Automating the Family Bank: Managing Allowance in an ADHD World
Fundamental to teaching children about money is having an allowance, a portion simply collected weekly (salary), and a portion earned by completing special family household projects (commission). Management of their allowance permits kids to learn the value of money, and experience the value of saving and budgeting. Unfortunately, facilitating this as a parent, can be complex and time consuming when managing so many more important things like, supporting kids through homework, coaching social skills, and running a household. That said, given the nature of impulsivity and difficulty planning associated with ADHD, learning to manage money “sooner than later” is paramount. Below are a several websites that allow you to track and manage your child’s allowance.
ThreeJars Costing $30/year after a free 15 day trial, ThreeJars is an on-line tracking site, that allows kid to access their virtual piggy bank. Parents can automated allowance payments, and assign chores and projects. kids learn about spending, saving, and tithing. This site may appeal to younger kids, as it is full of graphics, avatars, and moving icons.
Family Mint This web-based program for families with kids ages 6 to 16 allows parents to automate allowance payments and pay kids for special jobs done around the house. Kids can set savings goals and tithing goals. The basic version of this program is free. Upgraded features include mobile access (invaluable to parents shopping with kids who are impulsive shoppers and need to know their balances), automated allowance payments, interest payments on savings plans, and optional child lock-outs on transfers between accounts. Upgrading cost $24.99/year.
Kids Allowance Bank Free, this website simplistically tracks deposits and withdrawals. The site acts as a balance sheet, that allows the parent to automate allowance payments to a virtual family bank. Great for younger children, who want to know their allowance. Unfortunately it does not allow kids to set up savings goals.
FamZoo Another web-based program, FamZoo costs $30/ year after a trail period. A family friendly site, FamZoo allows kids to learn by doing through a virtual family bank for teaching money basics, and a budgeting program for managing allowances & chores, setting budgets, tracking savings goals, and encouraging charitable giving. Unlike other programs, this site allows parents to tailor banking skill learning to the age of their child. Simplistic deposit and withdrawal programs are perfect for young children, as young as 4; where all the elaborate budgeting, virtual bank loan and saving programs are perfect for tweens and young teenagers, who may have larger financial goals.
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3 Responses to “Automating the Family Bank: Managing Allowance in an ADHD World”
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Our family can testify to the added benefits of signing up for a good online allowance tracking site (some people call them a virtual family bank).
The kids love checking their own balances and seeing where they are with their savings goals. We love that paying the allowance is automatic and that we can check their balances (and make transactions) while we’re out and about with them. “You want to spend $2 on that arcade game? Sure, go ahead. I’m taking $2 out of your allowance right now.”
I did a lot of research to decide on what was the best site for us. To help other parents, I just wrote a series of reviews on these online allowance tracking websites and shared my test drives (with screen shots) over at http://www.growingrichkids.com. Providing the information here in case people want more detail without going through hours of research. I didn’t cover Kids Allowance Bank but I did cover the rest of the ones listed above as well as MoneyTrail.net and Zefty.
Keeping up with allowances, IOUs, cash and gift cards for kids and teens can be difficult to do these days. I have four kids, ages 8 – 17, and definitely want them to develop good money management skills. Our website, http://www.moneytrail.net, is a free service that can help parents stay organized and can teach kids & teens to keep track of their own money. We have seen our kids learn to make more thoughtful decisions with their money and have seen a reduction in impulse spending. Our teens are keeping track of their cash, cell phone payments to us, gift cards and IOUs.
Thank you for the nice mention Candace.
Note that our free trial is 2 months long and doesn’t require any payment info up front. We wanted to give folks ample time to see whether FamZoo fits their family’s needs.
If you have any questions, just click the Contact Us link on our site. We’re always happy to help.
Regards,
Bill Dwight
Founder & Chief Dad, FamZoo.com