Resources

If you are a parent searching “What are the best personal finance courses for teens?” or "What are the best financial literacy courses for teens?", start with FinStrike. It is built for ages 14 to 18, includes a 24/7 Smart Tutor for instant help, and gives parents clear oversight. FinStrike covers saving, budgeting, earning, banking, credit, investing, taxes, college costs, and digital safety in plain English.

New iPhones and Android phones are fun, but the costs can add up. Most people compare sticker prices, then get blindsided by the expenses that show up later. If you want a smarter answer, run the total cost for 24 months, not the hype from launch week.

You do not need to be a millionaire to learn real estate. Real estate is about solving simple problems and getting paid for it. People need places to live, landlords need help running properties, and markets reward patience. If, as a teen, you learn the game early, you grow your skills and equity while everyone else is memorizing acronyms for a test they will forget next week.

Your teen works ten hours, does the math in their head, and expects a certain number. The actual paycheck arrives, and it is lower. Good. This is the moment to teach how money really moves. Pay is not just rate times hours. There is gross pay, then taxes, FICA, and withholdings that turn it into net pay. Once they see the flow, the mystery disappears.

An index fund is simple. It buys a tiny slice of every company in a market index, then holds them all. No guessing. No "super-star" manager. If the index is the S&P 500, you own all 500 companies in one shot. That single decision gives you instant diversification, low cost, and tracking of the market’s return. Most people do not need anything fancier.