Finance for Teens

Our homeschooling family didn’t sign up for this class, but there’s lots to learn from economic turmoil.

- By J.D. Tuccille

There may be no better education about the uses and abuses of money than simply being alive right now. Inflation? Recession? Investment risks and opportunities? Supply chain disruptions? Regulatory distortions? We’re all soaking in an intense economics immersion class, not that any of us ever intended to register for these lessons. I’m treating it as an opportunity to enhance my son’s education.

Employment plays a major role in these lessons, since the shrinking labor participation rate has revived opportunities for teenagers willing to work. My son, Anthony, landed a job at the local supermarket and now fields frequent offers of more hours as his short-staffed managers try to fill the schedule.

At the supermarket, Anthony sees empty shelves alternating with unexpected gluts of some items. Inventory has become unpredictable because of lingering disruptions from pandemic lockdowns and the ongoing fracturing of the world into economic blocs.

“They’re completely out of paper towels,” Anthony told me one day, soon after the store was on the receiving end of a seeming peach avalanche. “You’d think they’d be able to plan this better.”