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As a teen, you’re beginning to make some grown-up decisions about how to save and invest and spend your money. That’s why learning the right ways to manage money…right from the start…is important. Here are suggestions.

Save and invest some money before you’re tempted to spend it. Put the money into an account and earn interest. Interest is paid, like CD rates interest and savings account rates interest. When you go looking for rates you’ll find the best CD rates ratesorama.com/cd-rates are around 2.00%. When you get cash for your birthday or from a job, automatically put a portion of it — at least 10 percent, but possibly more — into a savings or investment account. This strategy is what financial advisors call “paying yourself first.” Making this a habit can gradually turn small sums of money into big amounts that can help pay for really important purchases in the future.

 Save and invest some money before you’re tempted to spend it. When you get cash for your birthday or from a job, automatically put a portion of it into savings. 

Also put your spare change to use. When you empty your pockets at the end of the day, consider putting some of that loose change into a jar or any other container, and then about once a month put that money into a savings account at the bank.

“Spare change can add up quickly But don’t let that money sit around your house month after month, earning no interest and at risk of being lost or stolen.”

If you need some help sorting and counting your change, he said, find out if your bank has a coin machine you can use for free. If not, the bank may give you coin wrappers.

Some supermarkets and other non-banking companies have self-service machines that quickly turn coins into cash, but expect to pay a significant fee for the service, often close to 10 cents for every dollar counted, plus you still have to take the cash to the bank to deposit it into your savings account.

Keep track of your spending. A good way to take control of your money is to decide on maximum amounts you aim to spend each week or each month for certain expenses, such as entertainment and snack food. This task is commonly known as “budgeting” your money or developing a “spending plan.” And to help manage your money, it’s worth keeping a list of your expenses for about a month, so you have a better idea of where your dollars and cents are going.

“If you find you’re spending more than you intended, you may need to reduce your spending or increase your income,” Reynolds added. “It’s all about setting goals for yourself and then making the right choices with your money to help you achieve those goals.”

Consider a part-time or summer job. Whether it’s babysitting, lawn mowing or a job in a “real” business, working outside of your home can provide you with income, new skills and references that can be useful after high school or college. Before accepting any job, ask your parents for their permission and advice.

Think before you buy. Many young people make quick and costly decisions to buy the latest clothes or electronics without considering whether they are getting a good value. 

Be careful with cards. Under most state laws, you must be at least 18 years old to obtain your own credit card and be held responsible for repaying the debt. If you’re under 18, though, you may be able to qualify for a credit card as long as a parent or other adult agrees to repay your debts if you fail to do so.

Most people do not have a personal financial planner. If you had a financial planner who worked for you and giving you financial investment advice you might be better off, than again you might not be. Some financial planners don’t invest other people’s money as well as they invest their own money. You can invest in certificates of deposit to be 100% but with CD rates at banks so low you won’t earn much interest.

Most people from a janitor to a doctor have very little understanding of how to invest their money and how the financial markets work. We end up buying high and selling low, letting our emotions come into play which is the worst thing one can do. Instead of investing on our instincts and impulses and just buy when you’re excited about an investment because everyone else is buying probably isn’t the best say to invest.

Another factor that comes into play which can work agaisnt you and have you make the wrong decissions is your ego. Every single person believes they can be better at something then everyone else. Why have a certificate of deposit account earning 1% interest when you can day trade and earn 1% in a minute or hour? Well it doesn’t always work that way.

We all seem to believe that we possess some kind of secret instinct that will always have us make the right decision and that can also get you into trouble and cause you to lose money on your investments. That is why it is important that use as much investment advice that is available to us.

There is financial advice which isn’t worth anything but the more you read and listen to the more you’ll understand and the more that will make sense to you. There is bad financial advice available and good advice, obviously you need to listen to the good advice.

Start your path to financial success opening a savings account and putting away as much as you can every week. Once you have started saving money you’ll me a lot more motivated to keep on saving money.

Getting the highest CD rates can be easily done online these days. There are many comparison shopping sites, hell even Google has comparison shopping for the best bank CD rates, savings rates and other bank rates.

There are the standard big sites that offer rates but get paid for the rates they offer. I recently came across several smaller websites that display higher interest rates than the big sites like bank rate.

One website in particular, RatesORama.com has a database of rates they track from banks across the county. The website displays the interest rates and you can also read bank reviews.

I recently found several bank CD rates on RatesORama that were 2.00%. I was astonished to find rates so high for 1 year certificates of deposit. You should give the website a go, I bet you won’t find rates any higher on CD rates and savings rates.