Before entering adulthood, teens should learn the basics of how to survive on their own. Parents need to take their children aside and explain to them how to make doctor appointments, find the perfect apartment or condo, the ins and outs of plumbing and car repair, buying their own car insurance, basic self-care, and more. They should also be taught the value of a dollar and how to save their money, should any crisis come up. You won’t always be there to ensure they are taken care of, so they must learn to take care of themselves. If they plan to buy their own home, they should know that a typical homeowner plans to spend more than $10,000 on home renovations alone. There’s also car ownership and maintenance to see to. The following are five of many things to teach your teen entering adulthood.
How to Make Necessary Appointments
The need to go to the dentist or the eye doctor is going to come up for your child who is entering adulthood. They need to be taught how to make the necessary appointments when entering adulthood, and not put off required healthcare needs. Tell them that to find the perfect dentist, doctor, or eye doctor, they can start with asking friends for recommendations, reading online reviews, or looking at a map for convenient offices. Also, an insurance provider can provide a list of network doctors or dentists in the insurance network.
Whether or not they need specialized care should be taken into account for instances such as braces or contacts. Knowing the difference between, say, an optometrist and an ophthalmologist is also an important piece of information. Optometrists are eye care professionals who provide vision care that ranges from sight testing and correction to the treatment of vision changes. An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor whose specialty is eye and vision care. Tell your teen they will need to research the best provider for their needs. Many choose a doctor, eye doctor, or dentist based on online reviews. Often, finances come into play as well. If your child will be on a tight budget, they need to choose an affordable provider.
Having reliable insurance is also very important when making these types of choices, so be sure to teach them about having health, dental, and eye insurance, should any health concerns pop up. Out-of-network providers will often accept insurance, but the cost could be higher. In-network providers already have prices agreed upon with an insurance company. Dental and doctor checkups are so important to maintain proper health. Teach your children not to neglect that part of their lives by eating healthy, exercising daily, and getting regular checkups with their medical providers.
Upon entering adulthood, it’s easy to feel the freedom of being on their own and put off or neglect certain aspects of their health. Explain to your teen that if they take care of themselves now, the chances of having a longer, healthier life increases. Once your teen has all of the basics down about insurance, self-care, and how to research the proper provider, they should have valuable pieces of knowledge to move forward before entering adulthood.
How to Care For Their Home
When entering adulthood, schooling your teen on the best deal regarding a home is imperative. Should they rent an apartment, find a roommate, invest in a condo, or buy a home? These are key questions going forward and should be taken into account for anyone entering adulthood. Factors such as condo insurance and garbage removal should be taken into account when one becomes a bonafide home or condo owner. Condo insurance is a policy that is purchased by the condo unit owner. It helps pay for repairs to the unit as well as belongings if they are stolen or damaged as a result of fire or vandalism. In some cases, a policy may cover the structure of a condo unit, including the walls and the floors. Other policies might cover the unit’s original construction and fixtures, while others might cover walls, ceilings, and floors. Teach your teen that it’s always good to know what protection the condo association has in place so that they know what types of coverage a policy provides.
Another teaching moment is about garbage removal. With garbage removal, a waste transfer station accepts trash, recyclables, and other materials before sending them on, usually to a recycling center or the landfill. Teach your children about sorting the trash to remove any items that might be recyclable, such as plastic bottles, metals, and paper. Teaching your teen about homeowners insurance is an important part of helping them on their journey upon entering adulthood.
How to Prepare For Unforeseen Expenses
When it comes to home or condo ownership, especially when entering adulthood, mishaps are bound to occur. This involves plumbing and car repair. Convey to your teen entering adulthood that when plumbing problems occur in their home, professional plumbing services should be called. When a drain clogs up, or if there’s a faucet leak that won’t stop, a professional plumber can make the necessary repairs quickly and easily. There’s no need to run out and purchase a drain-clearing product that might not work anyway when plumbers provide emergency 24-hour services. When plumbing problems happen, it can cause a major disruption to the flow of life. If there are problems with the plumbing in general, you might find that your child entering adulthood will spend more time taking a shower at your house than at their own. This is where they need to take matters into their own hands and call an expert plumber to deal with the issues immediately.
Whether it’s the hot water not working properly, a drainage issue, or blockage, a trained plumber can find the source of the problem and get it repaired. Not only is home maintenance imperative, but so is car repair. An average auto repair bill runs between $500 and $600. Many people can’t come up with this kind of cash on the spur of the moment, especially during times of crisis. Be sure they know to set aside money for unforeseen expenses related to their car so they don’t run into this predicament.
Teach your teen as they are entering adulthood that regular maintenance of their car will improve overall performance and safety. The vehicle will run a lot more efficiently in the long run. If the most important components of the vehicle are running smoothly, it will improve safety while driving. Accidents can occur due to a faulty brake system, poor tire treads, and worn out belts. Regular maintenance may not completely prevent accidents, but the chances lessen if a car is properly taken care of.
How to Handle a Car Accident
An important part of entering adulthood is obtaining proper car insurance. If a car isn’t insured, it can lead to trouble down the road. Tell your teen about the benefits of having proper car insurance, so that in the event of a serious accident, they are fully covered. Explain to them that in the event they become injured in a vehicle accident, they should consult a car accident lawyer. A lawyer will give sound advice on how to proceed with a claim. An auto accident lawyer will need to be secured to get your young adult’s entitled compensation.
On average, a car accident settlement may be at least $20,000. It is likely to be in the ballpark between $14,000 and $28,000. Most likely, the settlement will be higher for permanent or severe injuries. If the driver of the other vehicle was under the influence, a larger payout will be given. Most car accident cases are typically resolved through negotiations between the party that was injured and the insurance company. A very small amount of auto accident cases go to trial because these claims can be resolved without filing a lawsuit. Typical payouts for pain and suffering are less than $15,000 simply because most involve smaller injuries. Sometimes, settlement values can go into the millions for neck and back injuries.
Knowing some of these facts can help an individual who is entering adulthood know exactly what their rights are should an auto accident occur. Being armed with knowledge, as well as full coverage auto insurance, could potentially save a lot of heartache down the road. Having a car is a huge responsibility. Explain to your teen about traffic safety and auto maintenance, and you won’t have to worry – as much! – that they are neglecting this paramount basic need.
How to Wisely Budget Their Money
When it comes to budgeting, teach your teen the difference between a need and a want upon entering adulthood. Separating these two can be difficult. Needs are essential items needed to live and work, while wants include gifts, entertainment, and travel. They might want to splurge on extras, such as a teeth whitening appointment or trips to the pizza shop. Pose the question, what do you really need to survive? Is having that fancy car or the latest phone a real need? Needs and wants vary from person to person, but upon entering adulthood, you want your teen to ask these tough questions.
Talk to your teen about the benefits of saving money; if they have a want, tell them to save up to be able to purchase it later with peace of mind. Tell them the value of using 20 percent of after-tax income to put away for these items. Not only will they learn how to save, but they will get a handle on prioritizing budgeting rather than routinely seeking instant gratification. When they look at the big picture, they can see how insignificant and detrimental a large and unnecessary purchase can be to their finances.
Show your teen how to properly budget their money by opening a checking account. Tell them to keep track of their spending in a notebook or ledger. Pretty quickly, they will realize what they’re spending too much on and understand how it affects their finances. Teaching them that money doesn’t grow on trees is key to their financial health going forward. As children and teenagers, they weren’t used to saving money and having responsibilities and bills to pay for. Instead, money was likely spent on fun things. This can skew a teen’s vision of money, especially if they haven’t had to pay for much by themself. If they have all their expenses taken care of, they don’t realize how much everything costs.
You can get your teen started on understanding financial responsibilities by encouraging them to get a part-time job and to open a savings account. Let them put their earnings in the saving account and watch their money grow. They will also have a nice chunk of change saved up for when they move out on their own. Opening a checking and savings account is really easy, and you can explain how it all works. Many times, the job will offer direct deposit, so your teen’s check will automatically be put in the account of their choosing.
While check writing isn’t as prevalent as it used to be, checks are often used for bills, such as rent. Tell your teen why it’s important to keep checks handy should the need arise to use one. Mostly, debit cards will be issued, which can make it a bit more difficult to keep track of the money. This is where the aforementioned notebook will come in handy. Teach your teen to write in the notebook every time they spend. This will also teach them how to make lists to help keep them organized. Being organized is half the battle; if they know this going in, the more likely they are to have their lives in good order.
Entering adulthood can be scary for your child, but if your teen is well-equipped with facts about homeownership, apartment renting, car repair, and other adult finances, they will be well on their way to securing a niche for themselves in the grown-up world. Parents can’t always be there to ensure that their child is doing okay. Arming them with information is very important for them to have the necessary tools to not only succeed in life but to also know how to get out of a jam themselves. Take your teen aside today and help them get on the road to adulthood.