Asian Money Matters: Part 2 - The Teenager Journey
Hello, and welcome to our second edition of Asian Money Matters! The focus of these issues are to provide a space to explore finance through the lens of our community.
Each issue is built around a different stage of life. Our first issue discussed our connections with money during our childhood years. This issue builds on the conversation by discussing our connections with money matters during our teenage years. I will finish by sharing some of my teenage experiences to provide groundwork, and inspiration for you to engage in the reflection exercise.
The influence of social media on spending habits
During the teenager stage, our sense of right and wrong is often shaped by family values. These values are constantly challenged by outside forces, as teens struggle with fluctuating emotions.
Social Media has fast become the teenagers financial marketplace, not only by taking on the role of banker, but also the role of financial investor and advisor. Services are often free and focus on motivating teens with the goal of capturing teens time and money, leaving little space for reflection, or conversation. Although teenagers may feel they have more independence and knowledge of their money matters, social media influencers outside their family networks are often masterfully enticing all matters relating to teenagers money.
The subject of crypto currency is an import element of teenagers money matters. Although teenager girls are more prone to spend money on physical identify related needs, like boys, they can also be enticed with the possibility of quick gratification. The opportunity to gamble and obtain passive income with big gains, fuelled by an impulsive nature and the fear of missing out, creates a social atmosphere of must have, rather than a need to have. According to Internet.Matters.Org, almost 25% of UK teens aged 13 to 16 have already invested in cryptocurrency, or are contemplating investing, with the majority being boys. The driving reasons include the desire to earn lots of money, or to be a part of the new future of money.
Due to the lack of education from schools and parents, many teenagers have understandably outsourced their money matters to social media. Social media provides attractive side hustle to earn income allowing teenagers the flexibility to reject traditional working environments, and opt to earn money using a platform that has been woven into their lives since early childhood, one that can be accessed without leaving the comfort of their homes.
Shifting the focus from financial management to emotional awareness
Our emotions are the backbone of each financial choice we make. Stable emotions encourage stable financial choices. Without trusted guidance, it can feel overwhelming for teenagers to make sensible money decisions. Today’s teenagers, also known as Gen Z’s, or Zoomers are well connected, yet isolated and anxious as they grow alongside dynamic technology platforms. A BBC article outlined a study published by the European arm of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which reported problematic social media behaviour amongst 13-year-olds since the pandemic, of which girls are more likely to report problematic use than boys.
Engaging money, from its source to its consumption, helps to promote healthy choices. Today’s teenager are savvy, nimble and curious - a nature that is fuelled by a robust technology platform. Parents choices during teen years were more limited, given the technology landscape was still in its infant stage. Although teens are more independent in their money decisions, it is unclear if this will lead to better emotional or financial stability in later years.
Home Money Matters
In an ideal world, we grow up with two parents, buy a car, go to college, find a job, travel, have a career, get married, buy a house, have kids, retire, grow old and die. A life built on strong family and friend connections, contributes positively to each phase of our financial journey, yet despite having strong family networks, growing up in a deprived household can hinder our financial abilities. The British Journal of Educational Studies, noted that disadvantaged teens have less frequent money conversations with their parents, and are less likely to be shown how money works, whereas the financial knowledge of children from wealthier backgrounds is far stronger. Additionally, studies suggest that UK teenagers overall lag in money matters compared to other developed countries.
Introducing teenagers from the age of 13, if not earlier to a savings account is a key foundational step in building a tangible connection with money. A home that supports a collaborative approach to conversing in money matters can lead to healthier decisions that are made with confidence, rather than from a place of fear or a drive for instant gratification.
A program offered at schools by Money Talks found that male teenagers prefer the interactive approach to money matters rather than having to learn in a silo environment, while female teenage students preferred to converse with their families on money matters, pointing to a dependence by females on their family structure. Studies point to the lack of financial understanding and ownership in early years can result in poor financial decisions in later stages of life. Studies point to the importance of parents to provide interactive and engaging conversations, and tools to encourage financial conversations with their children so that they learn to adopt thoughtful and patient approaches when interacting with money. Some banks offer playground opportunities that can be accessed for children to explore the money journey.
My Teenager Reflections
During my teenage years I had little access to money, and no access to financial mentoring. The game of monopoly was my only playground, which I played with the focus of winning, rather than on strategy. Below I have shared a couple of experiences that may have contributed towards my adult relationship with money matters.
Teen Savings
As a teenager, money seemed like a commodity that moved outside my realm of control. It was a force that navigated on the outskirts of my life, multiplying itself through the tasks of physical work, and consuming itself by means out of my control. On leaving school at the cusp of 16, my mother organized for me to work at a large industrial sewing factory that paid directly into my bank account. An account that was set up for the purpose of this job, and one that I hardly dared to interact with.
These funds were accessed towards my dowry, and a one way plane ticket to Canada for my arranged marriage. This the second attempt to arrange my marriage. During my teenage years, I failed to establish a relationship with the money I earned. I worked diligently and trained my body like a fine tool, to sew garments efficiently and became one of the fastest sewers in the factory. My drive to work hard was not driven to earn more money, but to be the best worker possible so that my teen mind could earn itself a sense of value. My lack of connection with money matters was partly due to surrendering my choices to the adults around me, and trusting that I would marry Prince Charming, live in a perfect house - a fairytale life that would be arranged by my parents, a life of roses and daffodils.
Passive Income
The second experience that I’d like to share is that of my observations of my father’s relationship with money. My father did not express a strong desire for material requirements, other than the basics of paying off the mortgage and having the necessities to run a house. In my mid teen years, my father stopped labouring at Black Country factories, and began using passive income to support the family household. This passive income was generated by renting out bedrooms to mainly to family acquaintances who recently immigrated to the country.
A couple once lived in the large bedroom along with their three adult children. The oldest studied medicine and is now a successful neurologist living with his family in a beautiful gated community in Los Angeles. Although we shared the same house, we had different educational and financial outcomes that could be attributed to our parents cultural influences. The father of the neurologist provided each of his three sons the opportunity of a college education, but did not afford this luxury to his Asian teenage daughter. My father alike, grew up in the same culture, from the same village in India, and was also opposed educating his six daughters.
Breaking free from financial conditioning
Our teenager exposures play an important role in impacting our adult decisions and in our life outcomes. Despite earlier challenges, we do have the ability to re-invent ourselves and create space to change our present and our future. With awareness and reflection, we can better carve a journey that supports a healthy relationship with money, and in turn a meaningful and balanced relationship with life. Fostering financial responsibility starts with awareness, and includes the ability to accept circumstances that are out of one’s control, and connecting with enthusiasm to the circumstances that one is able to maneuver and change.
Life is not built on the possibility of who we were, or who we are, but on the possibly of what we can blossom into becoming!
Self-reflection exercise
Next we explore a self-reflective exercise. You will need a quiet comfortable space, a journal, and a candle. The focus of this exercise is to AWAKEn within you, your awareness, and inspire within you, your natural sense of empowerment.
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Embark in a 7 day Financial Challenge (or 30 days if you feel up to it) to build awareness in understating your money habits.
· Budget: Create a 7-day budget
· Plan: Create a log that breaks down the items you plan to purchase over the next seven days. Log only items relating to clothing, beauty-products.
· Purchase: When purchasing each item, log the cost of the item, as well as the number of work hours you have contributed towards this purchase (option to add the cost value of your time to the purchase price), and estimate how long you expect the item will remain in your life.
· Joy Rating: For each item, rate the level of joy from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, at the time of purchase (how the item looked, and met with your initial plan). Consider also noting a second joy rating associated to the transactional side of purchasing the item (time involved to purchase, how the item was purchased if on-line, with friends, etc.) If the joy rating of the experience of purchasing is different to the rating the item brings, then note your observations on what could have influenced the difference (this can be expanded in the closure stage).
· Reflection: At the end of 7 days, reflect on all the items that you desired (original plan), and what may have prevented you from purchasing any items (if you hesitated). Reflect on the items purchased that were not initially planned, and what caused you to purchase unplanned items, and reflect on the items you had purchased. Observe changes in joy ratings. This observation will bring light to possible purchase patterns.
· Compare: Review the total cost of purchases against your planned budget. Consider adjusting your cost to reflect the value of your time involved in purchasing each item.
· Closure: Once this item has served its purpose, note the overall level of joy it added to your life, compared with joy ratings during the initial 7-day cycle. Reflect on what fuelled the joy rating - if this was due to the thought of the purchase, the transactional part of the purchase, or the value the item contributed to your life once it was purchased.
Compare the total duration the item served you, compared to the initial estimated length of time you expected the item would serve you (noted in the purchase stage).
Finally, let go of the item with awareness of how its journey began (cultivation, manufacturing, shipping), how it entered your life (experience of shopping), how it served you (felt wearing the item), and then where its journey ends (offered to a friend, family, dumpster, charity, up-cycled, etc.). This step likely will be completed at a future date once the item has served its purpose.
When ready, let go of the item(s) with care, awareness, and with gratitude.
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Sit quietly and close your eyes. When ready, bring Awareness to two or three key experiences that occurred during your teenage years that involved your relationship with money.
Write these experiences in your journal.
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Light a candle and sit silently for five minutes watching the flame burn.
Like a Window opens for fresh air, open your heart allowing the light of the candle to nourish you.
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Breath In: I am in Acceptance with all that is.
Pause.
Breath out: I let go of all that no longer serves me.
Repeat seven times.
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Feel unconditional kindness towards each part of your body, thanking it for its support.
Feel kindness towards your brain for all its efforts to support you in navigating your day.
With your eyes closed, acknowledge with gratitude Knowing that it is truly you, not your body, not your brain that is the navigator of your life journey.
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Place your feet on the ground and Engage, feeling the grounding aspects of mother earth.
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Journal your insights
It’s not possible to change past experiences, but it is possible to engage with past experiences to help build awareness to navigate from unwanted patterns. Once you surrender to the process, your reflections will aid in building awareness that will impact your financial decisions. It is not necessary to dwell on past patterns, but more to find an understanding of what motivates your decisions. After journaling let go of unwanted emotions, allowing them to subside into the abyss. Taking accountability and small steps with the use of mindful approaches are the beginnings of creating a journey of self-awareness, self-empowerment and self-compassion. With openness we can forge a path from financial anxiety towards financial independence.
Thank you for taking part in this our second issue of Asian Money Matters. In the next issue I will explore the adult journey with money. I hope that through these discussions I am able to shed light on this important subject, but more importantly, to start chipping away at the stigma of money, and help inspire you to look just a bit closer at how you engage with the financial landscape that surrounds you.
This issue will end with a quote to inspire and remind you to protect your money matters, as you protect all matters of your life.
“Treat your money like your life, don’t waste it!”
If you missed the first article in the Asian Money Matters series, you can read it here: An Introduction & Childhood Influences.
Your feedback on the Asian Money Matters series is welcome at support@ambercommunity.net
References:
UCL News, UK’s poorest children less likely to understand personal finances.
World bank development research group. Financial Literacy around the world.