Greenlight: A Great Tool to Teach Your Kids about Money, Ep #183

Why is it important to teach your kids about money when they are young? How do you teach your kids about money in a day and age where everything is moving digital? I still have an 11 and 13-year-old at home who I need to educate on spending, saving, and investing. I have found a great tool that anyone can use to teach their kids about money—Greenlight. Learn all about it in this episode of Best in Wealth!

NOTE: I am not an affiliate of or compensated by Greenlight. I simply think it is a great tool to teach your kids how to be financially responsible.

Outline of This Episode

• [1:13] Visiting my daughter in Washington, D.C.
• [3:40] Teaching my 23-year-old financial responsibility
• [8:49] Use the “Greenlight” app to teach your kids about money

How to teach your kids about money in a digital world

I have a 23-year-old, a 13-year-old, and an 11-year-old daughter. Life was a lot different when my 23-year-old was younger. I carried more cash at the time. I wanted to teach my oldest daughter how to save, spend, give, and how to invest. Dave Ramsey—who has been instrumental in getting my family out of debt—offers “Financial Peace Junior” to help teach kids how to manage money. It is exactly what I used with my oldest daughter. When she earned money, it was allocated between spending, saving, and giving.

When her savings account was large enough, we opened up a brokerage account for her to start investing money. She was investing in mutual funds when she was 12 years old. I have not done as good of a job with my 11 and 13-year-old daughters. I decided to put an end to that. But the problem is that I do not carry cash anymore. Secondly, when I do finally give my kids money, they end up spending everything that they are making because I am not equipping them with mechanisms to save and give.

We have told all of our kids that if they want a car they have to save up money to buy it themselves. We are willing to match $1 for each $1 they save to buy their first car. My 23-year-old saved $2,000 and we matched it and got her a $4,000 Toyota Corolla. If my 11 and 13-year-old do not save money, they will not get money. So they need to start now. So what am I using to teach them how to be financially responsible? Greenlight.

Why you need to use the app “Greenlight”

Here is why I think you should sign up for this app.

When you sign up, you have to link your bank account. Once you do that, you can move money from your checking account into the Greenlight account, where you can set up an individual account for each of your kids. Your kids can download the same app on their phones. With the basic Greenlight plan, your kids will have access to a spending account and a savings account. You can also give right from the app.

So I can take money from my checking account and transfer it into the master account. Last Friday, my daughter Eva spent 7 hours cleaning the house. We had a conversation about how the money would be allocated and most of it went into her savings. So I took the money I wanted to give her and assigned it between her savings and spending account. When I moved the money, she immediately got a text to check her app because she got paid.

Other features of the Greenlight app

What else does Greenlight offer? Greenlight will send you a debit card for your child that is accepted anywhere Mastercard is accepted (the card is customizable, too). Secondly, as the parent, you can limit what your child spends at any one place. It is still their debit card but we can put constraints on it. This debit card is the next best thing compared to cash.

The cheapest service is $4.99 a month. For our lifestyle, this is the easiest way to teach my kids about money in the modern world. I am fine with paying $4.99 a month for the ease of use. For $7.98 a month, you can upgrade to Greenlight + Invest which allows your kids to begin investing in the app. Lastly, for Greenlight Max, you can pay $9.98 to earn cashback, identity theft protection, purchase protection, and more. For now, we are fine utilizing the spending, giving, and saving features.

What else can the app do? I can assign and set up a weekly allowance that is automatically deposited into my kid’s accounts and is allocated between spending, saving, and giving. You can even assign chores to your kids in the app. If I want my daughter to sweep the floor or do the dishes, I can assign it, and she can check it when it is complete. I can check the chore complete on my end and it will send her the money. It is that simple. I can also assign an interest rate to their savings account as if they had it in a regular bank. I will gladly give them a higher interest rate than the best interest rate at an online bank.

These likely are not all of the features of the Greenlight app. I am just getting started with it and am sure I have more to learn. But I had to share this with my listeners. It seems like a great tool to teach your kids the basics of good finances.

Resources Mentioned

• Greenlight
• Financial Peace Jr.

Connect With Scott Wellens

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Podcast Disclaimer:

The Best In Wealth Podcast is hosted by Scott Wellens. Scott Wellens is the principal at Fortress Planning Group. Fortress Planning Group is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the Securities Act of Wisconsin in accordance and compliance with securities laws and regulations. Fortress Planning Group does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the Best In Wealth Podcast. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice.

About the author, Scott Wellens

Scott Wellens, CFP® is an investment advisor and founder of Fortress Planning Group. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Scott quickly ascended to become a Vice President of North American Sales at a major regional provider of telecommunications infrastructure. While financially successful in this role, Scott searched for ways to pursue his passion related to financial literacy and providing financial freedom for both his own family and others. During his search, Scott became curious about the significant gap he found in the financial services sector: he was unable to find a comprehensive financial planner that maintained a family stewardship lens without being attached to financial products. Scott decided to fill that gap by creating his own planning firm that maintains a strong passion for comprehensive, unbiased wealth planning that is genuinely client-centered.

Scott resides in Menomonee Falls, WI with his family. He is the father of three active and independent daughters who keep him on his toes. Scott is an active community member, serving on the Hamilton Education Foundation Board, serves as a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace facilitator and leads the All Pro Dad’s group at their local elementary school. Scott enjoys spending his free time visiting state parks with his family, reading, and watching the Milwaukee Bucks and the Green Bay Packers win ball games.

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