Why You Need to Add your Teen as an Additional Card Member

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post with American Express. All opinions are 100% my own.

It’s important to keep an eye on your teens with their spending habits. Just like it’s important to track their whereabouts when they’re teens, everything is so new and there’s a sense of independence that you start to get as you get older. Money is important, too. In College – I wish my parents had taught me this! My 1st credit card I maxed out at the local mall! It was horrible! I had to work so hard to get myself out of that hole and my parents made me work for it. I had 2 jobs that summer and it was an important life lesson.

The teen years are new for me in my parenting adventure.

Teens and Finance

I’ve always said that each new phase in parenting brings its own new set of worries and lessons to be learned. Now that I’ve reached this teen phase with my sons, it’s all about teaching life lessons and giving them a sense of independence. I partnered with American Express this summer to hone in on teaching my oldest teen son William all about financial responsibility through his Additional Card Membership. He’s a good kid and he’s a curious kid, so I knew he would be very interested and intrigued about learning about finances. I’ve seen firsthand the importance of teaching this lesson to him this summer and I can definitely say – it’s never too early to teach this to your kids.

Teens and Finance

My first year in college I got myself into some credit card debt. My parents were very smart, they had me get a job and pay it off. It was a tough lesson to learn, but I’ll tell you what – I never got myself in tremendous credit card debt again! I learned the importance of being financially responsible. I’m adamant about history not repeating itself with any of my kids, so I was thrilled to find adding my oldest as an Additional Card Member as an option to teach the importance of financial responsibility.

Throughout the summer William used his Additional Card. Since William is on a travel swim team and loves to spend time with his friends around town, there are many instances when he’s not with us and he’s on his own. Whether it’s at a restaurant, at a local drugstore, at the grocery store or at a local mall… it’s important for William to have his Additional Card on him so he can pay for things. I loved that I was able to actually monitor all of his activity and really see how smart and savvy he was in terms of what he was spending money on.

Teens and Finance

There were 4 things that I loved about this card for my son William:

  1. Charges for each Additional Card Member are separated out on the monthly statement for easy expense tracking. And each Card has its own account number so if it’s lost or stolen, I only need to replace that Card.
  2. I earn points on William’s purchases the same way I do on my own.
  3. I can add any Additional Card Members to my account as long as they are 13 and older (with 3 sons coming right behind him, I’ll be there soon!) to start teaching responsible spending habits and (BONUS) help those over 18 years old begin building their own credit.
  4. I can set up text and email alert notifications when William spends! It’s the best thing ever because I can monitor as he goes.

I have to admit, William really impressed me in terms of how he spent money. He only bought what he needed and he made sure to pay me back for everything purchased. I was really happy, but what really impressed me the most was that it opened up the discussion of money and being smart with it and responsible. William opened a bank account and even started looking into investing! I love seeing him at the age of 13 years old want to take care of his financial future in small ways right now. I wish I had done this when I was 13 years old!

Teens and Finance

Thank you to American Express for the amazing partnership. This is such an important topic for teens and it’s something that needs to really be discussed regularly at home. I’m on a mission to keep all 5 of my kids financially responsible! Learn more about how to add your teen to your account as an Additional Card Member here:
https://amex.co/2MaODVW

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

Sign Up To The Ultimate Style Newsletter for Moms

Categories

ShopStyle “List” Of all Things I Like and Blog About

Pinterest

23 Comments

  1. 10.17.18
    Susan Simon said:

    I agree you need to add your teen as a card member.. I am trying to teach my teen all about responsibility, and I think this would be great for her, definitely on my to do list.

  2. 10.17.18
    mami2jcn said:

    My sons are 13 & 15. This looks like a good opportunity to educate them about credit card debt.

  3. 10.17.18

    This is great advice.

  4. 10.17.18
    sandra said:

    I would have never thought of this. great advice.

  5. 10.17.18
    Rosie said:

    That is a good idea, and nowadays you can keep an eye on it, if he went off track. And I do agree, the younger, the better, but only as they are able to demonstrate responsibility, of course, some that might be a little older. I didn’t know they don’t start building their own credit until 18, even if they are a signer on a credit card at a younger age.

  6. 10.18.18

    What a great idea, I bet all the other credit card companies will follow suit. I almost have teens at home so this is something to look into. I like the idea of helping them learn financial responsibility.

  7. 10.18.18
    Scott said:

    We already did that last year! We added both our girls to our cards and they have used them responsibly so far!

  8. 10.18.18
    Kristi said:

    A great idea, we have two tweens and they both have very different spending habits already.

  9. 10.18.18

    We did this a while back and it was a really good move. It’s important for our kids to learn financial responsibility as early as possible. I wish someone had helped me. I ended up with a lot of debt because I just didn’t realize how quickly it can happen.

  10. 10.20.18
    Sean said:

    Very good advice thank you

  11. 10.22.18
    Susan P. said:

    I taught my girls about money when they were in high school and they each got a student checking account before going to college. They know how important it is to build their credit and use credit cards wisely. My dad taught us to pay off the cards each month and I taught that to my girls, which means monitor your spending.

  12. 10.26.18
    Clarissa said:

    As the mother of a teen I think this is such a great way to teach your kids about managing finances and credit early on in life.

  13. 10.26.18
    JulieD said:

    This is great, Audrey! What a great way to teach them good spending habits!

  14. 10.26.18
    Tammilee said:

    I love that you are having these conversations early! I wish i would have started young learning about spending.

  15. 10.26.18
    Nichol Perez said:

    Thanks for this amazing info. Checking it out for my teen.

  16. 10.26.18
    Lynda @mommypowers said:

    I really like this idea. Our tween has a couple years to go, but I’m going to look into this!

  17. 10.26.18

    I learned the lesson the hard way too! Smart to start early with money education.

  18. 10.26.18

    Omigosh, so funny. I, too, maxed out my credit card in college at the mall, and my parents made me pay it off. Best life lesson ever. To this day, I pay my cc off religiously every month. Such a great idea to start teaching your kids young.

  19. 10.26.18
    Lauren said:

    This is such a gift you are giving your children. I got into some credit card debt in college myself. Learned a lesson FAST!

  20. 10.26.18
    Sami Cone said:

    My mom added me as an additional cardholder to her AmEx when I turned 16 and I’ll be forever grateful. Need to look into doing the same with my kids!

  21. 10.26.18
    Amiyrah said:

    Love this so much, Audrey. This is a great way to teach our teens financial responsibility.

  22. 10.26.18

    What a great way to teach them financial responsibility!! I wish I had known about this for our oldest, but will definitely be considering this for our 15 year old. Thanks for sharing the info!

  23. 11.1.18

    Teaching kids financial responsibility is… a responsibility! And something I think parents overlook all too often. SOOO appreciate your voice and this message!

Comments are closed.