Show Me the Money: Child debit cards

With so many kids learning at home, now is a good time to teach them to be financially responsible.

“Personal finance is not something that’s often taught in schools, but I think all of us as adults and parents we know that it’s a critical part of just managing life.” Tim Sheehan is the CEO and co-founder of Greenlight, a debit card for kids.

He’s a father of four, and he came up with the idea because he – along with many other parents – saw a need.

“They weren’t carrying cash with them because parents like most adults were making their purchases with debit cards and credit cards so they didn’t have cash to give to their kids and cash can get lost or stolen or damaged.. plus with the pandemic these days no one wants to be dealing with cash.”

Parents can even control which stores their kids can use the card at. For younger kids, there’s a chore tracker which adds money to their account when tasks are completed around the house. And to encourage kids to save, there’s parent-paid interest.

“There may be parents out there saying I can’t trust my kid with a debit card but this is 2020 and this is the way people are spending their money. This is a good time to teach your kids how to do it responsibly. That’s right.. the parent is always in complete control… the parent is always able to say how much can they get, how much can they spend, how much needs to be in their savings.”

“The world has moved to a digital world. With greenlight we’re hoping to not only help the kids transition to that digital world, but also learn the key financial concepts and healthy financial habits that are necessary whether you’re in a digital world or a physical money world.”>

Greenlight is also giving the option to teach your child the importance of charity. Sheehan says the card is good for any age, but obviously it’s up to each parent to deice what age your child is responsible enough to have one.

For more information on Greenlight, click here.