EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT 82 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL When your teen moves on to independent life after high school, you may still be sending them an allowance or paying their credit card expenses, but teach them to track and manage that spending using budgeting apps that sync with their bank accounts and preferred payment methods. Consider Lunch Money or Spendee, both of which offer multicurrency support and are designed to work well even when the student has an irregular income stream and no investment portfolio to manage. These apps can connect to their bank account so they don’t have to manually enter transactions. Your bank may also offer an app that works, but be sure to evaluate its utility specifically for your FS student’s lifestyle. Other financial apps teens will need to manage money are Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, and Splitwise. But these apps should be set up in a way that your teen won’t forget they have cash sitting in the app. And don’t forget: Teens will still need to know how to use an actual paper checkbook. There are parts of the U.S. financial system that continue to rely on paper checks, the most notable being setting up direct deposit with some employers. Your teen may also need checks to pay rent or at small businesses that do not accept credit or debit cards. While checks will likely go the way of the carbon-paper credit card imprinters in a decade or so, for now teens need to know the basics of filling one out and understand why they should never pre-sign a check. A life of transitions, varied friend groups, and exposure to different teaching and learning styles make FS kids significantly more willing to both fail and to try again than many other teens. (Continued from page 78)
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