This post was created in partnership with American Express.
Our son just turned 15. Our family life changes all the time as our son is growing up, and financial responsibility is something we have talked about for many years, and now we have a great chance to teach him how to handle money (and the lack thereof if he is not careful!) by getting him his first credit card.
American Express created the perfect opportunity to start our teen’s education in financial health by letting us add him as an Additional Card Member. As the primary card holder, it was very easy to add an Additional Card Member, on my account, with a minimum age requirement of 13.
Top Five Reasons To Add Your Teen as An American Express Additional Card Member:
1. Teach them financial responsibility by adding them as an Additional Card Member. Hopefully it will only take one month to understand that equals $50 a week, not $100 a week, with nothing left over for the second half of the month. Budgeting is a tool for all ages!
2. Parents can monitor expenditures. This is our teen’s first opportunity to have a credit card, learning his spending habits with the card can help us to guide him towards fiscal responsibility.
3. Less reason for kids to carry and handle cash. I find it is too easy to spend cash, and if you lose cash you cannot replace it, but you can always replace a lost Additional Card. Since all Additional Card Members from American Express have a different number than the parents card, only one family member’s card needs to be replaced.
4. Opportunity to learn about financial freedom. Your teen can choose to go to a movie with his friends without checking in with dad, and without asking for additional money on a weekend.
5. Family gets additional points which helps to get them closer to achieving rewards! We used our points towards an awesome family vacation last summer!
No one taught me financial responsibility. When I went off to college and had the ability to open credit card accounts, I was not financially responsible and acted as if the cards were savings accounts to spend, ignoring the interest fees that piled up for years. My son may not learn anything I teach him, but at least I now have a great tool to guide him.
There have been a lot of changes in our son’s life this past year. He is now in high school and can go out into the streets of NYC to buy his own lunch for the first time. He travels all over the city on the weekends with his friends and rarely has enough money to treat himself to a hamburger or a movie. We are all ready for that to change.
I have been giving him $5 a day for lunch. That is $100 a month. An additional $100, which we have discussed is a $25-week allowance (in exchange for some household chores), brought us up to the $200 we give him every month. We will see how week one goes; will he spend all $200 right away and have to eat in the school cafeteria for the next three weeks? He may learn some tough lessons quickly!
I don’t want my son to have cash. That is too easy to spend. I also did not want to teach these lessons to Paul with a debit card because it links to my bank account, and then he might use that to get cash.
It can be awkward when your teen is the only one who never has money to join his friends for a movie without checking in with his parents. As an Additional Card Member, Paul has more freedom to make these choices while hanging around with friends. And while I would rather he never go anywhere without us, I do know he has to practice being independent (with my tutelage).
I am happy that we can teach our teen how to use money wisely: knowing how to budget is an important skill for everyone. I am also grateful that he now has a credit card for emergencies that helps me stay saner when he is out during the day, all day, all over New York City! Learn more about how to add your teen to your account as an Additional Card Member here: https://amex.co/2OfZETw
This is such a great idea and I am happy to see that someone is offering this service. I know I would have loved this when my son was a teenager. I didn’t like handing him cash all the time.
I love this idea! It sounds like the perfect way to help kids get a real-world lesson in money and budgeting.
I really like this idea. Most teenagers seem to think money is some magical thing that parents can just make appear. I think this would help teach them that money requires responsibility.
This card for a teen is such a great idea. My daughter is a little older and is learning how to budget her money. I think it is great to give them the responsibility which they can not abuse.
This is great information! I think it’s great to teach them responsibility with money. Wish we would have had something like this when we were teens.
I think anything that will give our teens an advantage to managing money, as well as teaching them responsibility, is a great thing. Wonderful idea.
This is an excellent way to teach teens how to handle financial responsibility. Plus, we as parents can see exactly what they’re buying.
Adding points to your card for rewards is wonderful! I think it’s great you were able to take an awesome vacation! The utmost important reason is teaching them responsibility.
My daughter has Amex Serve, but good points here in favor of getting her a regular card.
This is such a smart move for parents. It’s definitely important for the kids to learn how to handle and save their money properly. It’s going to help them so much in the long run!
What a great idea!! I know when I was 16, my parents added me as a card member. I was traveling on school trips without them, and when I headed overseas, they wanted me to have that extra security if I ever found myself in a jam. I also think it taught me quite a lot about financial responsibility at that age!
This sounds like a great tool to try and help teens learn how to budget. Afterall, I think we learn the most about money at that age.
Teaching children the benefits of both a credit card and money is extremely important. Good for them to learn how to budget and how to spend both wisely. Keep track of their spending.
I’m pondering the pros and cons. You have made a great case for the pros. I particularly like the lessons he will learn by having that $200 a month. I hope you follow up on this with an additional post on how it is going!
I am going to teach my kiddo all about budgeting as he grows. He is just in the beginning stages of learning really what money can buy and how to save to get it. This is a great idea! I love the fact I can see where they spent money and maybe guide them with that if they need it.
This is so smart!! My son is only four, so I haven’t started thinking about this stuff yet. But putting this in my back pocket for the future!
Kids need to learn how to budget and not spend more than they should. This is a good idea.
My daughter is turning 13 next month!! Thanks for the excellent suggestion to add her as a card member. It is very important to me that she grows up financially responsible.
I have been debating this for awhile. I think I dole out money to my daughter too often and frankly have no idea what she does with. I think come the fall this is better way of teaching her financial responsibility than just handing over cash. And like you I was given a card in college and well lets say this by the end of the 3rd month I did not have a card and had to get a job.
That is a smart idea as long as they are smart with it. Credit is very important as you age.
This is great thinking. Strong credit makes for an easier future.
I might have to do this! I have a sixteen-year-old, and I’ll look into adding him. It would make a lot of sense.
These are all wonderful tips. I also encourage parents to add their teens to their cards and also have the conversation with them at an early age.
Not gonna lie, that sounds like a scare idea. But I see the benefit to them having access.
I like the idea of monitoring the card while teaching financial responsibility at the same time. I’ll have to look into it with my teen.
This is definitely something to consider! I got my first credit card around that age, and it has tough me to be wise with how I spend my money.
2 years and my son will be able to get a Credit Card that is so hard to believe but this is something I will do as I believe we all should teach our children financial responsibility which my parents didn’t do.
I recently got my teenager her own account. It’s amazing how much less she spends and how she actually thinks about things more and their cost.
I like the idea and that in a way, it will teach them to be financially responsible. I will be opening accounts for my kids but it won’t be credit cards. I am debt free and would like to pass that on to them
I like this idea but only if you can set a limit. I know how easy it is to go overboard spending and that can be super tempting as a teen!
I think that is a great Idea! I think here in the Netherlands we think different oh. Here it is more of that you have to work before you spend.
This is wonderful and my Dad the same with me, and ironically it was an AMEX card too. I spent less and he never had to worry in case I had an emergency. I was able to pick up groceries, appliance parts and anything needed because of that card. Never did I abuse it because I knew it was a matter of trust.
I love that American Express offers this service. We got my Daughter a debit card back in the day. It was great because she was going to Disney World with her Dad and I was afraid he wouldn’t let her have any money to buy things she might want as souvenirs. I was comfortable until one morning I got a call from a store and her card wouldn’t go through. The lady was so kind and let me give her my credit card over the phone. But I was so upset that she had to go through that. She had to experience being turned down for credit, the first time she used it. The bank hadn’t activated her card when we called it in. They reimbursed me a credit on her card double the amount, but after the fact. I just closed the account and went to another bank. I didn’t want their charity, I wanted their service with my money. She learned about money fast, but we were so lucky she was responsible for any money we gave her. I wish they taught more about money and credit in schools. That should be a priority in schools now. She has kids of her own now and she is talking about getting a card for her daughter in about 4 years when she turns 13. With American Express, this would show how responsible they are with credit and help them get a card when they get older. Thanks for your information. I can pass it on to others that may need this information. It’s hard enough for a kid out there now and having to worry about giving them money they could lose or spend and not have enough to cover a cab in case they need to get home is essential these days. I’m so happy that Paul has great parents that are giving him a chance to prove himself with handling money. Some parents wouldn’t ever consider doing that. I think it shows our children that we do trust them and that means a lot to them too.