The more kids grow, the more they demand money - especially this generation, for everything that has evolved in this world, more and more trends are coming, and truth be told, everyone has grown to be materialistic too.
Teens are frequently shopping online, just like the rest of us. It's also easy to lose count of how much we are doling out daily. And at an early age, it's essential to teach our kids how to spend money wisely. For many parents, the answer is a new generation of prepaid debit cards meant explicitly for teens, preteens and in some instances, younger children.
These child-friendly cards set parents in control but give the kid enough leeway to learn financial responsibility and money management abilities without getting into serious trouble, as they could with a credit card.
How To Manage Spending
Step One:
As they grow, they become more independent, and that's precisely how it's supposed to be. We, as parents, should help them be ready for the adulting stage. One of the many things that we could help them start off with is having their own bank account where they could deposit their savings from their allowances, summer jobs or even regular jobs. Have them get their own debit card also, where it could be linked to their bank account and purchase everything easily.
With these debit cards, they can only spend the money deposited onto the card, so there's never an overdrawn fee. Plus, they could track their balance on the account - so they would know how much they could only spend or how much money is left.
These app-based cards have a wide range of features not accessible on a regular debit card connected to a checking account. The specific offerings differ from firm to firm, but they all enable parents to:
Deposit money at any time and from anywhere.
Limit how much money can be spent and where specifically.
Determine if the card can be utilized to withdraw money at an ATM or not.
Turn off the card whenever you want to.
Computerized allowance payments.
Monitor every transaction on the account.
Step Two:
At the end of each month, you and your child can review the details of their online statement together and check over their costs. The talk covers enumerating their expenses to help them better know where their money is going so they can spend more responsibly. From there on, they could track their expenses, where their money goes most of the time, or are they even still worth purchasing.
There are so many life experiences and skills we need to educate our teens on before they leave home, and managing bills is at the top of that list. Having them use a debit card and learn how to monitor their spending will hugely improve their financial knowledgeability.
