The Greenlight Card helps you raise financially-savvy kids–here’s how

From the time they’re old enough to ask for everything in the toy aisle until they’re buying their first car, it’s our job to teach our kids how to manage money.

One of the go-to tactics is to give kids a weekly allowance. Like many families, we started giving my oldest a small allowance each week when he was about 8. Right away, I realized we needed a more engaging way to help him learn about spending, saving and becoming financially literate. With a little research, I landed on the Greenlight card. That was over eight years ago–and it’s been a part of our daily life ever since.

What is the Greenlight debit card for kids?

Simply put, the Greenlight card is a prepaid debit card for kids that connects directly to your bank account. But that just scratches the surface! Along with the Greenlight app it’s a powerful tool to help kids develop healthy financial habits in a truly hands-on way. (Think of it like a modern day piggy bank on steroids.) From receiving their allowance, setting and managing savings goals, earning money through chores and even investing, the Greenlight card puts them directly in the driver’s seat.

How does Greenlight card work?

More than just a money app for kids, Greenlight card functions like any other prepaid debit card. Your child is issued a physical Mastercard in their own name which can be used anywhere credit cards are accepted–IRL and online. (There is no age requirement to get a card if a parent or guardian signs up.) Through the app, parents add money from their personal bank account to the Parent Wallet. From there, it can be doled out to connected kid accounts as you see fit. You can also set up automatic, recurring transfers for things like a weekly allowance which has been a total savior at our house. We never have cash on hand and there’s nothing worse than having an IOU out on a money-hungry tween. (The nagging is real.)

Parents can also use the app to instantly send money, monitor their child’s spending, set spending limits, get real-time notifications when they use their card and even block certain merchants.

You can also choose whether the money you give your kiddos can be spent anywhere or only at certain locations. There are default spending categories including ATMs, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and online gaming as well as the ability to set up specific stores they frequent. This function has been great for my daughter who often walks to the corner store after school. I can add money to her card for a snack and keep it completely separate from other funds. Conveniently, leftover funds can be transferred back to the parent wallet. (This is especially useful if you want to send them on an errand and actually get your change back.)

Greenlight also offers an easy way for family and friends to load money onto your child’s card–even if they’re not in the app. Using their unique link (which can be found on their app and the parent app), gift givers can send any amount they’d like along with a note which can be redeemed instantly through the app. Like all deposits into their account, the gifter can designate where the funds can be used.

Kids can use their version of the app to request money and manage their own account. There’s also the ability to set up chores and jobs which they can complete and check off to get paid!

How to sign up for the Greenlight Card

Getting set up is pretty simple. First you’ll need to provide your email address via the Greenlight website. From there you’ll be prompted to provide your phone number to receive a confirmation code and get started setting up your family’s account. As the parent or guardian, you’ll need to give them the following basic info:

• Your name
• The names of your children receiving a Greenlight card
• Mailing address
• Email address
• Your birthday
• Your social security number

Signing up for a Greenlight card doesn’t require a credit check, but in order to fund the card you’ll need to link an existing bank account. (That also means it doesn’t help your child build credit.) You can do so with a debit card or your account and routing numbers. Your account is free for the first 30 days. After that, the most basic tier–Greenlight Core–will cost $4.99/month.

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Features and benefits of the Greenlight card we love

It’s secure

Not only is the card FDIC insured, it also comes with a variety of fraud protection features. If you’ve got a kid who is prone to misplacing things, don’t sweat it. You can easily lock the card within the app if it goes missing (or you want to curb their spending) and if you need a replacement, that’s easy too. Between my two kids we’ve only lost one and customer service was so incredibly helpful.

Useful parental controls

In addition to being able to lock their card, I also love that you can set general spending limits and spending limits at specific stores. Now that my daughter is old enough to wander the mall with her friends, it’s nice to know I can help her from blowing her entire allowance at the candy store.

Greenlight also allows you to approve each purchase and sends you real time alerts when they make one.

It teaches kids about saving and investing

Not only is Greenlight is a great way for parents to teach their kids about money management, it meets kids where they are to educate them–with a video game! On the app you’ll also find fun financial literacy game called Level Up which gives them bite-sized lessons in everything from how to evaluate purchases to understanding interest. (Raise your hand if you could have learned that a wee bit earlier!) As far as savings, it offers a few ways:

• Savings Goals: You can set up savings goals for your kids, such as saving for college, a car or that video game they really really want. (I’ve lost track of how many times my kids have decided they don’t actually want it anyway by the time the money is saved up.)
• Round Up: The Greenlight card also has a Round Up feature that rounds up your child’s purchases to the nearest dollar and deposits the difference into their savings account. This is a fabulous way to help your child save money without even realizing it.
• Parent-Paid Interest: You can also set a Parent-Paid Interest rate. Add interest to your child’s savings account at a rate that you choose to help them learn about the power of compound interest.

Each tier of the Greenlight plans offer a percentage on savings starting at 1% through Greenlight Savings Rewards (if you have it set up with your bank account number as opposed to your debit card)–just like you’d earn interest on a regular bank account.

Want to introduce your kid to the world of investing and don’t know where to start? Greenlight’s got that covered too. Through the Invest feature kids can buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs with as little as $1. There are no trading fees, and parents can approve or reject all trades. Once the Invest feature is enabled, kids can start researching stocks and ETFs. And they’re not just going it alone! Greenlight provides a variety of resources to help kids learn about investing, including educational articles, videos, and a stock screener. (I’d be lying if I said it didn’t teach me a thing or two as well!)

When a kid finds a stock or ETF they want to invest in, they can submit a trade request to their parent. Parents can then approve or reject the trade request.

If the trade request is approved, the money will be deducted from the child’s Greenlight account and used to purchase the stock or ETF. Kids can track their investments in the Greenlight app, and they can see how their investments have performed over time. Just look at your budding Warren Buffet go!

Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity benefits you should know about

Obviously the basic plan gets you a wealth of awesome features, but upgrading offers some additional perks that are worth noting. With Greenlight Max ($9.98/month) you get 1% cash back on purchases as well as identity theft, cell phone and purchase protection. For us, this pays for itself because it’s cheaper than phone insurance.

Upgrade to Greenlight Infinity and get all that plus family location sharing, SOS alerts and crash detection. Knowing your kid isn’t buying a bulk order of popsicles is great. Knowing they’re safe and sound? Now that’s priceless.