financial
A wise man once said, “Don’t let money rule your life; instead, control your money so you can live according to your values and goals.” This is why it’s important to create and adhere to a financial budget during adolescence for a brighter future. Why should teenagers learn to create and adhere to a financial budget? Because adolescence is a crucial transition period from dependence to independence, they must be more aware of financial management for their survival and future success.
Generally, teenagers are given the responsibility to manage their own money for their needs. This includes pocket money, school fees still provided by their parents, or even some teenagers who are already working who fill their free time with part-time work to earn extra pocket money or other necessities. However, unfortunately, many young people still struggle to manage their finances effectively due to low financial literacy. This leads to unwise financial decisions, such as excessive use of credit cards without careful consideration. Spending money leads to debt. This low level of financial literacy poses a serious challenge in the digital age. According to a 2023 survey by the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the financial literacy index of Indonesia’s youth only reached 39.9%. This is due to a lack of formal financial education in their communities and schools, which prevents them from understanding the basic concepts of income and expense management, the importance of saving, and investment. Furthermore, social pressure to follow consumer trends leads them to focus more on instant gratification than long-term planning for the future. This is influenced by psychological factors such as financial anxiety and a lack of discipline in managing money, leading to a constant feeling of insufficient income. This can lead to a perpetual cycle of debt and debt.
Therefore, “Socialization of Financial Budgeting in Teens to Build Discipline and Prepare for a Brighter Future” is a solution to address this problem. By conducting outreach in various educational institutions (schools) or other settings (not just schools), we hope that all teenagers worldwide will have the right to learn financial literacy for a more powerful generation. This is crucial for helping students develop healthy financial habits through budgeting, saving, and investing. more effective and efficient.
The consumerism level of teenagers in 2025, namely Gen Z (born 1997-2012), tends to be easily influenced by advertising. More than 70% of teenage TikTok users have made a purchase after viewing a product on the platform, while 44% of Instagram users have purchased through the available shopping feature. The convenience of digital payment technologies, such as e-wallets and mobile payments, also increases the risk of overspending because it prevents teenagers from feeling “regret” when spending money on unnecessary items. Most Gen Z teenagers experience FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which is the fear of missing out on important and interesting moments, events, information, or trends. This is what drives some of them to spend excessively.
This makes it clear that teenagers are vulnerable to wasteful lifestyles due to a combination of factors: low financial literacy, social pressure, easy access to online shopping, and increasingly practical digital payment systems. Therefore, it is important for teenagers worldwide to learn to create and adhere to budgets from an early age. With the solution “Socialization of Financial Budgeting in Teens to Improve “Literacy, Build Discipline, and Prepare a Brighter Future” will certainly encourage teenagers to think more broadly about the importance of preparing a financial budget during adolescence. This socialization will explain matters related to preparing a financial budget, as well as recommend various applications that can help them prepare and design their financial budgets in a more modern way, keeping up with the times. This will further assist them in preparing their financial budgets during adolescence. This solution is designed to provide comprehensive financial education and improve financial literacy for teenagers worldwide. Of course, it doesn’t just provide theory. They also receive practical guidance on how to prepare their financial budgets from scratch. This involves determining and recording:
First, the Wish List: This serves as an opening for this initial planning process because having a dream will undoubtedly make them more enthusiastic about managing their finances. Second, Income Tracker: To track every income and provide a foundation for all future needs and expenses. Third, Expense Tracker: To provide data on every expense so you can see where money is being spent. This can be used for future evaluation. Fourth, Monthly Budgeting: To prevent overspending. Prioritize needs and limit excessive desires. Fifth, Emergency Fund: To meet unexpected needs. With an emergency fund, all budgets will not be disrupted by these unexpected urgent needs. Sixth, Saving: To achieve your wish list more quickly. Saving in budgeting for teenagers helps establish good financial habits, achieve short- and long-term financial goals, build an emergency fund, and avoid consumer debt. The habit of saving from an early age also fosters discipline and responsibility, prepares for future financial independence, and trains the ability to prioritize finances.
In this educational outreach, teenagers will be introduced to various application services that can help them develop budget plans. This certainly requires support from the government, as the official organizer of this activity, as well as all teenagers in the audience, schools, and app developers. This program will certainly involve app designers in collaborating with the program to help teenagers who struggle to plan budgets and better structure their data in the app.
From the above explanation, it can be concluded that financial budgeting education for teenagers is crucial for building financial discipline, improving financial literacy, and helping them differentiate between needs and wants. Teenagers in the digital age are vulnerable to falling into a consumerist lifestyle due to low financial literacy, the influence of social media, and the ease of digital transactions.
By: Aqilla Titania Gayatri
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