Parents Turning to Digital Money Apps for Kids Allowance

Parents are turning to technology to keep up with the tradition of allowance using apps to oversee and set up spending accounts for their children. We (as I'm sure most parents) had allowance programs when the kids were young but when we got to payday mom and dad found themselves short on cash. I mean physical cash. We’ve gotten used to the cashless society by using cards and PayPal that we never seem to have a few fives or tens on hand when allowance day came.

Now, digital money apps are becoming more popular. Apps such as Greenlight, Gohenry, and Current, allowing parents to load money onto debit cards for their children which you can do in weekly or monthly amounts and set spending limits. You can also implement a list of chores that will be rewarded. But here’s the best part. I don’t simply want to give my kids money and have them do with it whatever they like. There are zero teaching moments in that method. So my wife and I chose Greenlight and set up our kids' account into three sections: spending, saving, and giving.

Spending can be used on whatever they like - pending approval of mom and dad, of course. Secondly, the savings is not to be touched until they get a drivers license so they’ve got a downpayment on a car, college tuition, investing, etc. And thirdly, giving is 10% set aside to give. Perhaps to their favorite charity (our daughter chose horse rescue), the homeless shelter, school fundraising, or church.

We love it because it helps children learn financial literacy and can help them set up their savings goals. I probably have more parenting fails than successes. But this one is already a hit with mom and dad and the kids.