If you have read my blog for awhile, you will know that I am a big proponent of budgeting and financial planning. Spending the last 12 years in the finance world, I have learned that many adults just don’t know how to save or do even basic financial planning. I think this due to a lack of education about personal finance. Our school’s miss this throughout our primary education.
As parents we have the huge task of educating our children about personal finance. I truly believe it needs to start when children are very young. Learning to manage your money when you are a child, can be truly life changing. When I learned about the new program FamZoo, I was so excited that someone was addressing this issue. FamZoo is a new Virtual Bank account for kids, that allows parents to help children learn how to be responsible with their money and moderate spending.
So how does it work?
You can set up an account for each of your children. Instead of paying you child in a $5.00 bill, you set up the allowance to automatically go into the account each week. You can also set up automatically for charitable giving or if your child has a reoccurring expenses to have it automatically come out. What a great way to encourage and teach philanthropy.
You can also teach your children how to have saving goals. So instead of hearing Mommy can I buy this, your child can know how much they have to save each week to reach a goal.
In addition, there is a chore management system and much more. I am excited to be using this program with Evan and hope you will love it too! You can give it a whirl over on FamZoo by signing up for their free 2 month trial here. If you want to see FamZoo in action, you can check it out here.
Giveaway
One reader will win a membership to FamZoo and a $10.00 in paypal cash to get your child savings started!
To enter, simply leave me a comment telling me what you would like most about FamZoo. For bonus entries, you can check out FamZoo on Twitter or Facebook.
Rules: Open to U.S. Residents, 18 years & Older. Giveaway ends 05/02/10 at 11:59pm. Winners will be notified via email. Winner is responsible for responding within 24 hours or a new winner will be picked. If you don’t respond, you will not be eligible.
This giveaway is sponsored by FamZoo and all prizes and compensation is provided by FamZoo.
monica baker says
I like that you can work toward a goal!
Ken D. says
What an awesome idea…I have been stressing the importance of money and saving with my six year old for a while now. We even established his own bank account for him to make monthly deposits into (money from grandparents, birthdays, chores) but his only gripe is not being able to see/feel the money physically after we deposit it; with this site he can track his earnings and learn as he grows his savings!!
Alicia Owens says
I have a two year old that loves to put money in her piggy bank! We are already working on saving a little of everything that she gets and I think that this would be a tool we could grow with.
AngelaP says
I follow famzoo on twitter under ChildrensNook
AngelaP says
I love that I could use this to teach my son saving goals. What a great way to teach children the value of money!
Margaret says
I think this is wonderful for kids. You right. They don’t teach this in school and they should. Just learning the facts about compounding money is a good thing. Thanks for all the hard work.
Michele D says
Following on Facebook
April H says
Great idea! I like that this program allows parents to teach children the importance about money and savings. It is never too early to start teaching these valuable lessons.
Jody Scott says
Phenomenal Idea!
Kim Winters says
I think Famzoo is a great idea – sounds like something we could really use!
Michele D says
Love this site. I hate that my kids lose their money in their rooms, no matter what I have for them to keep it in. I like that they can see how much money they have at a glance. Yippee.
Kristine says
This sounds like a great product! I just had the savings talk with my son this week after he took money out of his piggy bank (with out permission) and took it to school for their book fair. His teacher thought it odd when he showed up with $40.
The money is now in the bank, but in his eyes it doesn’t exist anymore. This sounds like it would be a more concrete concept for him to understand.
Tracie says
We are trying to teach our daughter the importance of saving and not needing instant gratification from any money she earns. This would be great to help us instill this extremely important financial ethic.
carrie says
I agree about kids not being educated in this area. It’s a travesty! I love this idea to help kids understand saving and giving too! thanks :)
Janine says
I love that the $ goes directly into the savings account! Great idea to not only teach children early about saving but also to show them that saving is fun and rewarding!
Lori Z. says
What a great way to keep track of things. I like their chore lists too.
Corrie says
My 6 year old would like the $600 Death Star Lego set. I’ve explained to him that it will take him 10 years to save for it :-). In all seriousness, I think this would be a great tool to teach budgeting and saving to my little guys.
Gina says
This looks really neat–my 6yo son often sets big goals, like $50 for a big Lego set, and this would help him track his savings.
Tiffany says
What a great program! I’d love to win this for my son!
Molly Joly says
What an interesting idea! I like all the extra like the chore mgmt system.
Courtney says
This is a wonderful invention. This would so help to teach philthantropy and smart finances to kids!
kim h. says
WOW! This is exactly what I need. I have been trying and trying and trying to get this through my daughter’s head. This will definitely come in handy!
Heather says
This is what I’ve been looking for! I’ve tried many different things with allowance and they have all failed.
Ashley says
Wow, FamZoo sounds great! My husband and I have been looking for a better way to teach our son about saving and planning! I think the Chore/Homework Checklists and Savings Planner are great tools to encourage strong work ethic and curb impulse purchases!
Melissa says
This sounds like a great tool for teaching kids about saving, budgeting, etc. Would love this for mine!
KeriLyn@SheSaved says
I love this idea… I think that watching your savings grow is a great way to teach children to understand money!! Great giveaway!
Jen J says
Wish there were more things like this for our kiddos.
j says
I like it that you can do it from the computer. This sounds like a great product. budgeting, everything. :)
Cheryl says
Am also following FamZoo on Twitter.
Cheryl says
Wow! This program sounds great. My 7-yr-old is NOT good with money, wonder where he learned that… This would be perfect for him to get a handle on the “it’s burning a hole in my pocket” syndrome. Will definitely show it to my husband so we can get started on the two month trial.
Marcie Jean says
Love this concept.. Making kids responsible is so important.
Kelly W says
Oh I so hope I win this one!! I just “liked” it on FB and watched the intro video. What a great idea. My kids are 9, 7 & 5 an this would be perfect for them. Right now they have banks that all their money goes into but I had already planned this summer to start allowances and getting them to budget. This would be perfect! Did I mention I hope I win this one.
Kelly
Tracy says
I would love to use this tool to work with my 7 (almost 8) year old to start teaching budgeting skills.
Nina says
This looks like a great program! I like how it’s all online because that’s how my husband and I do all our banking. I also like how you can set up goals and see how long it takes to save for something and also set up regular withdrawals for church or charity to teach giving. We need tools like these to teach our kids the value of money and delayed gratification in this society!
Kristin Wright says
What a fabulous idea to get kids started on such an important topic!! Love it!!
Amber says
I also checked it out on facebook & “like” it!
Amber says
This looks awesome, what a great idea! I think what i’d like most is the fact that instrad of giving my son cash, we could save it & it wouldnt be as easy for him to spend it!
Angela Orr says
This program looks amazing! My husband and I have been talking about bank accounts for the kids for a while. My half brothers, who are 17 and special needs kids, have bank accounts, but because they get disability benefits, I do all the record keeping. Something like this would be awesome for helping them get used to managing their own money. It would also help them see the correlation between their chores and their allowance, I think. Also, my son is almost 8 and very interested in how banking works. He’s got a knack for money, and I think he’d like this a lot. I’m unclear how to get bonus entries with facebook. Should we comment there as well? Thanks! I love your blog!!!
Nicki Davis says
Love this idea! Thanks.
Stacie Schmookler says
What a great program! I also believe that kids need to be taught about saving from an early age! I like how they can track their goals, small and larger as they grow!
Kelly says
I have a 6 year old who wants to save for a car for his dad and him to play with. This would be good for him because instead of the cash burning a hole in his pocket, it would be online and untouchable, so maybe he wouldnt spend it. As he grows older it would be good to teach him more about saving for the big stuff.