As more and more high schoolers enter the workforce, they are earning more money and spending it as they please. It is quite interesting what students do with their money when they work, compared to the money of those who don’t work at all. As for the adults in the world, they were interviewed to see what their money goes to now.  In addition, to get insight into what their spending and work experience was when they were in high school. Comparatively, another important aspect of working is saving. Saving for the future, or for larger purchases was a fairly common place for students money to go.

First, the teens’ spending habits must be acknowledged.  Teens these days are on the rise of spending most of the money they earn.  Out of the teens interviewed, only few said they were saving any money. On average, as research from Teens and Personal Finance Survey shows that teens spending habits now have skyrocketed where 77% of teens aged 16-18 “are not keeping track of where their money goes on a regular basis”.  

Stuart Geller, a senior at Ipswich High School, says that his top three spending indulgences involve him “going to the gym regularly and getting food with [his] friends.” Stuart also expressed that he did not save any money and most of his income went to his personal attributes.  Another student, Maeve DellaValle, a senior at Ipswich, said she spends all of her money on food, clothes, and gas. DellaValle goes on to say how she “[goes] out almost every night and likes to go to dinner with friends.” DellaValle also saves no money.  A lot of teens get money from their parents when in-between jobs. This is causing adults to go into a tight spot with money as they give it out to their children. Although, the teens who work proved to be the ones who save money better.

Eva Cappobianco, a senior at Ipswich High School, said that she “makes sure she has insurance money and gas money” while the rest of it is saved or used for food.  Ipswich High junior, Chris Folan works fifteen hours a week. His money goes to “food for the week or some video games” while any money left over he will save.

Teacher Demi McShane said that when she was a teen, she would “get food with friends or buy clothes.”  In addition, she would pay for her own car insurance but said when she was younger she was not a great saver.  Now in her adulthood, McShane says her three biggest expenses are daycare, her mortgage, and food.  She also tries to save a lot of her money for retirement.  It has been proven that when you are looking towards a goal such as retirement, an apartment, college, etc., you are more likely to save money.

We also noticed a trend of students spending a lot of money on juul pods.  Students interviewed mentioned that a lot of their money went towards that .  Food and clothing were a hard hitter as well. .

Younger teens don’t have these kinds of worries yet so they are spending their money on food and clothes, things that they can go out and get with their friends.  Older teens are paying for car insurance and more ‘adult’ things. Older teens, who are working, save their money for college or an apartment. Many teens are not properly taught how to save money and are forced into the ‘real world’ on their own.