Money Management for Kids



In past years, we've given our kids Savings Accounts (which came with cards) but that didn't work well for us.  Then we moved to giving them children's checking accounts but there just weren't enough resources on the parents end to help them learn how to manage their money.  There weren't options to limit or control spending/saving so we would have to take the cards away from the kids and they would have to ask for them back when they needed them.  It just didn't work for us but then we came across Go Henry and we instantly fell in love.

Each household is different so what you might allow or might not allow will vary.  What we love about Go Henry is the ability to restrict or enable spending Online, In-Store or at ATMs.  While they hold on to their debit cards, their access is usually restricted unless we know they will need to use them.  In the past with other debit cards, we would have to take the cards away because the kids would try to buy things online via their devices and we wouldn't know unless we checked the bank accounts.  Let's be honest, kids will be kids and if a game is asking for $1 to get access to 500 coins, they're going to use the card.  With Go Henry, there's no way that will happen if I've restricted their spending.

Now let's talk about Spending + Saving habits.  In the beginning, we would deposit their allowance and immediately they would want to spend it.  Not spend a portion of it but spend nearly ALL of it.  So, I quickly taught them that just because you have money doesn't mean you have enough money to spend.  Since all the money they get is from allowance (they're not bringing in paychecks), I set a threshold that they are not allowed to spend past.  For instance, Kennedy's threshold is $25 so she is not able to spend + allow her account to drop under $25.  The purchase will be declined.  For a lot of us, this isn't a lesson we learned until we were in our 20s.  When I first left to college, if I had $20 then I would be out at the mall buying whatever I could with that $20 because for me having no money meant I literally had $0.  This was a lesson I wanted to teach my children much earlier on because its a mentality that really changes the way you spend.  As they get older, I will raise the threshold... eventually, it will be $50 or $100, whatever makes sense depending on the amount of money being deposited into their accounts.

Transferring money onto their cards is so easy and frankly one of the reasons I decided to go with Go Henry.  Adding money into their accounts is done similarly to Cash App.  Using your debit card, you can immediately load your Go Henry 'Parent Account' with funds.  From there, you are able to immediately fund their accounts which will be immediately available on their debit cards.  There is no wait time!!  I don't know about you but giving allowance was always a hassle because we rarely had cash to give.  They would do the chores and then wait until the next time we remembered to take the cash out + pay out their allowance.  It was the worst process but now being able to immediately transfer money into their account via Go Henry makes allowance, rewarding amazing grades and any other time we need to give them money, super easy.

Last but certainly not least is the super useful App.  Both the parents + the children need to download the App as everything is done from the App itself.  Adding funds, restricting card use, reviewing spending is all done in the App. Like I said, we've had these debit cards for almost a year now and I really can't think of anything we don't like about them.  One time I added too much money to my parent account and realized that there isn't a way to transfer money back out.  While I was annoyed, it wasn't the end of the world.  I just left the money there and used it to transfer money to the kids until it was gone.  But that's probably the only thing I can remember.  And, honestly, the kids really feel like the money is their own knowing that we don't have access to it.

With Christmas right around the corner, this makes a great gift for any child in your life!  If you use this link: http://bit.ly/GoHenryxCandice you'll get your first month free plus $10.  On my end, $10 will be added to my Parent Account on Go Henry to fund Taylor, Gregory + Kennedy's accounts.  So essentially, using my link pays them!  Excited to hear how much you guys like this option for your children so if you gift them to your littles, definitely report back.

XO
Candice

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