<p>DS is just a simple 16 years old who is really quite boy. Like his sister, he is a straight A student and like othet teenage boys, he is very good at computer related stuffs. He has been a volenteer at local libray for the past year or so. Recently, there is a part time job opening at this branch, several staffs asked him to apply. It is nothing special but a decent starting point. It will be four 3 hour shifts per week.</p>
<p>I helped him with his first draft of resume. Off he went for two rounds of interviews. Today, they called him and offered him the job. I am just so happy that someone else also appreciates my son as a good person.</p>
<p>We talked about resposibility and doing a good job even for the simpliest assignments. We talked about tax and savings etc. However, we realize there are some tax things we don’t know yet.</p>
<p>Could we put all his earnings into a Roth IRA? Does the money in his Roth or other retirement account counts in EFC?</p>
<p>Congratulations! Who’s prouder, dad or kid? You both deserve to be. It’s nice when they go through these “stretching” things (like interviews, resumes, etc) and get a good result early on. (Incredibly hard to see your kid go through all that and get rejection after rejection. Been there, too.) </p>
<p>My #1 kid worked at the library in high school, too. (Not his first job, though. That would be working on a landscaping crew one hot Georgia summer. He preferred the library!) Didn’t make enough money to ever think past that week’s expenses - gas, school function tickets.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! A job at 16! He is really going to grow up a lot having a job.</p>
<p>Personally, I let my kids spend the money they made on their jobs but that’s just me. It actually saved me money, because I no longer had to buy stuff for them that I would have normally (when they wanted to go to the movies with friends, have a special dinner out with gf, go to Disney or Universal on the weekend, etc.). Then I put the savings into a 529! </p>
<p>Anyway, he’s on his way to developing responsibility, independence, leadership, and confidence!
Yaaaaayyyyyy (Applause meter going crazy)!!!</p>
<p>About what to do with his earnings. My daughter does a lot of babysitting. She puts some of the money into a long-term CD and keeps some of it for spending money. My husband was so excited when he heard her exclaim to a friend that she had passed on buying a T shirt she liked because it represented “five whole hours of babysitting!” (Of course, my husband is an economics professor so he finds that kind of thing exciting).</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know about retirement accounts for minors.</p>
<p>Our son’s earnings went into a Roth IRA from quite a young age. However, you will find that some institutions won’t open the accounts for kid’s under 18, so you have to shop around.</p>
<p>Sorry, don’t know about EFC as we don’t qualify for need-based aid.</p>
<p>Our local credit union offers free checking and savings to students. That’s what our kids did, and they used their debit card to buy gas, hogies, pizza’s, movies, etc. They could even get direct deposit, although they didn’t. It was kind of good to go through the process of writing the deposit slips and all that. Although in today’s world, it’s kind of silly- I’d go with direct deposit!</p>
<p>Congrats to your S. Wait till he finds out how much money is withheld for taxes! This is something both of my Ds remarked on once they received their first paychecks. Like ‘doubleplay’ the money my kids earn is theirs. They’re both pretty thrifty so they’re saving most of it - putting it in CDs.</p>
<p>Although our S put (most of) his summer earnings in a Roth IRA, I certainly would not make that decision for my child. Our son turns out to be thrify to the max most of the time; just doesn’t need much “walking around money.” So he wanted to do it. Now in college, his summer earnings are his monthly spending money for incidentals and his occasional big purchase (bought himself an HDTV). But he still puts a decent % aside in an IRA. To each his own.</p>
<p>I also agree with uc~dad - it was a great eye-opener to DS to see what his first job’s hourly take-home pay was compared to the nominal hourly rate.</p>
<p>Sadly, DS has to quit this part time job. He got another sub 80 score on his AP class. He already has a B- in 1st Q and another B will almost ensure a B as the final grade.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that Dad. 12 hours can be a big chunk of week to be away from studies. Any chance he can still work a few hours only? He’ll find having a job during the summer is easier and then he can work more hours. Jobs work for some kids, not so good for others. So far we have preferred our kids not work anything regular during the school year (in high school). Babysitting ok, summer jobs great, but during the year we feel school and a couple of EC’s is a better balance.</p>
<p>DadII, sorry to hear about your son’s job. He is still too young I think, sophomore, right? It’s best that he concentrate on school.
DD still has her job, still doing well in class but she slacked off on her application. Her moto is, her mom’s spending a lot of time on CC, therefore D does not have to worry, like I have some secret plan or formula to magically makes everything happened for her. :)</p>
<p>Hey, a “B” is OK in an AP class isn’t it? Especially for a sophomore? Actually, I think it’s pretty wonderful.
Having said that, he sounds like he’s concerned and thoughtful. Congratulations on raising a mature son. Best wishes, and I’ll keep the fingers crossed for the remaining semester. (What’s the class?)</p>
<p>Your S shows a sense of responsibility by first determining that the job was impacting his studies and then making the decision to act on it. This is something both you and especially he can be proud of.</p>
<p>I own a retail shop and at any one time have 4-7 teenagers working for me. I limit their hours to one afternoon and one weekend day. Once they show me (and their parents) that they can handle that schedule, we add a second day. The exception is December when we bump up hours for everyone. </p>
<p>The kids who think they can work every day after school just don’t work out. I’ve had them take a second job with another employer to get more hours – and that lasts about two weeks and then they crash and burn.</p>
<p>See if your S can cut his hours down. If they value him, they may try to work out that kind of a schedule. He could offer to put in extra time during school breaks when some of their adult help may need or want vacation.</p>
<p>DS actually is one of their best and most reliable. He got calls when they need extra or other kids failed to show up on time. That is why he is working more than 12 hours almost every week. A little bit too much. </p>
<p>As to the AP class, I think the main issue is that he has not getton used to the idea of self study, still wanting teacher to explain every thing.</p>