I was very lucky when I was young. I'm 44 now. I had a "passbook
   savings account" in the 3rd grade. I got a checking account on
   my own when I was 12 years old. I loved having control of money.
   It wasn't a lot of money but it was mine. I had a paper route.
   My money. I got a job at my local church as custodian from the
   age of 13-18 yrs old. When I was 18 years old, it was 1990. Kids
   could still have bank accounts. But something happened. I don't
   know WHEN it happened, but it happened. Somewhere along the
   line, the rules changed dramatically. There's a VERY LIMITED
   bank account you can get at the age of 16/17 that isn't yours,
   that is very tightly controlled and almost isn't even worth the
   effort to get. And yet: Credit cards. Kids get credit cards ALL
   of the time. Pre-paid, Their parents. Credit cards are something
   anybody can get. But you can't get a stinking bank account? It's
   as if they don't WANT people to learn financial awareness. No
   point in learning it in school: You can't go out and practice
   it. The time you WANT to buy all kinds of great stuff is when
   you're a teenager. But nope: you have to beg some adult. So
   what's happened? Needs fill in a vacuum. Alternative currencies.
   Steam money. Amazon gift cards. Paypal accounts are easy enough
   for anybody to start up with up to $500 in it and no
   verification (last time I checked anyway). So, it's POSSIBLE for
   kids to have some useful personal finances, but it all has to be
   transferred through these strange channels. I'm glad these
   alternative outlets exist: at least it's something. But still:
   it blows my mind that a simple bank account is illegal for
   anyone under the age of 18 to have. I remember hearing why.
   Parents laundering money through their kids' bank accounts. Ok,
   fine. That happens. How much did it really happen? How many
   parents are money launders? I can't imagine it was all THAT
   common. It seemed like a feeble excuse to me. So, I dunno. I saw
   a change for the worse happen in my own lifetime so far and the
   fact that kids DON'T HAVE the financial freedoms I had when I
   was young is, to me, crippling to society.