June 13, 2022

How to teach your Middle School kids about money

Tim Goodwin, Certified Financial Planner, at Goodwin Investment Advisory, sharing some of his personal tips about teaching your Middle School aged kids about money.

Do you wish you could help your kids or grandkids manage their money better? Tim and Maureen Goodwin have three daughters and they decided to pay their kids their age each week for doing chores around the house. He likes this because on their birthday each year they not only get a party, but they also get a raise.

Tim and Maureen give each of their three girls age appropriate chores each week and pay them for it. They wanted to teach them how to handle cash originally, but it became difficult to continue to have cash on hand to pay them. So, they found this app and card called Greenlight **. They set up an account for each of their girls, which gave them each their own debit card and now they automatically fund their greenlight accounts with their weekly allowance. The girls are all old enough to understand how to make good money habits.

The greenlight card teaches your kids about earning money, spending less than you earn, and teaches you as parents and grandparents about their money personalities. Check out our blog where we tell you a bit more about what Greenlight has to offer.

1. Teach your kids about earning money and give them a sense of entitlement

The greenlight app allows your kids to see their money adding up in three different categories: giving, saving, and spending. Each kid gets to choose an amount to save each week, which teaches them a sense of earning money and knowledge of how to manage it.

2. Your kid can start learning to spend less than they earn

If you give your kids the option to choose what percentage to put into spending, saving, and giving each week, they start to understand the concept of spending less money than they make. This includes saving for bigger purchases, or saving towards a short or long-term goal.

3. You can learn about your children, or grandchildren’s money personalities.

Tim Goodwin has three daughters and all three of them have their own relationship with how they spend money and how they save money. His youngest is fun and can’t wait to spend it on something as soon as she gets her money each week. His oldest tends to save for bigger purchases like getting her hair dyed.