Josh Scandlen Podcast

15 - How Your Teen Can Take Advantage of the Tax Code I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question: “Josh, my 16 year old son has a part time job this summer. Can he open a Roth?” Yes, he can start a Roth and certainly should. A great strategy is to give him the money to open the account based on the income he made.  Incentivize your children to work by opening a Roth for them For instance, say he made $5,000 washing dishes over the summer but he wants to spend some of that money. Can’t blame him.  That’s why he worked, to get some spending money.  A way to reward him without just handing him over cash is to say, “I’m proud of you getting this job, son. Look at all your peers just lounging around. For your efforts, I’m going to put the amount you made as income into a Roth IRA in your name.” And you then send a check for $5,000 to his Roth IRA provider. Maybe that’s too much of a gift for him and doesn’t incentivize him to save any of his own money?  Then simply match the