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On my daughter’s recent career day at high school, I spoke to my senior students about budgeting, the risks of credit card debt, and how to navigate financial uncertainty.
The conversation made me think: What do financial experts want to know about money as a teenager? This question reiterated the recent social media trends characterized by influencers getting coffee with their younger selves.
I asked a handful of financial experts to tackle the coffee challenge, but I gave a financial twist. Here’s what they told me:
1. Dive deeper into cash flow
Megan Kokka, a certified financial planner and former mathematics teacher in Wilmington, North Carolina, is the process of understanding your income and expenses, or your basic cash flow, is key to figuring out how much you should spend and save.
“Learn and understand what you have,” she says.
That process can help prevent you from spending your time unconsciously, especially with your first credit card.
High school is a good time to create a money habit that allows you to become an adult.
2. Start actively saving as soon as possible
Taking your savings seriously and choosing a specific goal suggests Rahkim Sabree, a financial therapist and certified financial counselor based in Hartford, Connecticut.
“If you realize how expensive life is, you want to start saving faster,” he says.
What you’re saving, whether it’s a vacation, a gaming system, or a new sneaker, is important to find motivation at a younger age.
3. Consider investing early
In high school, Cocca lets most of the income from her work at the bakery sit in a savings account. She now hopes that she has opened an investment account.
Her money may have grown over the past 30 years.
“If I had only cleaned up $25 a month, I would have been in front of the game,” she says.
Her main lesson for high school students today is opening an investment account as soon as possible. For example, high school students can invest in a Roth IRA.
4. Accept the difference in money
Some high school students grow up in households that distrust the bank. Others earn income to contribute to important household expenses. These different types of experiences can affect your feelings about saving money, spending and collecting, Sabree says.
Acknowledging those differences and resisting the feeling of embarrassment and the desire to “catch up with Jones” is something that helps young people grow, he says.
Sabree says that the best ones for one can be different from the best ones for classmates, so they are happy to focus on themselves rather than comparing them to others.
5. Think carefully before taking on debt
I remember when Sabree was in high school, he was encouraged to take away his student loan debt without worrying about the outcome.
Looking back, he hopes someone has explained the tension that student loan debt can put on younger people and walked him with an alternative.
“Let’s talk about debt burdens,” he says.
Similarly, Kopka wants young people to understand the amount of credit card interest you are paying if they don’t repay all remaining balances each month.
6. Don’t forget that it’s not too late to start
“People will only learn when they’re ready,” says Spenser Liszt, founder at Dallas-based Motif Planning’s CFP.
In other words, it’s okay to allow yourself to not accept the concept of retirement savings, life insurance, or tax credit as a teenager.
In fact, Liszt didn’t open a Roth IRA herself until she was in her 30s and doesn’t regret the choice. He chose to spend his money in other ways to support his music career, such as professional grade instruments, music school tuition fees, and private lessons.
Currently, his company mainly works with music industry experts across the country.
“Turning the future is a recipe for anxiety,” he warns.
You may want your young self to understand the importance of saving and investing, but it’s fine if you’re happy to start.
“It’s never too late to build a stronger economic future,” says Liszt.
7. Accept your journey with mistakes
As for me, I wish people who write about money to make a living knowing that it’s okay to take risks and make mistakes, even if it means seeing retirement savings fall. I still struggle with the natural impulse to be overly conservative, even in long-term investments.
Part of growth is learning your own money personality and how to adjust it to make better choices.
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Kimberly Palmer writes for Nald Wallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.
Article 7 Financial experts hope to know what they originally knew at the high school that appeared in Nerdwallet.
Original issue: June 3, 2025, 1:57pm
