Houston, we have a shopper

Of course, what newly minted teenager with a brand spanking new debit card isn't itching to go test it out?  So we moved some excess cash out of her savings account (she has a minimum balance requirement that she has never struggled to maintain) and sent her off with Mom to break the card in.  After using her available spending money and a gift card for her birthday, she came home with two new holes in her ears, two pairs of jeans, a book, some stuff from bath and body works along with a present for yours truly.

As promised, I was sent an email regarding every purchase, and a low balance warning after her last purchase. All systems go from that perspective.  I have to hand it to ING, they have done a good job with this.  All the communication comes to the kid, and is written in a relatively kid friendly tone with appropriate word choice and all of that (if only the adults in the financial world could speak so plainly!).  So where to we go from here?  For those of you who have muscled through some of the old blog posts, you know that there are Investing and Giving accounts that have yet to be integrated into the actual banking system (the accounts still reside at The Parents Bank).  However, discussions are underway about integrating the Giving account into her Savings account and simply tracking the split between reserves and money to donate to charitable causes, along with establishing an actual investing account for her (ING, we'll be knocking on your door for that as well!).

All in all, Miranda looks like she has some pretty good habits.  We even talked about her first pay check and how all of this relates to the day she actually receives one (maybe not that far off....I may put her on the payroll).  The light bulb went off in a big way about the need to maintain this discipline with the first check.  She readily conceded the point that it would be far easier to begin that way, rather than start out spending everything as most teens do, only to have to scale back her spending at some future date.  Music to my ears, and validation that this has all been worth it.  Now if I can just get the boy to pay attention......

Oh, and perhaps the most useful app ever created on a smart phone - the "take a picture of your check to deposit it" app.  Now you truly never have to go to the bank.

Gone, but not forgotten

While it has been a year (or more) since my last post, the ongoing effort to turn out two financially literate children marches on. Of course, the reality is that one of my kids continues to soak it up and is excited about the next step. The other, however, just does not give a crap. Frustrating, disappointing, but true. So rather than continue to torture the both of us, we are on an extended break. Given that he can't seem to remember to put deodorant on, it may be a while until we come back to it. How, exactly, did it all come to an end?

 It all starts with the way we determine allowance: a dollar per year in age at the start of the year. That's ten bucks. Ten percent of ten bucks is........one dollar. All he has to do is pull a buck for each of his three accounts aside from spending. Couldn't be easier, right? Well, I made that exact comment to him back in January. See, I have one big rule: to keep receiving allowance you need to be able to process it accurately and actuall learn the lessons that go along with managing your own money. While he has enjoyed the cash, he has never been that interested in the learning component, I figured the we have to start somewhere, and that he would eventually come around. When he marched in to the office without his stuff in order (again, this was not the first time by any means), I finally had to make the call to pull the plug on the operation, for the time being anyway.

The other one, however, is a bit of a rock star. A thirteen year old rock star. Last year, we started a real savings account for her. When we wanted to start an account with a debit card, we were stymied by the fact that she is a minor, and still too young for the "young adult" accounts that are out there. Thirteen years old, however, is the magic age for eligibility for the debit card, and someone just had a birthday.......so the debit card should be here shortly. It is actually a really nice set up, as I receive notifications any time she makes a purchase, and the only thing she can do is make purchases, take out cash, and review her accounts on line. Any transfers or anything of that sort are the strict domain of the parent. Thank you ING! Now if I could just figure out how to motivate him.....he also just had a birthday, so the poverty has not really hit yet. We'll see what impact that has later this Summer when his birthday money is gone yet there are still things he wants to spend it on. I'll get him, patience is my ally in this one.