Teen Blog: Look after the pennies

Unless you've been living on Mars for the last 12 months, you'll be very well aware that the world is in some sort of economic meltdown.

The use of the terms "credit crunch", "recession" and "downturn" are splashed across the news causing us all to panic.

Yet being a spend-happy teenager, is there any need to?

As of yet, we've remained largely unaffected – but there could be more serious implications.

Within my own peer group, financial pressures already seem to be looming on the horizon, and this is before the issue of university loans has come up.

In a survey I read, nearly half of the 15 to 17 year olds interviewed by wealth managers AXA plan to get a credit card when they turn 18. A further 18 per cent are considering taking out a bank loan and 17 per cent expect to be overdrawn.

Worryingly, the study also found that a significant 70 per cent of teens are unable to stick to a basic budget for just one week.

Overspending seems to be a growing problem for me and teenagers in general, and from personal experience the question that all my mates ask when they've frittered away their money is "where has it all gone?".

As far as I'm concerned, having at least one part-time job at my age is pretty much imperative, especially as everything seems to be getting more expensive. Whether it's topping up credit on your phone or taking a trip to Topman, money seems to disappear before you've even thought about paying it into your savings account.

However, at sixth form we're constantly encouraged not to spend our free time earning that little bit of extra cash by sticking up skittles or washing up dirty dishes at the local pub, but to concentrate on picking up good grades at the end of the year so we can then get a successful, high-earning job.

Yet maybe at these times of financial family pressures causing the doors at "the bank of Mum and Dad" to slam shut, this perfect ideal may well be a thing of the past.

At the moment, it's not something that me and my mates would discuss – which is probably the problem.

If it was talked about, then teenagers would become more aware of potential financial dangers.

Many teenagers like myself are on the verge of leaving home for university or to get a job, and while some will naturally approach money with care, others may simply not be able to cope with budgeting.

The value of money seems to be diminishing as the temptation to spend through a piece of plastic seems too easy to resist.

Teenagers almost expect to get into debt now, and I feel there may a danger that you might as well spend while you can and get into debt sooner rather than later.

In these times of global financial crisis, surely our schools should educate teenagers about dealing with personal finance.