Morin suggests that parents consider sharing with their growing children the financial hurdles and burdens of life rather than hiding them. It is an instinct to want to shelter children from the adult stressors in the world, but discussing budgeting and finances in their presence can be quite helpful to this aspect of their development. Having money conversations with older children present does several helpful things. It was a combination of unapologetically being yourself – the “authenticity” that’s such a buzzword now, especially if you’re Prince Harry - and faking it ’til you make it. Basically, what a generation that had been thirsty for relatable role models wanted to hear. This was the moment when being a millennial became cultural catnip. Lena Dunham’s Girls had recently launched and, like Brown’s book, was for millennials by a millennial and showed a group of millennials taking their first confusing steps into adulthood and working out who they were in the world (albeit an overwhelmingly white world). It was also the year of Frances Ha, starring Greta Gerwig as a 20-something mess, trying to navigate her professional dreams and crumbling friendships, and edge a little closer to adulthood while doing it. Also, we’d just found out that Dan Humphries was Gossip Girl. One of the biggest steps a young person can take toward successful adulting is to look past the short-term of today and begin to plan further out. Retirement is one area that can feel so far away to someone just starting their career. But in the bigger picture, it just doesn’t make sense to ignore it. Focus on priorities - Emphasis what is important in life so teens and young adults continue to place emphasis on top priorities. On the flip side, success is always around the corner. Kids who grow up thinking that true success is unattainable are more likely to shy away from it. Another failure? It's almost too much to bear. There are a few strategies that parents can use to prepare their older children for the workforce.

Through it all, the message about adulting remained the same: the goal was to get onto that traditional life path. The one you’re supposed to follow. Meet a partner, buy a home, start a family. All while nailing it at work, being an amazing friend and having the perfect wardrobe. Starting to save for retirement as early as possible is like paying your future self and giving you more optionality down the line,” says Bellaire. Compounding interest—a near-magical financial principle—on 401(k)s or IRAs means that the earlier you start saving for retirement, the more money you’ll have to enjoy later in life. “Prioritizing setting aside some money each month in accounts like this also has positive tax consequences you don’t find with other savings accounts, so it’s doubly helpful!” Without a community and a concrete place to turn for personalized resources, navigating these decisions is isolating and frustrating,” says Bellaire. “With Gen-Z’s focus on mental health, they’re looking for a place to ease their fear of missing out and falling behind.” Embracing the financial ABCsalright, that's if you've made it through week one, congrats! I promise, it gets easier from here, I figure, let's start with the hard stuff and then the rest will feel like a breeze! Day 8: Set appointments for health. A post shared by Rachel // Blogger | Influencer (@theconfusedmillennial) on Jun 9, 2016 at 5:47am PDT Holy moly! The month FLEW by! Can you believe it? Now is the time to set your intentions for the new month! Write it all out! Maybe you didn’t do something on this list? No worries! Shoot to get it done next month! This was meant to dabble in a few areas, but maybe while going through hit you felt like you needed more energy or focus around finances, or self care, or the home, or relationships, maybe set that as a sole intention for the new month!

Teach time management - They won't learn it by osmosis. Time management skills must be taught and modeled while children are younger so that by the time they are ready to live independently, it is a more natural process. Make those annual physical exams, two dental cleaning, and gynecologist appoints if you don’t already have them scheduled! Seriously, just schedule them, even if you need to reschedule, at least you’ll have it on your calendar to deal with at a later date. Is this the year you're finally going to pay off that big credit card? Or better yet, start saving for that home? Take the time today to create a game plan for one of your financial goals. Look at how much money you need to reach your goal, then figure out when you'd like to reach that goal. Figure out how many months that'll give you, then divide the total funds needed to reach your goal by the number of months until your goal date. Viola! You now have a plan and a fixed number to put into your budget! Teach teens to write out their schedules - Make sure they know to include key information like times, dates, and places.You know all those pesky letters you get in the mail? Like W2s, W9s, bank statements and the like? Well it’s time to take them off your kitchen counter (why does stuff ALWAYS pile up there?!) and file it away! I personally use this filing cabinet and I either file (longer term docs I might need like W2s, W9s, healthcare statements, retirement account statements etc.) or shred (monthly bank statements, unnecessary healthcare docs, etc.)

Older children on the cusp of leaving home also have to learn to trust themselves. Morin suggests parents model working through problems with older children. In teaching young adults to better trust their assessment and judgment of problems, they have to be able to think to themselves, "Can I solve this myself?" Always being there to provide answers doesn't instill critical thinking skills needed for life outside of mom and dad's house.Yeah, today’s the day to actually take all those donation bags to Goodwill. Seriously, get them out of your house and car! Day 21: Clean out social media. Focus on a few basic meal recipes - Scrambled eggs, pasta dishes, grilled cheese, and baked potatoes are all things that even the most clueless chef can create in a kitchen. Now that everything is cleaned out, let’s make sure we create a schedule to keep it that way! Organize your digital life using a calendar or Trello and set due dates to make sure you’re on top of keeping things clean clear and on schedule. For example, one the 7th of every month, you'll do a digital dump again and on the 11th of every month you'll shred all those pesky mail docs. You just went through the steps, so you know how good it feels to have thing clean and organized! Don't let it all pile up again! Create routines in your home - Routines will change, but the basic theory behind them will stay with children well into adult years.