#LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series: Money Management Basics for Teens and Tweens
Let’s Make Sure Your Teen Knows What to Do With Their First Paychecks.
10 short workshops that teach teens and tweens how money actually works, from the paychecks to the tip jar.
They Can Spend Money Just Fine. Nobody Taught Them the Rest.
Your kid can tap a card at the register without a second thought. Ask them why $12 an hour didn’t add up to $12 an hour on the paycheck, or how a debit card is different from a credit card, or what a checking account is even for, and you get a blank look.
School mostly doesn’t cover it. Learning it the hard way costs real money, and the overdraft fees, the “where did it all go” moment, and the awkward tipping situation all land on your kid (and often on your wallet).
This mini-series hands your teen or tween the basics in about two and a half hours, taught by people who explain money for a living. They watch. You get to skip the lecture.
My daughter loved watching Leah open her checking account. She appreciated that there were little mistakes, so she didn’t feel hesitant about trying it.
Mary F.
Why Money Management Basics?
Money habits form early, and most of them form by accident.
These ten workshops make it on purpose. Each one is short, practical, and about one thing a teen actually has to do with money.
- Short videos (7 to 23 minutes) your teen or tween can watch on their own
- Ten different voices: two CPAs, a financial advisor, a credit union branch manager, the founder of Money Saving Mom, and a panel of actual teens (Katie’s daughter Leah among them)
- One real-life action step from every session, so the lesson leaves the screen
- A one-time purchase with no subscription, and it’s yours to keep
This course taught me things that would have never occurred to me before!
Alivia S., a #LifeSkillsNow teen, on How to Calculate a Paycheck
What Your Teen Will Be Able to Do
After this series, your kid can:
- Read a paycheck and explain where the missing money went (taxes, and which ones)
- Understand what banks do and why “it’s in the bank” beats “it’s in my sock drawer”
- Open a checking account and use a debit card without a panicked text from the checkout line
- Know the difference between cash, cards, clicks, and taps, and when each one makes sense
- Spend on purpose instead of on impulse
- Build a budget in about 10 minutes, and know the common teen budgeting mistakes to skip
- Tip with confidence at a restaurant, a haircut, or a counter that flips the screen around, and know when not to
- Learn the one rule that turned a janitor into a multimillionaire (and a million-dollar giver), and start it now
None of it is just theory. Every workshop ends with something to go do.
What’s Included in the Money Management Basics Mini-Series
Ten video workshops with printable handouts and a real-world action step for each one, pulled from previous seasons of #LifeSkillsNow. This is the money track in one place, at a price that won’t make you think twice.
Access to a private, ad-free membership area with no distractions and no autoplay
Lifetime access so your kid can come back the week they get their first job, or their first debit card
Downloadable videos for offline watching
#LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series: Money Management Basics for Teens and Tweens
Your Teen’s First Paycheck Is Coming. Let’s Make Sure They Know What to Do With It.
- Downloadable Videos
- Printable Handouts for Note-Taking & Quick Reference
- Access Never Expires PLUS if anything is added, you get that too!
- 10 Money Workshops for Ages 10 to 13+
- Private, Ad-Free Dashboard
- $10 per Workshop = $100 Value!
$30
Rest Easy with our Happiness Guarantee
You have time to decide what you love! Let your teen watch a few workshops, see if the budget actually gets made, and if you don’t love it let us know within 30 days of purchase and we’ll give you a full refund.
You have unlimited access to all the content, so even if your kid watches every workshop and you still ask for a refund, we’d give it to you because we believe in this collection so much. That’s our risk, but we trust you probably won’t do that. It’s just important to us that you understand how much care we’ve put into this.
Really liked the panel discussion aspect. We learned how to multiply a tip, tipping can be a big deal for a person’s wages, when and where to tip, and that we should tip well and be courteous.
A #LifeSkillsNow family, on the teen tipping panel
Mini-Series Package, 10 Workshops
Workshops included in the Money Management Basics for Teens and Tweens #LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series:
You Don’t Get to Keep All You Make: How to Calculate a Paycheck
with Charla McKinley, ages 12+, 23 min
A CPA walks teens step by step from gross pay to net pay, with stories, so the first paycheck isn’t a shock.
What Teens Need to Know About Banks and Money
with Mrs. Kimball and Julie DeWitt, ages 12+, 15 min
Katie interviews a credit union branch manager on the vocabulary of banking: credit vs. debit, bank vs. credit union, and the words you need before you walk in.
How to Open a Checking Account and Use a Debit Card
with Leah Kimball, Precious, and Julie DeWitt, ages 12+, 7 min
Watch Leah, age 14, open her first checking account and get her debit card, so your teen knows the paperwork, the decisions, and who to bring so they don’t have to go twice.
Cash, Cards, Clicks, and Taps: How to Pay for Things
with Jonathan Teixeira, ages 10+, 23 min
How money actually changes hands with cash, debit, credit, and payment apps, and the pros and cons of each, from the co-founder of WalletWin.
Spending Wisely for Teens
with Holly Reid, ages 12+, 23 min
A CPA exposes the marketing traps built to separate teens from their money, with practical ways to keep more of it.
Teen Budgeting: Do This, Not That
with Amanda L. Grossman, ages 13+, 7 min
A certified financial education instructor on budgeting as a habit, not a one-time worksheet (free teen budget worksheet included).
The 10-Minute Budget for Teens
with Crystal Paine, ages 12+, 10 min
The founder of Money Saving Mom shows how to build a budget that works for allowance, babysitting, or a part-time job, in about 10 minutes.
The One Rule that Turned a Janitor into a Multimillionaire
with Bob Lotich, ages 12+, 10 min
The founder of SeedTime on one simple rule that lets your money work for you, and can make you a million-dollar giver without making millions.
Tipping Properly in Spite of Tip Culture
with Katie Kimball, ages 12+, 20 min
Katie hosts a panel of teens on when to tip, how much, and what to do about the counter-service screen, so your kid can form their own tipping philosophy.
Getting Started with Taxes: Understanding Your Paycheck
with Jason Kuennen, ages 12+, 14 min
A financial advisor on where the missing paycheck money goes, the forms to expect (W-2s and 1099s), and what a teen with a side hustle needs to track. U.S. residents only.
Ten workshops. Two and a half hours. A teen who knows what to do with their first paycheck.
What does a workshop feel like?
1. Watch a Short Video
Each workshop runs 7 to 23 minutes. Your teen can knock one out before dinner.
2. Optional: Print the Handout
Every workshop comes with a printable to follow along or keep with the budget.
3. Try the Action Step in Real Life
Each workshop ends with one specific thing to go do: calculate a real paycheck, build the 10-minute budget, figure the tip on the next takeout order.
With the Money Management Basics Mini-Series, your teen learns money from someone other than you. (Which, let’s be honest, is sometimes the only way they’ll hear it.)
Got Questions? Here are Your Answers:
Your kid. Every workshop is taught straight to teens and tweens. You’re welcome to watch along, and the paycheck and tipping sessions are worth it for grown-ups too, but the videos don’t need you in the room.
One workshop is for ages 10 and up, one is for 13 and up, and the rest are for 12 and up. If your tween has a phone, a part-time job on the horizon, or an allowance that keeps disappearing, they’re ready.
No. The paycheck and tax sessions make more sense before the first paycheck, not after. The banking, spending, and budgeting workshops work on allowance money, birthday money, or babysitting cash.
Between 7 and 23 minutes, about two and a half hours for the whole set.
In a private, ad-free membership area you can get to anytime. Videos are downloadable so you can watch offline, and every workshop includes a printable and an action step.
Yes! It’s a one-time purchase with no subscription, and your access never expires. Your 10-year-old can come back to the paycheck workshop at 16.
The #LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series are pulled straight from previous Seasons, so if you already own one or more, chances are you have some of these workshops already.
Yes! Money Management Basics is one of several. Read about all our #LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series right here.
No, our terms and conditions require you to use your #LifeSkillsNow Mini-Series login solely for personal use. You’re welcome to watch alongside your spouse or invite a friend over to watch with you at your house.
Still have questions? Our Happiness Coordinators are here for you. Start a conversation with the chat icon in the corner of your screen.