photography courtesy of: Greenlight

April is financial literacy month, an observance that reminds us to reflect on how we navigate budgeting, saving, spending, and more.

Equally important, though, is passing those skills along to the next generation. Enter Greenlight, an organization that offers parents a way to give their children firsthand experience with money. Utilize this service, and you could transform how you educate yours, helping them foster real-world fiscal smarts that can set them up for future success.

Prudent plastic

Greenlight’s core feature is its entry-level debit card, designed for use by kids and teens of all ages. Parents can easily make free and instant money transfers via the app, but, thankfully, the recipients aren’t given free rein. The Greenlight app allows you to oversee your children’s financial behaviors, giving both you and them consistent feedback as they use money within the allowances that you choose for them. (You can even block them from using their cards at certain stores or within certain spending categories.)

Kids will have their own profiles, too, where they can request money, track their purchases, and more. Through such features, they can develop essential financial skills, including making responsible buying choices and monitoring their spending habits. There is no minimum age for use, nor is there a maximum—Greenlight also makes it easy to provide funds to any elderly adults under your care.

Savings smarts

This service goes beyond spending, encouraging youngsters to cultivate a savings mindset as well. For instance, the Greenlight app allows users to set savings goals for new clothes or gadgets and make progress toward them by depositing as little as one dollar. They can then watch their funds flourish thanks to features like 6 percent interest (depending on their plan) as well as 1 percent cash back on most plans and Round Ups, both of which automatically deposit extra cash into savings.

Fun and engaging learning

Greenlight aims to make financial literacy engaging and even thrilling with Level Up, a financial education game built into the service’s app that transforms critical money concepts into a stimulating interactive experience. In this learning tool, players journey through colorful lessons on topics like building an emergency fund and investing, earning rewards for completing challenges that can be used to customize the app. The game was developed by financial education experts and exceeds national standards for K–12 education—all via an enjoyable platform that your children may eagerly partake in.

Costs and considerations

To begin using Greenlight, you’ll need to select from one of four plans, each of which provides debit cards for up to five children and teenagers. The Core model will unlock basic features for a low fee of $5.99 a month, or you can upgrade to access benefits such as higher-interest savings and security features like identity theft protection. Greenlight also offers a one-month trial period with full refunds for unsatisfied customers so you can easily give the program a family test run.

The greatest teacher

Ultimately, this financial service aims to give kids and teens a safe platform that can lay the groundwork for wise money moves as they age. By putting them in charge of their own funds, they can feel the joy of watching their savings rise, the regret of depleting their balances, and the satisfaction of achieving their goals. This may be the fastest path to them retaining knowledge—after all, nothing beats hands-on, real-life experience.

For more info, visit greenlight.com