This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Greenlight, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #GreenPMG http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
My kiddos range in age from 8 to 20. Yep! I’m old! haha! Right before my oldest left from home, I began to worry. Did I teach him enough? Does he know how to budget? Can he change a flat tire? Will he be able to take care of himself? Does he know how to fry an egg? ;) I felt we prepared him pretty well, but of course, we could always have done better. One of those is budgeting. One of the biggest hurdles young people face when getting out on their own is handling money. They have to learn fairly quickly to budget, how to spend money & how to save, how to pay bills and more! With my younger kiddos I’ve decided to start some of this process a little bit earlier than I did with my oldest. I want them to be savvy with their money way before they leave home. That is why I love Greenlight, the smart debit card for kids. It helps your kiddos get a pretty good feel for how to handle their own money in the real world. Let me show you! :)
Greenlight was made for children & built by parents. I’ve been a little hesitant to give my kiddos an actual debit cards linked to a bank account. What if they loose it??!! So unlike most debit cards, Greenlight is totally controlled by the parents, but the kiddos still have a plastic card just like grownups. ha! Let me show you how it works. First, you will simply download the app to your tablet or smart phone. FYI: Greenlight costs just $4.99/mo per family, which includes cards for up to 5 kiddos.
Parents can transfer money into their Greenlight account for free, and then you can apply as much or as little as you want to each kiddo. The feature I love most is that Greenlight offers a convenient automated allowance feature to ‘set it and forget it’ so your kids always receive their allowance on time each month (with no fees for you!). This works perfectly for us. We recently started giving our kiddos a set allowance each month, and it has done wonders for our budget. ha! They have to think about what they want to buy, how much they want to save & keep track of their spending. It’s great practice for when they will be out on their own. It gives them even more opportunity to practice their money handling skills. For the first couple of months, we keep track of their spending on paper. Now my older two are using the Greenlight debit card. The app keeps track of their spending and where they are spending it. It’s amazing!
While Greenlight does allow kids freedom to spend their own money, parents can have control over where their kiddos money is spent and how much they have to spend in certain stores or types of retailers. You can tailor it to fit the needs of your child & family. I love that!
You can also set different amounts for each category to help your kiddos stay within a certain budget. The older they get, the more freedom you can give them. It also opens the conversation about what is important, and what they should be spending their money on. What is a need? What is a want?
You can use the app to keep track of your funding history. You can also turn the Greenlight card off and on right in the app at any time. So, if your kiddo ever loses their card. No problem! Just turn it off within the app. You’ll also see a notification when your child makes a purchase, requests money, or sends you a message. So, you’ll always be in the know. :)
Below I’ve listed 15 things kiddos need to know how to do before they leave for college. Using a debit card is on the top of the list. ha! What would you add? How are you preparing your kids for the real world? Let me know in the comments below. :)
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