Teaching Financial Literacy With a Debit Card For Kids
Giving kids a debit card is a great way to teach them the basics of modern banking. However, the card should be accompanied by financial literacy resources.
Many children’s debit cards come with parental controls and spending limits. They also allow parents to monitor their child’s spending through a mobile app. Some even have added benefits like chore payments and financial education features.
Features
The best debit cards for kids come with parental controls, educational resources and a range of other features. Some offer no monthly service fees and have ATM limits to prevent children from circumventing them. Other features include chore payment options and identity monitoring.
The top-rated cards on this list have a mobile app that lets parents monitor and control spending options, set spending limits and earmark money for certain stores (for example, $10 at Target and not at the movie candy counter). They also let parents set up automatic allowance payments, monitor spending habits and get real-time notifications.
Kids who use a kids debit card can build credit by making small, regular purchases, which can be reported to the major credit bureaus. The most popular kid-focused debit cards include Step, Copper Banking, FamZoo and BusyKid. These cards are widely accepted and offer a variety of other perks, including no monthly fees and a low minimum balance.
Fees
A debit card is a great way to teach kids how to handle money responsibly. Unlike credit cards, which can easily result in overspending, debit cards require the parent to have control over how much the child spends.
Most children’s debit cards feature a mobile app with parental controls that help parents monitor spending and limit withdrawals. Most also offer educational content to teach kids about finances and personal financial responsibility. Some even allow kids to “earn” money for chores and transfer it into their accounts.
Parents should check the fees associated with a particular kids debit card to ensure that it is worth the investment. Typically, these cards have low monthly fees and offer a variety of features that make them more cost-effective than traditional checking or savings accounts. Moreover, many of these cards are FDIC-insured and offer monitoring tools to help parents manage their child’s spending habits. The cards also let parents earmark specific amounts for certain purchases (e.g., $10 for Target), which helps them avoid overspending.
Age requirements
A debit card for kids can be a useful tool for teaching financial responsibility. It can also help them develop savings goals and build financial literacy. However, the right age to give them a debit card depends on their maturity level and your family’s budget.
The best prepaid debit cards for kids come with parental controls and other tools that help parents manage their child’s spending habits. These features can include alerts, spending limits, and an online account that allows parents to monitor their child’s transactions. These tools can also be useful for parents who are looking to teach their children about saving and money management.
The minimum age requirement for a prepaid debit card can vary by provider, but most are available to children as young as six. Some may offer a mobile app that helps parents track their child’s spending, while others allow parents to load funds into the card through a linked bank account or by direct transfers.
Educational content
Many debit cards for kids and teens have companion apps with multiple educational resources, customizable controls and tools that teach money management. Some also offer chore lists to incentivize savings and allow working teens to receive direct deposit paychecks. Unlike paper money, they offer security features and protections against identity theft.
Debit cards for kids typically have lower account minimums than standard checking accounts and feature parental controls. They can also be backed by FDIC deposit insurance, which provides peace of mind in the event of a bank failure.
Some of these cards include financial literacy tools, like the popular Greenlight card. Others, such as FamZoo, feature a mobile app and prepaid debit card that helps kids learn good spending habits through chore lists, purpose-driven accounts, saving goals and more. They also let parents monitor and control spending options, lock cards and set real-time parental notifications. The BusyKid card is another option that offers a streamlined way to give kids their first sense of spending freedom. The app teaches budgeting through spending limits and includes a charitable donation component that allows kids to allocate a portion of their allowance or bonus to a chosen charity.
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