I was very lucky when I was young. I'm 44 now. I had a "passbook
savings account" in the 3rd grade. I got a checking account on
my own when I was 12 years old. I loved having control of money.
It wasn't a lot of money but it was mine. I had a paper route.
My money. I got a job at my local church as custodian from the
age of 13-18 yrs old. When I was 18 years old, it was 1990. Kids
could still have bank accounts. But something happened. I don't
know WHEN it happened, but it happened. Somewhere along the
line, the rules changed dramatically. There's a VERY LIMITED
bank account you can get at the age of 16/17 that isn't yours,
that is very tightly controlled and almost isn't even worth the
effort to get. And yet: Credit cards. Kids get credit cards ALL
of the time. Pre-paid, Their parents. Credit cards are something
anybody can get. But you can't get a stinking bank account? It's
as if they don't WANT people to learn financial awareness. No
point in learning it in school: You can't go out and practice
it. The time you WANT to buy all kinds of great stuff is when
you're a teenager. But nope: you have to beg some adult. So
what's happened? Needs fill in a vacuum. Alternative currencies.
Steam money. Amazon gift cards. Paypal accounts are easy enough
for anybody to start up with up to $500 in it and no
verification (last time I checked anyway). So, it's POSSIBLE for
kids to have some useful personal finances, but it all has to be
transferred through these strange channels. I'm glad these
alternative outlets exist: at least it's something. But still:
it blows my mind that a simple bank account is illegal for
anyone under the age of 18 to have. I remember hearing why.
Parents laundering money through their kids' bank accounts. Ok,
fine. That happens. How much did it really happen? How many
parents are money launders? I can't imagine it was all THAT
common. It seemed like a feeble excuse to me. So, I dunno. I saw
a change for the worse happen in my own lifetime so far and the
fact that kids DON'T HAVE the financial freedoms I had when I
was young is, to me, crippling to society.
