Allowance 2.0

The digital age is making the traditional children’s allowance much more complicated. According to a recent _Wall Street Journal_ article, many parents are having a hard time keeping track of which child is buying what online–usually with a parent’s credit card–and then deducting such purchases from their allowances. As a solution, the article listed several debit cards that parents can preload with allowance money and then monitor their children’s spending.
h3(matt). Matt’s View
p(matt). As I read the article, I kept thinking of the title of a Kendra Smiley book: “Be the Parent”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802469418/102-6424768-7763339?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwfinancia00-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0802469418. It sounded like the kids in some of the families profiled were more in charge than the parents. Fretting about her son’s frequent online music purchases, one parent said, “It’s killing me.”
p(matt). One way to “be the parent” is to proactively teach our kids how to manage money responsibly. The National Endowment for Financial Education offers an excellent age-specific resource for doing just that. Go “here”:http://nefe.org/pages/multimedia.html and then click on “Simple Steps to Raising a Money-Smart Child.”
p(matt). As for the prepaid cards mentioned in the article, they all come with enrollment fees ranging from $5 to $25 along with monthly fees. Some even require reloading and other fees. A better alternative for high-school age children, available from most banks, is a checking account that comes with a no-fee debit card.

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