Should teens have credit cards? This is a question asked by many parents of teenagers. Credit cards are a step into the adult financial world and parents don't know if their child should take on the responsibility of a credit card when he/she is a teenager or when he/she becomes and adult. It is more traditional to have teenagers wait until they are out of their teen years to apply for a credit card, but does that mean they shouldn't? Linda Ray from the nest certainly thinks that that is true. In her blog she says that the differences between adults and teenagers is enough for adults to have credit cards and teenagers not to. She states that many things that a credit card brings are things that a teenager would not be able to handle until they were older. These things include the disappearance between need and want, procrastination supportance, and the devaluation of work. Linda says that teenagers do not have a goo feeling of what they need and what they want. This seems partly true as an adult understands what they need because they need to survive on there own money and also understand that they cannot afford some of their wants. She also says that credit cards promote procrastination because they offer to buy now and pay later. Teenagers are probably more susceptible to procrastination and by reinforcing procrastination in spending habits could screw up financial decisions later in a teens life. The last thing is the devaluation of work. Linda says that because credit cards seem to just give away money, it devalues work in the mind of a teen. Teens will think that money can just come out of nowhere and they will not understand that they actually have to pay those costs. Maybe this is true in .001% of teenagers but I really doubt that people think money comes out of thin air.
However there are people who believe that teenager SHOULD have credit cards. Liz Schick believes that with the right technique, the benefits of teenagers having credit cards outweigh the downsides. She believes that spending habits will flourish and provide good practice for later down the line for teenagers. Liz says that because teenagers almost always have credit cards under their parents account that it is good for teenagers to make financial decisions with their cards because parents will see the bill and be able to give them feedback on what is good and what is bad. This real life experience is something that Liz believes provides good practice and promotes good spending habits for teenagers.
I think that teenagers should have credit cards for the same reasons that Liz thinks. The supervision of parents would allow me to make decisions and be able to get real life advice that may not be available to me later in life. These are benefits that having a credit card as a teenager would give me, and would as easily be available to most all other teenagers.
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Sam, this is very nice writing. You have a conversational writing style that is both thorough and easy to read. You obviously take your reading and writing seriously. That ability to communicate clearly and genuinely is an important aspect of success in any class or endeavor.
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