’s what you’re wondering.

So we have a bet. I said I could turn any teen into a competent housekeeper in three months. I won’t tell you what we bet unless I win.

I used to hate flying. Then I decided to take flying lessons. Once I was in control, I was not only no longer afraid to fly. I started to make the experience my own. Now I love it. The teenage housekeeper theory is along those lines.

Many times an aversion to something is fear. But many times it’s just a matter of not having it be yours. Everyone needs stake in something to be committed.

So, if your teen or college student needs a part-time job this school year, and needs one with flexible hours, this could be it. You need your house cleaned.

As you have already guessed, it’s not that simple to turn a teenager into a competent housekeeper. So here are my suggestions for training and focusing. If anyone gives it a try, let me know if it works.

1. When you tell your teen their new job is housekeeper, lead with how much you’re going to pay them. Make that sum more money than they’ve ever made doing anything, so it’s an offer they can’t refuse.

2. Tell them the job is only available for 3 months. (They’ll be begging for you to extend the time once it’s over.) This limit is key. They need to see it as a short-term way of injecting their bank account with lots of cash. They need to see that it’s a fleeting opportunity that it won’t last forever.

3. Give them a clipboard with a checklist for each room in the house. Do not leave anything to chance. And don’t go crazy. No more than three things in every room. For instance, in the kitchen they need to: clean all dishes, wipe all surfaces, mop the floor, etc. In the beginning, make it doable in less than six hours because you’re going to add things here and there as you go along, and you’ll see, they’ll add things, too. If you overwhelm them, they’ll quit. If you expose them gradually, they’ll rise to the occasion.

4. Here’s one you’ll think is weird, but it’s key: Do not include their room on the checklist. Just leave it out, say it’s not part of the job, and don’t say a word if it looks like a bomb went off in there. For three months, their room is off limits to you and your opinions and orders. It’s their space. I’ll bet anything their room gets neater. But their control over this experiment is key. If they need to rebel against the cleanliness, they will do it in their room. If you say nothing, they’ll get over it faster and it will stay contained, not leak over into acting out about other things, or quitting the housekeeping job.

5. Set up a time once a week for them to do the housekeeping work. Do not let them do a bit here, a bit there. Once a week, for six hours. Again, make the money great so they see the value of suffering for six hours.

6. Get out of their way when they’re doing the job. Leave the house. Do not loom, you will ruin this experiment. They will quit after one day if you’re supervising.

7. Do not judge what they have done the first few times. Just say great job and keep your mouth shut. If there are any improvements you need, or changes in what they need to do, put it on the checklist. Do not make it verbal. And even if it means your house isn’t cleaned the way you want it, don’t make more than one change per week. They must be positively reinforced, and gently, gently, gently encouraged. When you’re sitting in a room they’ve cleaned, say how nice it is to be there.

8. One month into it, offer the teen a bonus for organizing a room. Organizing is different than cleaning. You say they’ve been doing a great job and you have an extra project, like organizing the garage, or the den, or the attic. Or think smaller: organizing the refrigerator, the junk drawer in the kitchen, the bathroom cabinets, the shed, the toolbox, etc. This is a one shot deal and pay them well for it. The point of this is that they’ll make the connection between organizing and cleaning. They’ll start to get better at cleaning, and even organize while they’re cleaning. Offer these extra projects as much as they want them, which are to be done on a different day, never housekeeping day.

9. After month two, offer to pay them to do all the windows in the house, at once. This will help them see how making projects out of certain tasks gets the job done better.

10. If they make a suggestion for change, try to let them do it. They need to feel in control, their own boss. I knew a teen that ended up wanting to reorganize all the kitchen cabinets and move everything around. It will teach them what works and what doesn’t organizationally.

11. If the experiment starts to fail in the middle of the three months, or it never gets off the ground, start by giving the job to another teen the same age as yours, but make the timeframe only one month. Make sure your teen sees the other teen getting paid handsomely.

I really want to hear stories about this idea. Really.

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Okay, so maybe don’t make it a huge job like renovating the bedroom, because, well, it’s your teenager and let’s not kid ourselves.

How can I resist telling you my husband’s reaction? “What teen were you thinking of? The one I overheard tell our plumber that we were cheap and he definitely could have charged us more? That teen?”

It is true. But he was mad at my husband for not letting him go on a ski trip.

Never mind all that. Teens don’t act out when it’s a job they’re in charge of. I settled the resistance by saying once our teen would choose the contractor, my husband could go over all the submitted bids and see if he disagreed.

And that brings us to the hardest part of this money lesson: That cheapest isn’t always best, and you need to look at value as well. So how do you do that? Well, it’s case by case, and the checklist of questions below, which your teen will use as a script when interviewing contractors, will show them how to assess value.

So choose your job. In my case, it’s repairing the garage door, which hasn’t operated via the remote control since our 2nd wedding anniversary, I believe. We just pull it up and it’s ridiculous, especially in the freezing winters.

I encourage you to think small for the first job you give your teen. A garage door opener is a good choice because it’s only part that will need to be purchased, maybe two if the contractor needs connectors or something. But still, it’s one thing and focused.

Here’s the process:

1. Choose the job that needs to be done.
2. Give your teen the phone book and tell them to look up appropriate contractors: If it’s plumbing, then plumbers, if it’s electrical, then electricians, if it’s odd jobs, then handyman. If it’s the latter, the local newspaper is also a good place to look.
3. Have your teen call four contractors and set up a time for each to come to your home and take a look. Have your teen explain, if asked, that his or her parents asked them to set up the appointments. Have the teen offer your cell phone number in case the contractor wants to check that it’s not a prank.
4. When the contractor gets there, have your teen tell the contractor that both parents are out at work and that he or she is supposed to ask the following checklist of questions. Your teen should write down the answers. The contractor may bristle at dealing with a teen, but the actual checklist will help because your teen can just say Mom or Dad made me ask all that. If the contractor feels the need, have him call you on your cell phone again.

CHECKLIST OF QUESTIONS:
1. How much do you charge per hour?
2. What is the estimated labor time and overall labor cost? This can tell you how comfortable someone is doing a job and how much experience they’ve had. If they can give you a timeframe, versus saying they have no idea, then there’s a better chance that they know what they’re doing.
3. What is the name of the part or parts you would need to purchase? (Later they can go online, Google the part, and see if the contractor is charging a fair price.)
4. Are their differences in the quality of the part needed? Ask for an explanation. For instance, does one garage door opener cost more but it has extra features, such as activating a light at night when you hit open? Does the more expensive one come with a longer warrantee?
5. Do you require payment up front for the parts, or do we just pay for the job at the end?
6. Is the estimate what the final cost will be, or could there be additional costs? Make sure the contractor puts the answer in writing.
7. Are their any variables with this job—what surprises could happen? This is an important question because one of the biggest problems people have with repairs and renovations is that the final bill comes as a shock, it’s so much more than the estimate. Mitigate as many surprises as you can.
8. When would you be able to start?

When your teen has the bids, and the other information from the above checklist, ask your teen to make a choice. When they come to you with that choice, ask for a verbal presentation using the estimates and the checklist. Let your teen articulate why he or she made the choice. How did they come up with the best value?

Do try to let the teen explain the rationale for the choice, including what impression the contractor made on them—did they like them, think them trustworthy, and why—before you ask too many questions. Let them show you their process.

But at the end, do ask questions encouragingly if they have left something critical out. See if you agree or disagree with their choice based on the data. You may need to call the winning contractor yourself to offer the job, so make sure to tell your teen that it’s not because they couldn’t handle it, but just because a contractor may want an adult to verify being hired.

I’m very curious about people who do this, and whether they agree with their teen’s assessments. Please share your experiences.

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On some days, when patience is thin—okay, yesterday—one of my pet peeves starts bothering me more than ever. It’s the pop-up discount offers that take over your screen when you go to a newspaper site, or try to open web mail. They’re no longer little boxes. They cover everything else. So aggressive. And if these discounts are so pervasive, why do teens and college students seem to have relatively small gains when it comes to understanding the value of money, the recession, and why a $500 purse is ludicrous.

Okay, so you see what a bad mood I was in. Today I’m trying to recuperate by turning this advertising madness into something constructive. And so the coupon challenge game was born. If I had to choose three recurring life expenses, budget items, that I want teens to appreciate, understand, and learn to manage it would be: groceries, home repair/improvement/maintenance, and car maintenance.

If they can get their minds around those things, and learn to try and conserve in those areas, my guess is that the awareness and knowledge would expand to other areas, and translate into something more core: a disposition about expenses that is money saving.

Here is the teen coupon challenge game:

You put your teen in charge of finding the best coupons for groceries, home repair, improvement and maintenance, and car maintenance and repair. They do it for two months. For each month they create a chart for the coupons they found in each category, and what the total savings was. If they find more the second month than the first, they get a prize. But, here’s the catch: You don’t tell them all that up front, or they’ll do a lousy job the first month to make sure they’re a shoe in for the prize the second month. You start by telling them there’s a prize for the first month if they save 10% of costs in those three categories across the board. Then you tell them that there’s only a prize for the second month if they beat that percentage. If it’s 10% or less, no prize.

Make the prize something really good, that they really want.

Sounds simple? Well, it is and it isn’t. The concept is simple and it should be: First you take a look at something and make changes. Then, when you take a deeper look, trying to achieve more, usually in life there will be room to do so. That’s a very valuable lesson because it breeds a sense of take action when things are tough, instead of the very common sense of victimization and futility. There is always room for change and improvement if need be.

So, to get them started:
1. Have them make a chart with the 3 category heads.

2. Sit down with them and make a list of all home repair, maintenance, and improvement things your home needs. Making this list in particular is helpful in so many ways. They’ll see how overwhelming the details of home ownership are, and how much there is to do. They’ll also be creating a list they can work on later, perhaps for hire! They can do odd jobs for you in order to earn allowance or extra money. They’ll have a stake in these projects once they do the research to get materials at the best price possible.

3. Send them on their way by telling them to start Googling coupon discounts in the 3 categories. They’ll find so many so fast they’ll feel immediately successful and get motivated. Honestly, if they can’t save 10% and much more on all expenses coupon hunting, they’re not trying. The goal is specifically set so they can accomplish it easily.

4. Tell them to use the real world as well. They should go to grocery stores, drug stores, hardware stores, Lowes and Home Depot, tire and muffler and car wash places. They should look for the coupons that are offered in the store and ask customer service about special deals. In the same vein, the local newspapers are very important, especially Sunday papers with whole coupon sections.

5. Have them record, on their chart, each coupon they use, and then total them at the end of each month.

One thing to advise your teen, particularly in the second month when they’re trying to beat their high score, is to tell them not to worry if they can’t tell if they got the very best deal available out there. Just saving money is a job well done. The problem is that there are so many offers out there, and they all claim to be different, and most are the same really. The second month is about finding more offers on more products, not necessarily a better offer on the same product.

Enjoy having your kids save you money, and time, if you are the household coupon clipper.

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Over the last week, when I run into parents from the school where I sit on the Board, they have started to ask if I know any good tutors. They’re thinking adults, often teachers.

I suggested to one parent, whose 8-year-old is just entering 3rd grade and needs a boost, that she call a math whiz 16-year-old I know. She was skeptical, but after we spoke, she said she had nothing to lose, and could always add an adult tutor, too. I said give it two weeks with the teen, then re-assess.

Here’s what convinced her: Peer help is often less threatening to a kid, and they like having an older new “friend.” Elementary school kids are often resistant to tutoring, but if it’s a teenager, they will cooperate more because they want to emulate a teen. Also, teenagers remember the math that elementary school kids are learning much more closely—they remember the emotions associated with the process of learning it. And they may have had the same teacher.

At our school, we have a buddy system. An 8-year-old will mentor a kindergarten buddy, and also have a high school student buddy mentoring him. They get together for activities, such as Spanish class, special arts projects. We’ve noticed that the 8 year old will start to be quite a mentor to the kindergarten student, watching out for them on the playground, bringing beginner books for them to read. And the teenagers end up teaching the elementary kids so much—they help out a great deal in Spanish.

Here’s the best part for the recession: The prices for a teen tutor are affordable. Adult math tutors where I live are $60 per hour. It’s very stressful for parents who know their kid needs a tutor but aren’t sure they can afford it.

So, if your teen has a particularly good subject—reading, math and languages are top needs—then tell them to start a tutoring business. But get to it, because the beginning of the school year, parents will be scrambling to find tutors. And hey, if your teen does well at this job during the year, they’ll have a job next summer all lined up, because by then they’ll have word of mouth reputation, and many parents have kids work on lagging skills during the summer.

Here are suggestions to get your teen started:

1. Start with tutoring elementary school kids at their own school, or feeder school. Set a price. Start with something like $10 to $15 an hour, so it’s not intimidating to parents. Start with an hour, even if the kid’s attention span doesn’t last that long. They may weave in and out of tutoring, talking, playing a game, etc. Teens are patient teachers. It’s one of the great things about them. Start with at least one hour per week, but two is better, because lessons reinforced more than once a week are digested better. And hey, at those prices, it’s affordable!

2. Your teen needs a spiel they tell parents. Have them explain the process of how they’ll tutor: First they will go to the kid’s teacher and have the teacher explain where the kid needs help, and what method they’re using to teach. Remember, your teen, unlike an adult, will have likely been taught by the same method. That’s what makes teen tutors so good. Then your teen will get assignments from the teacher before hand, weekly, so they can help by pre-teaching, which means the kid who needs tutoring sees the work and get used to it before it’s done in class. All they need to do is get a copy of the math book, for instance, and ask the teacher what lesson they’ll be working on that week. Your teen will touch base with the kid’s teacher once a week to see how they’re doing, and then will report to the parents.

3. A great method is to have your teen offer to go to the kid’s house and tutor there, starting by helping them with their homework in the trouble subject. They can use that time to launch into their tutoring session. Your teen can get extra worksheets from the kid’s teacher to use.

4. Games are great and teens are great at coming up with them. But there are many online resources, too. Encourage your teen to really become a pro. They should research games in the subject they’re tutoring, ask the teachers at school for direction.

5. If your teen feels like they’d do a good job with their peers, then have them talk to their teachers about tutoring other teens. This is much less research for them, since they’re studying the same thing. However, the payment gets stickier. It may be wise to tutor teens they don’t know. I would strongly suggest starting with tutoring elementary school kids.

Please share stories about teen tutors. I will also post a guest blog by teens who have done it.

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