Turning sixteen is an exciting time in most teenagers' lives, as it typically means an opportunity to drive and tends to afford a little more freedom in terms of household rules. If your teen is like most and loves to spend money, why not use their sixteenth birthday as an opportunity to teach them a little responsibility when it comes to spending and investing their dollars?

 Learning to manage money effectively at sixteen will help set your teen up for success as an adult. Here are three awesome "sweet sixteen" gift ideas to consider wrapping up for your money-minded teen:

A Starter Coin Collection

Gifting your teen with a collection of coins and a kit to keep them in will not only teach them about investing in precious metals and vintage currency, but it will give them an opportunity to learn more about history and politics as well as various cultures and societies. Coin collections tend to appreciate in value as time goes on, so providing your teen with their own small collection to build upon should help teach and encourage them to save by sitting on their coin investments and building more value.

A small leather coin portfolio or velvet coin box and a variety of coins from different eras and locations is all that's needed to complete this gift. You can find interesting coin types to choose from at your bank and coin dealers online, some of which you should be able to purchase for as little as a few cents each—consider one or more of these options:  

  • Wheat Pennies
  • Silver Proof Sets
  • Morgan Dollars
  • Liberty Head Nickels
  • Vintage Minted Coins

Choose a varied collection of coins so your teen can gain insight into how large the scope of available options are and more easily plan their own custom collection set. 

A Starter Business

If your teen is interested in working, consider gifting a startup business that your teen can run on weekends and when they have time during the week. This doesn't have to mean anything more than supplying the paper and pens for flyers and enough money for basic necessities to get the business up and running. The idea is to turn a hobby or part-time gig they already enjoy doing into a more business-oriented venture so they can learn about budgeting, accounting, saving, investing, and profiting as they make their way through high school.

If your teenager enjoys babysitting, pay for the flyers and invest in a box of affordable toys, crayons, coloring books, and other essentials as the basis for the gift. If your teen is good at doing yard work, buy a few landscaping tools and a bike trailer to pull everything in as the basis for the gift. A gift certificate for unforeseen essentials is a great way to cover all the bases and top it all off.

A Money-Match for Something Special

Instead of buying your teen's dream present (like a car or expensive trip) as a gift outright, consider using this year's "sweet sixteen" birthday occasion as an opportunity to encourage them to earn and save for part of what they want most. Simply offer to match dollar-for-dollar the amount of money your teen puts toward the item that they're lusting after.

This should invoke a sense of financial responsibility and make the gift a lot more satisfying when all is said and done. If you're anxious to help your teen get their gift on their actual birthday, you can always agree to repayment terms for their half of cost.

These gift ideas can be combined with one another to create an ultimate money-minded package that will get your teen on track with making, saving, and investing money over time. 

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