Theme song for this post is that commercial ” I want it now, I need it now!”

Resource: In 2003, teens spent an average of $103 per week — a total of $175 billion, according to Teen Research Unlimited. That’s $169 billion dollars more than the budget for the state of New Mexico, which is $6 billion, and $36 billion more than the 2006 budget for the state of Texas. And the numbers will keep rising, according to The Census Bureau, which estimated the U.S. teen population at 33 million individuals in 2003 and predicted the population to continue to grow until 2010.
However, for some teens, money is taken for granted because the cash is coming from parents and relatives — they spend money, but are not always aware of how to save money.
When items like iPods, cell phones and even cars are tops on a teen’s wish list, it is important for teens to learn good money habits.

Delayed Gratification - Self Control is the Key to Success.
Young people who can delay gratification can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree. They can perform rote tasks in order to, say, master a language. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals. No wonder they drop out. Life is a parade of foolish decisions: teenage pregnancy, drug use, gambling, truancy and crime. The ability`to delay gratification, like most skills, correlates with socioeconomic status and parenting styles. Children from poorer homes do much worse on delayed gratification tests than children from middle-class homes. That’s probably because children from poorer homes are more likely to have their lives disrupted by marital breakdown, violence, moving, etc. They think in the short term because there is no predictable long term.
Read the The Mischel experiment here in full

Read the Article Here