This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to use these links to sign up for Greenlight, you will earn $30 and I will get a small incentive that helps me continue here at Brandywine Maples 🙂
Note: I have used Greenlight with no affiliation for several years and chose to share with you based on my fantastic experience.
Teaching Kids About Money and Finances
The other night my kids wanted to be dropped off at the first football game of the season (together!) and I had my usual mixed feelings: Is it safe? They want to hang out together?! How much does it cost? How late will they be out? All of the things…
I know that I should be able to send my babies off to a school event and be confident that they will have a great, safe, time. But those fears rise up every time they go somewhere. I am also still adjusting to the school year starting and not seeing them all day. I have to remind myself that my job is to prepare my children for the world and set them up for success to the best of my ability.
Teen parenting is a whole new world for me. Letting go used to mean not hovering at playdates. Now it means friends with cars, late nights out, unsupervised adulting-type stuff. Many of the choices that they need to make each day could, potentially, be life-altering. Lately, we have been working on basic skills around the house, safety in public places, and managing money.
Managing Money as a Teen
Money has always been hard for me. Numbers, actually. Numbers are very, very hard for me. However, I also tend to like playing on the safe side. I have always preferred small, inexpensive pleasures and putting a bit in savings. As a teen, I had multiple jobs and I had things that I had to pay for regularly. I worked retail and babysat all the time.
My kids are a good mix of natural spenders and natural savers. Some have no problem working hard to earn money. Others, not so much… I am learning how to work with them on the ideas of spending, saving, and investing while keeping their natural inclinations in mind. My favorite tool so far is Greenlight.
Greenlight
Greenlight is an online banking app that is geared directly towards teaching kids about money. I love that my kids can have their own accounts, debit cards, and investments at their fingertips all while I have the master account and can see everything they do and even set it up for me to approve transactions and requests if necessary (for the spenders, lol).
I have been using this app to help my kids manage money for almost 3 years and it has truly only gotten better with time. When I started it was just to get all their money in one place. When they earned money or were given gifts, I always ended up holding it for them so that they didn’t misplace it. The regular bank wanted them there with all the personal documentation to set up accounts with ours and the platform wasn’t even that great. Greenlight allows me to set up the account and add each child as needed. It’s free to get started!
Earn $30 when you sign up for Greenlight. With the money app and debit card for kids and teens, we can send our kids money instantly, assign chores, and teach them to earn, save, and invest.
How We Use Greenlight
Each child has an account under my main account. They have the app on their phones/devices so that they can see everything. My teens have their physical debit cards plus they have it on their phones for scanning at check out. They also have their paychecks from their jobs directly deposited. I control whether they can switch money from savings to spending or anywhere else. I am alerted to every purchase they make (which comes in super handy when I’m looking for them at the mall or they happen to be away with a friend).
My younger children have the app on an ipad, but I do not let them have access to the debit card yet. I worry about them losing it. But, I can lock their card/account with one touch if they were to!
Another awesome feature is the chore assignment. It will ask me if they have completed their chores and they can see them listed on their screen. I have their allowance set to automatically disperse weekly and it reminds me before doing so. I have my account set to take funds from a specific account off-platform and put it into my “parent wallet.” Then it sends the money to the kids’ accounts and I don’t have to worry about remembering it.
Younger kids love that the platform uses a gaming atmosphere to set goals and helps them meet them. There is also a ton of kid-friendly information on budgeting, spending, investing, saving, etc… and each lesson a child completes earns them a badge, making it fun to learn!
Greenlight’s Amazing Features
- Charitable donations
- Cell phone protection
- Purchase protection
- Identity protection
- Crash detection
- Location sharing
- SOS alerts
- Exclusive member deals with popular parks, attractions, and travel
I remember when my mom opened my first bank account for me and all I got was the little flimsy booklet that showed me the deposits and withdrawals. Greenlight is way better!
How are you helping your kids understand finances? Have you tried Greenlight or another service that is working for your family?