My parents were great with managing their money, and they taught my brother and me by example. However, they didn’t really take the time to truly “teach” us about personal finance. As a certified financial educator, I believe it’s incredibly important that every teenager – including those who are autistic – learn as much as they can about money and personal finance. It is key to their independence and managing their lives as adults.
Therefore, I’m going to share the financial literacy lessons that I’ve been teaching my own teenagers, including my son J who has autism and ADHD.
We are using the book “I Want More Pizza” (affiliate link) by Steve Burkholder. Steve is a certified public accountant and has worked in the finance department in higher education. He has a passion for teaching teens and young adults about personal finance. I found his book a few years ago when looking for a good resource for J to learn about money.
Lesson #1: Why autistic teens should learn about money
Autism is a spectrum, so our teens will have variable abilities and capabilities to manage money. However, I am a big believer in teaching children and teenagers to handle their personal finances to the best of their abilities. The more they can learn about money, the more independent they can be.
This is a great place to start with many autistic teens (or any teenagers or older children really) to teach them about money. See the lesson below.
Read the preface of “I Want More Pizza” (affiliate link) with your teenager
Takeaways to share with your teen:
- Steve shares his personal story. He talked about working part-time jobs in high school and college. He shared how his mom opened a “Christmas” savings account for him. He was required to save half of the money he made in his savings account.
- Saving half his money taught him the importance of saving money, and he managed to accumulate $5,000 in his account by the end of high school.
- Steve shares he was looking for ways to earn more money. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of investing in the stock market without understanding it or how to properly choose which stocks to invest.
- He discusses how everyone faces financial difficulties. It could be credit card debt, student loans, low income from low-paying jobs or other money problems.
- His hope is that by reading his book, teens and young adults will learn about personal finance and not make as many mistakes with money.
Money discussion tips with your autistic teen:
- Share your personal finance story with your teen. Talk about the types of jobs you had when you were younger. Discuss how you learned about money. You may even confess if you still have a lot to learn, and you both can learn together!
- If your teen has a savings account, take it out and discuss the purpose of it, the current balance and how to increase their savings.
- Ask your teen what they hope to learn most about money.
- Plan a time for Lesson 2.
