Helping a soon to be 16yo save.

**mommy4ever** · 03-19-2010, 06:37 PM

OK.. let the fun times roll.....

My son is entering into an apprenticeship program through his school. It's a pretty good opportunity.

How it works is they first do an employability course. Safety, WHMIS, interview prep, etc. When successfully complete the course, they create their resume and find an employer who will take them on in their chosen trade and do a 125 hour internship. This may or may not be paid. Once the internship is complete, the employer decides if they are taking the student on as an apprentice. Most will. The student will work for August fulltime and for the 1st semester of school. Second semester they do school full time, and then back to work in the summer until 2nd semester. By the end of the second year, they typically have enough or close to enough to do the first 8week session of trade school, so they would get into the program for the 3rd summer and by that 3rd fall be 2nd year apprentices. Depending on what they want for courses, the kids have the option of doing one more semester of school. But regardless, they are 2nd year apprentices.

So at 18 he will be making a decent wage, and by 21 a journeyman.

Some people may disagree, but for us, it will give him a way to earn tuition for University if he decides to go into law, medicine, engineering. We know a few people, that are white collar professionals that put themselves through university by being a journeyman..lol. A lawyer was a plumber first, graduated with $0 university debt. He could work 5 months FT and weekends through school at $30/hr, vs $8 at the burger joint.

So, a young man making a pretty decent wage(they say average is $12-$16/hr) when they start. He has a few things he needs to accomplish. 1. put away money for his tradeschool tuition. Est. $3000/yr(first tuition due 2 years away) x 4 years(high end, but it'll give him some spending and gas money). $1500 for a car(likely double what it'll really be, dh is auto tech, so we rarely pay more than $700 for a car). And insurance...this is a hefty one $2000-3000/year. BUT, in trades, there isn't necessarily a bus to where you are going to work. And i can't be driving him for ever. $600 for student drivers training. Plus depending on the trade, he needs work gear, steel toe boots at the minimum, and work clothes, outdoor stuff for winter.

So.. if he is working Aug-Jan. at 40 hours a week, and I'll say minimum wage although most will pay more. Lets err on the guaranteed wage. So.... he needs to save, $1500+$1500+3000+400 and $400 clothing and boots. So, 6800! We are hoping insurance is way lower, and there is the fact that it can be paid monthly not the year at a time. But he'll still need to bank Feb to July....so he has the money needed. is about $6100 from Aug-Jan less deductions. And if we pay insurance monthly while working (summer/fall 2011) he only needs to bank $$500-750, so he would be down to $5550-6050. And if the car were $700 instead, it would be $4800-5300. There is the possibility he stays on part-time weekends through his 5 months school....

I don't know...

What is reasonable? Expectation We have no issues helping him out *some* to get it done. We want him to REALLY SEE what the costs of life are, before he goes on his own and blows it..lol

**ncarr** · 03-19-2010, 08:05 PM

sounds good to me! Plumbers make awesome money and it's a great skill to have. I am all in favor of teens learning a trade that they can fall back on if needed.

**mommy4ever** · 03-19-2010, 08:23 PM

I know that was pretty much thinking out "loud"

**kita** · 03-22-2010, 05:31 PM

It is a great idea. I think I figured that he would have roughly 16 months of full time work. And roughly a thousand take home. So for that $6800 he will have $16000. I think you should talk with him in general about what you expect him to pay for and then sit down with pen, paper, and some calenders to see if what he will have in pay when each bill is due. Help him set it up so he can see how to plan his money for future bills. Learning about sinking funds is a great thing.

**mommy4ever** · 03-22-2010, 05:42 PM

I guess I need to put it down on paper and get him to look at it.

I need to get an insurance quote, just to see what we are really looking at. The nephew is a new driver and is paying $3000, but that is FULL coverage, as he had a brand new vehicle

given to him. Which he also totalled in 4 months

Our ds would be getting an older car. So i would think it would cost less....

So, many things to consider....

**JerryG** · 03-22-2010, 05:57 PM

Putting it down on paper is a great way to start. When DS first started working, the first thing we did was sit down w/ a calendar and calculator to figure out how much needed to go into the bank each pay day to cover his costs (He paid his own insurance and gas on his vehicle, I paid maintenance cuz' otherwise he was too lackadaisical about it). Then we discussed an emergency fund for unexpected costs. Then we figured out extras that he might like to get.

DS was not always perfect in his savings plan and he did 'blow' more money than I would have liked to have seen. However, he has a great job, retirement funds set up, his own paid for vehicle (bought new) and his own home, his credit cards are always paid in full and has more money in the bank than me. So, something rubbed off.

I think the thing that got his attention wasn't a "Here's what you can't afford" activity but "Here's what you CAN have" when you save your dollars.

He's very motivated to save now since he's managed to accomplish getting things that he couldn't have if he hadn't saved up each and every payday.

FYI - He's been working 10 years now. In the beginning it was only part-time so he's been through the wringer with "I only have four dollars to pay day" syndrome.