Essential Apps for Teaching Your Kids About Money

You’d be surprised the number of students that get to college with little to no budgeting skills. Actually, you probably wouldn’t, seeing as most students find themselves in enormous amounts of debt and unsure how they got there. The moral of the story is that you can never start too early when teaching your children how to manage their money and there are a lot of fun and easy ways to get your children in the right mindset. 

• Tykoon – You can find this app through Apple or Android, but this is certainly an app that will benefit you and your children. It allows your children to enter chores or tasks they can complete for an allowance (it also tracks things like time spent watching television or using their phone). You can approve things that they have on their wish list and when they have enough saved up they can use their money to purchase items from Amazon or donate it to charities. This can be a great teaching tool for not only money but also for giving.
• Kids Money – This app is perfect for kids who earn a regular allowance or receive money for holidays like Christmas and birthdays. It allows your kids to budget according to how much the item they’re hoping to buy is and it gives them a timeframe of how long it will take to save up so much money. They can track their allowance, find items they want to buy and then see how long it will take for them to get there. Giving kids a visual when it comes to saving can be really handy.
• Savings Spree – Even though Savings Spree isn’t free, it certainly is worth the small cost it takes to get it. This app does a lot of teaching so that your children understand exactly why these habits will impact them in the grand scheme of life. Probably one of the most important lessons it imparts upon your children is that the small purchases you make each day will add up to big amounts of money. This is one of the biggest issues children have when they’re finally able to spend their money how they choose and Savings Spree makes it fun and easy to see what awaits them if they only save their money.

Nothing can compare to teaching your children the value of money by talking with them about your own experiences (mistakes and successes). But these apps can make saving money fun and educational for your kids. They teach values that will be tremendously helpful later on in life and teach not only about saving but about budgeting, investing and even donating. You’ll be happy when your children have learned the value of a buck.