The summer after high school graduation inevitably includes monthslong encounters with various to-do lists.
Extra-long-sheet purchases and milk crates for future collegians. A résumé for job seekers. Thank-you notes for all.
But let me suggest one more itemized offering: a list of financial tasks. If you want to set your child up properly for college, work, military service and the years beyond, there are several things you ought to do, help them do or teach them before too long.
Got a younger teenager? No time like the present to get started with a lot of this. Is one of your children already in college? You probably haven’t done all of these things yet.
This list applies to teenagers who face no major mental or physical health challenges. If your child does, revise at will, and please send me your own list via the email address below so I can publish one next year for young people who function differently.
Let’s get started.
