What are the best apps to use to help my kids with their finances?

Ralph
00:00:00

Dad, can I have a new iPhone? Mom, I want those $200 sneakers. Does that sound familiar? What if I told you there's a way to turn new spending demands into powerful teaching moments? Today, we'll explore how technology can transform your children's relationship with money. Our listener asks: With my kids constantly asking for expensive things, how can I use apps to teach them the real value of money? I'm going to answer that question today on the show.

Announcer
00:00:30

Welcome to the Ask Ralph podcast where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now here's your host, Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:00:59

Thank you for joining me today. I've got an enlightening episode for you. My goal today is pretty simple: I'm going to help you and your kids master their finances with a Christian perspective. Now yesterday, if you missed the show, I shared how much cash to keep on hand during retirement. I'm not talking about what you keep in your mattress. What I shared on yesterday's show was how much liquid cash you need to handle those unexpected bumps in the road. So I want you to go back and check that out if you missed it, because it's crucial information. It could protect your financial security during your golden years.

Today's listener question comes from Michael, all the way from the state of Texas. He writes this: "Dear Ralph, I'm at my wit's end. My three teenagers, 13, 15, and 17—I mean, he's got a bunch—are constantly asking for expensive items, from the latest phones to designer clothes. Every trip to the store becomes a battle. They don't understand the value of money, and I'm worried they'll struggle with finances as adults. My oldest is heading to college soon, and I want to make sure they all understand money management before leaving home. What apps can help me teach them financial responsibility in a way that speaks their language?" - Michael.

That is a great and timely question. And having two boys—mine are 23 and 27 now—I completely understand where you're coming from. I remember when my boys were younger; they always wanted this and wanted that, and they had no concept of what things actually cost. So, yes, you're right. We need to teach them the value of money. And you have a great point about bridging that value of money and financial responsibility with technology.

And don't worry, I've got some apps for you to do just that today. Now, normally, I'd say to you, this show thrives on your questions, but today I want to ask you some questions. I've built a listener survey, and I want your honest opinion about the show. And listen, it'll only take about five minutes.

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Now, you get to the survey by going to askralphpodcast.com/survey. And listen, you're not just wasting your time—your answers are going to shape the show. I need your survey completed by midnight on December 10th because, on December 11th, I'm going to pick the lucky listener. Or the lucky person who fills out the survey. And I would love to hear from you. Again, that's askralphpodcast.com/survey. I would really appreciate you filling out that survey today.

Now, Michael, you know I always like to start things grounded in scripture, and I found a great Bible verse for today. It really speaks to our role as parents and our responsibility in guiding our children. It comes to us from Proverbs 22:6.

And this is what it says: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." I think that very eloquently speaks to the question today. So, let's get to that answer I've got for you, Michael.

Michael, let me tell you about my client, Monica. She was in getting her taxes done, and she was frustrated. She said, "Ralph, I've got this 16-year-old daughter. Her name is Emma, and Emma wanted the new iPhone. I mean, she saw the advertisements; I guess all her friends at school had it. And she said to me, 'Mom, I've got to have this new iPhone.' And guess what? She expected me to pay for it." Now, Monica had no idea—or excuse me, Emma had no idea—what the cost of that iPhone was. She just knew she wanted to have it. And this could have been an opportunity for tension.

Now, I'm going to tell you, my client Monica felt tension, but Emma wasn't feeling that. So, this was one of those family dynamics where it could have created tension. But Monica was in getting her taxes done, and we were talking about our kids. I said, "Monica, I’ve got an idea for you. We could turn this into a teachable moment." And I said, "Think about it. These kids love technology. They’ve got it all in their lives. They text, they do this, they Snapchat—all those things. What if there’s a way to use that technology to start building some financial acumen or financial skills?"

So Monica and I took a few minutes. We studied some modern banking and budgeting apps. And listen, we knew this would require some tracking tools. If we were going to teach this lesson, we knew we needed to find that great tool, that great app. But we also realized—and maybe this was even more important—we needed to change Emma's mindset. We wanted to have an impact on Emma. We wanted to transform her financial habits. We wanted her to learn these lessons early because, truth is, I deal with this every day in my practice.

A lot of young people, and you know, the problem is, a lot of young people don't get this financial education because their parents just throw everything at them. I'm not saying that's not a good thing to do, but we need to start looking for ways to teach our kids how to be financial stewards. So, we took a look at these apps, and here are some ones that we came up with that I wanted to share with you today. I've put some links in the show notes, but let's go through these.

The first one I'm going to talk about is called Greenlight. Now, you get to it by going to greenlight.com. This one will run you about $4.99 to $9.98 a month, depending upon what items you pick. They do offer a one-month free trial for new users, and you can download this app directly from the App Store or from the Google Play Store.

Now, let's talk about what this does. The premium features include this—and I think this is really cool—a custom debit card for each child. So, when you sign up for this, each kid is going to get a debit card. The coolest thing about this is it's going to track real-time spending notifications.

So you'll have that information, and they'll have that information. Then you can figure out how much you want to put in it. What's your parent approval? Like, you can set it up so that they can only spend money here, or they can only spend this much there. They do give you 1% cash back on purchases, and they offer some cell phone protection and identity theft protection. But what really makes it special is the ability—and I think this is great—to set store-specific spending controls and investment learning tools. So, you could set it up so they can only spend money at certain stores, and you can also build in some investment learning tools.

Like I said, that first one is called Greenlight. You get to it by going to greenlight.com. They offer a debit card for each child, and it really allows you to track spending. You can work with your child to see where their money is going, and you can control that.

So that's the first one. Let's look at number two. This one is called GoHenry. Now, this one is priced at $4.99 a month per child. You can get to it by going to gohenry.com/us. Like many financial tools, this synchronizes with bank accounts and provides real-time updates on spending habits.

So, this isn't going to issue that debit card. You're going to have to connect this to, maybe, a checking account for the child or some kind of ATM card. The cool thing about this one is that it does have some customizable spending rules. You can automatically set it up for what they call weekly allowance automation.

You can set up money missions, where you actually sit down with your child and come up with this "mission for money," what we call financial education. It also does savings goals, which is something that—listen, if we can start teaching our kids the habit of saving early—we're going to be better off.

So, it's got some savings goals, what they call visual tracking, and it really is also suited for teen-focused investment options. They say on their website it's for ages 13 and up. It gives you some ideas for how to make those teen-focused investment options. What makes this one special—and I love the way they said this—is the gamification of financial education or education through missions. See, that's the thing.

A lot of these kids are into that gaming mode. So, this app—and again, it was called gohenry.com—gamifies these missions, and those missions become an educational opportunity to teach your teenager finance. Again, it doesn't have the debit card like the first one had, but it has a lot of cool features.

So, I would encourage you to check that one out. Now, the last one on my list today is called Current, and that is at current.com. It's $6 a month. It's similar to other online banking tools, and they offer features like spending trackers and alerts for exceeding spending limits. But here's a kind of cool thing: it does a thing called instant gas hold refunds.

There's no hidden fees, it rounds up savings, it has budgeting tools, and cash-back rewards. Now, what makes it special? It's perfect for older teens transitioning to adult banking. So, this is sort of that bridge between— you know, we had that Greenlight one that has the debit card and all the features.

This one is going to be more robust. Maybe this is for your 18-to-19-year-old, who maybe is a senior in high school, maybe moving into college. And so, you know, those instant gas holds—because a lot of people don't think about that—it's kind of a funny thing. But when you go to get fuel, they put that gas hold on your card.

Then you might only get maybe half a tank of gas or something like that, but you've got this hold. If you're living real tight on a budget, how much money you've got in your account—this thing, apparently, will refund that money right away. There's no hidden fees. It teaches you how to round up your savings.

So, if you're buying something, it'll round it up to the next dollar and put that into an account. It's got some great budgeting tools and some cash-back rewards. Now, listen. These apps are a great place to start. Again, let me give you those three: we talked about Greenlight—that was greenlight.com. Then, we had the next one, which was gohenry.com. Finally, we had current.com.

Now, like I said, these apps are a great place to start. But that's not the key to the whole thing. You can have your kid, you can show him the app, you can download the app, you can even pay for the monthly app with them every month. The key is implementation. So I want to take a few minutes and talk about this.

Because this is what Monica and I really found. This was the key. Once we found the app—now, she ended up picking Greenlight for her situation because her kids were a little younger, and she thought that'd be a good way to start teaching them some financial acumen or what I call financial education—but it's all about the implementation.

So, let me talk to you about what I recommend. Number one thing: you've got to set clear financial goals. Just like you have goals or you have a budget, you've got to have your child identify specific savings targets and use the app's goal-setting features. That's the whole key. It's great you're going to track their information.

It's great you're going to have that data, some controls. But if you don't have some specific targets, like those smart money management goals—specific, measurable, attainable results, and any timeframe—you want to have those goals set up. Maybe it's something like, you're saving money to get that iPhone AR, or maybe the child's going on a summer vacation and they need to save money for that.

But it's key to set up those financial goals from the start. The second thing I'm going to recommend here is what I call the regular money meetings. This is vitally important. You've got to schedule weekly reviews of spending patterns using the app's tracking features to guide discussion. That's the whole point of this.

Yes, you can generate the data. The apps are going to generate the data. But it's when you come alongside your child—or I mentioned grandchildren, sometimes grandparents are using these apps for their grandchildren—you come alongside them, that's your opportunity to work with them. Maybe you can share the struggles that you've had.

I know that's a great way to teach somebody. That experiential learning—they're going to learn on their own, but if you come alongside them and say, "Hey, I see that you spent more money on lattes this week," or "You spent money at..." I don't know what kids spend money on today, but I'm dating myself. You can come alongside them and say, "Let me look at your spending patterns." Then, you might get a little pushback, but the whole point is to give them some goals and then follow up.

Because as I say on the show all the time, what gets measured gets done. Another thing, number three—and I've said this many times over the last few weeks, it seems to be a recurring theme—is implement that 24-hour rule. This is something I think is great to teach young people. And what it basically means is this: for any non-essential purchase, require a 24-hour waiting period.

Now, maybe you set a dollar figure for that or something along those lines. But if it's not essential, it's something they do not have to have. You know, if they're somewhere and they need to get a bottle of water because they're getting dehydrated—well, obviously, that's essential. But for everything else—this works for you, it works for me, it works for everybody—it prevents that impulse buying.

And it teaches thoughtful spending, which is one of the main goals. I think one of the goals of teaching children and young people finance is to move away from that impulsive buying. Listen, I've been a victim of that. My kids were victims of that. I got to have it, I got to have it. I’ll talk about it later when I talk about my Christmas handout—it’s going to be that "gimme" generation.

But if we can start to develop this and implement this 24-hour rule, I think you're going to see a change in dynamics. Well, let's move on to number four. Here we go—Ralph's going to talk about budgets. Create category budgets. Start building that budget mentality in your children at a very young age. Help your child divide money into spending categories. Maybe use the old envelope system. Most apps will give you the ability to create those.

For example, you want to teach your kids—I remember when I was in high school. I'll give you a great example of this. I went to a private Catholic high school, and we always bought our lunches every day. My mom or dad would give me money on Monday, and I had to make that money last to the end of the week.

Now, that was a struggle for me sometimes. I'm a big dude, and I like to overeat. But if they had worked with me about saying, "Okay, here's your budget. You've got to get through five days, and the average lunch is $3," pick a number. Then, I’d know I've got to allocate that, so I could create those spending categories.

Now, if I wanted to go to the dance on Friday or something like that, or I was going to the mall with my friends or the skating rink, then maybe I needed to allocate some of those resources so that I wouldn't run out. That's a great way to start teaching that, because those are the lessons they're going to need when they go out on their own.

When they leave the nest, they're going to need to understand that whole budget context, or maybe what we call the intentional spending thing. And number five on my list is practice value assessment. Again, this is so critical. Like the person that wanted that thousand-dollar iPhone—before making purchases, teach your kids to evaluate whether the item aligns with their financial goals and values.

This is where we can start bringing in that Christian stewardship to the discussion. You can sit with them, and with every transaction, say, "Did this item align with your financial goals and values?"

If it was something frivolous, then you can say to them, Hey, did you know? I'll give you a great example. Like, I've had some clients in, and I'll say, Oh, yeah. My teenage kids are ordering DoorDash. And I look at them like, Are you serious? And they're like, Oh yeah. We're... you know, they get an allowance or they're working a part-time job, and DoorDash has come into the house. And I go, Wow, like, how is it that teenagers are getting DoorDash?
And this is an opportunity to come alongside them again and say, Hey, we've got food in the house. If there's something you're lacking, you know, put it on the grocery list. That gives them that ability to make those decisions because I guarantee this: that cup of coffee—our kids drink coffee—but the cup of coffee, or whatever they're ordering from donuts or whatever it is through DoorDash... I don't care what you're ordering; it is going to be more expensive than either making it at home or having it right there at home. So that's this great opportunity to do what I call that value assessment. Now, I talked to you about Monica, and I talked to you about her daughter, Emma. So let me share how this all plays out.

So I said, Monica, pick that Greenlight app. And here's the coolest thing: what she told me the next time we came around. She came in for some mid-year tax planning, and she said, Ralph, I've seen a remarkable transformation. She held the line, and she said to Emma, Look, I'm not buying you that iPhone. I will help you with the iPhone, but you're going to save the money, and you're going to buy it yourself.

So she set that saving goal. She helped her with the app. And one of the interesting things about this—and you're going to love this—is Emma learned how to comparison shop. I remember Monica saying, Yeah, we went to the Apple store. And Monica had her mindset. She had saved up enough money that she was going to buy that latest iPhone. And they got to the Apple store. She's looking at all the different models, and she looks over to her right. And the older model was there. She said to the salesperson, Yeah, that’s last year's model. You still have that available? He goes, Oh yeah, we have these in. They're still new. And she said, Well, why would somebody buy that? And he said, Well, because it's half the price of the newer model. And she said, Oh, really? Well, now all of a sudden, that decision point for Emma had changed because she was spending her own money.

And I see that's the transformational piece to this. I remember with my kids, if they were spending their own money, boy, they made a different decision than if it was just, Hey, Mom or Dad, can I have the money to do this? And what Emma ended up doing—and I thought this was transformational—her mom started to tell her, Emma, look, there's... or excuse me.
She said, Yeah, Emma, there's going to be a time when you're going to be in college, and there are going to be things you're going to want to do. Your dad and I can't afford to pay for college, pay for the housing, and the meal plan, and give you a bunch of allowance money. So for the next couple of years, what you might want to do is start banking some money for college. You're going to work during the summers. Maybe you're going to work in the evening some.

So what she told me—I thought this was fantastic—she said, Ralph, Emma is actually saving money for college. So think about this. The transformation was huge. Emma saved for that iPhone. She spent her own money. She had to take time. She had to plan that out. She had a plan to do it. And then when she got to the sales point, she actually comparison-shopped and decided to buy a more reasonably priced model. So think about it. This was a home run for Monica and a home run for Emma because she was learning how to budget. She was learning how to manage her money and all those important financial things while she was still young.
Because remember this: the goal isn't just to save money. Emma learned that she did. She figured out how to save money. If she doesn’t spend it, she can save it. But the goal isn't just to save money—it’s to raise financially confident children. That's the key. And we’ve got to have kids that understand both the practical and the spiritual aspects of stewardship.

Now, I'm going to share some action items that you can take with your children or grandchildren in a few moments. But first, let me ask you this: it's Christmas time. Are you losing sleep wondering how you'll afford everything on your holiday list this year? I listen. I hear about this. I get these Facebook comments. I get these questions. People are like, Ralph, what do I do? This is going to bust my budget.
And a lot of times they say, Ralph, I am sick and tired of starting every new year. I got these credit card bills. It's like a mountain of holiday debt. You know, in the Northeast, we start to get snow. They said, I'm digging out from the snowstorm, and I'm digging out from this Christmas debt.
And the interesting thing is we all want to create those magical memories. But the thing is, we don’t want to go into debt. We don’t want to develop that financial stress. And so often, those two things just go hand in hand. So what did I do? I wrote a guide, and I want you to discover peace of mind with my free Surviving the Holidays Without Going Broke guide. That's what it's called: Surviving the Holidays Without Going Broke.

And in that guide, you're going to learn some basic things. The first thing I'm going to tell you is a proven budget system that actually works. I'm going to tell you how to budget for the holidays so that you're not in that debt hole. Second thing: I'm going to tell you about smart shopping strategies that can help you slash your costs.

Everybody's looking for those deals. I'm going to tell you about the key to creating magical memories without maxing out those credit cards. There are ways to do it, and there are ways to make it so that they are truly memories and not just something you buy.
It's a great part of this. Today, we talked about this as I'm going to teach you some tools that you can use with your kids to teach them gratitude and help them break that gimme more world mentality. And finally, I round out the guide with how to keep faith and family at the center of your celebration.

And that's really the whole purpose. So as I always say when I talk about this, Don't let January's credit card bill steal your holiday joy. If you don't plan, it will. Download your free guide—it's real simple to get it. You go to askralphpodcast.com/christmas, and I'm going to encourage you to do that and make this your most meaningful—and, dare I say, affordable—holiday season yet.

Listen. Your stress-free holiday season starts here. It's not too late to get this guide. You go to askralphpodcast.com/christmas. One more time, that's askralphpodcast.com/christmas. Now, before I broke into telling you about the Christmas thing, I'd promised you I'd give you some action items. So here they are, and I'll give you five action items.

Number one: choose one app based on your child's age and your family's needs. You're not going to do multiple apps here. Pick one. You don't have to pick one of the ones I talked about today—I think those are good apps—but there are others out there. Choose one, and look at it based on your child's age and your family's needs because all of them are going to be different. And here's what I recommend. Number two: start with a small allowance to test the features. Now, I'm not saying to just give your kids money—that will be a whole other discussion for another show—but maybe you give them some chores to do around the house, and you start by funding this with that small allowance.

Number three: and a lot of people forget about this when they do the allowance part—they set up the app, but set up some automated savings goals. And you might be saying, Ralph, it's a kid; they’re not getting much money. You're right. We've got to learn scarcity. We've got to learn to create that habit of saving. So set up that automated savings goal. Even if it's just a dollar a week—maybe you're giving them a $20-a-week allowance—and you say to them, Look, you need to put a dollar in savings every week. Another thing I really like about these—and I'll put this as number four on my list—use the app's parental controls initially. Initially, start with that. But if you really want them to learn, you've got to gradually release control.

Yeah, they're never going to learn if you always have the control. What you're going to create is this person—this young child—who's going to always be looking to Mom or Dad for help. You don't want to create that continual need for control. You want to start to release the control and let them make mistakes. Let them hit walls. Let them make big-time budget mistakes. Listen, we're dealing with a small amount of money. They don't have their own mortgage. They don't have car payments to make. So let them have responsibility. You know, help them at first—have those parental controls—but let them grow some responsibility, and then let them do that as they demonstrate it.

And then last but not least, number five—I talked about this a few minutes ago—schedule those weekly money talks using the app's data as discussion points. It's great to implement the app. It's great to set up the savings and do the parental controls, but it's that come alongside, put your arm around your child, and sit down and have that money talk.

Listen. You can share the things that you've learned, and you might even learn something from your kids. My oldest son—he's a saver—and I learned a lot from him. He examines every single purchase. He's much like his mother in that regard. Now, I'm one of those impulsive people. So when I talk to my son—my oldest son—I learn from him, and you could do the same thing with your kids. So I know I covered a lot today.

Now, tomorrow, we're going to be talking about an equally important topic, and this one will rock you to the core. I'm calling this one What Are the Nine Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes? I'm not an attorney, so I'm not going to give you legal advice tomorrow. But I'm going to point out things that I've seen in the last 30 years of my practice that have really created huge problems in the estate planning area. You know, somebody needs to understand estate planning.

And listen, it could be people of all ages because you never know when your time comes up, you know—punch the card, it’s time to check out. I'm going to talk about that tomorrow. I'll talk about some people who didn’t have their estate in order, and they died young. Terrible stories, but they're the reality.

So you don't want to miss this crucial information about protecting your family's future. Remember this: my passion every day is to help you achieve financial success. My goal is to see you live out your dreams and grow in your faith. Today's show was all about helping that next generation. We each have a responsibility to teach our kids and our grandkids financial stewardship. And that's the whole point of today's show. And I know, together—working together with your kids and working with me—we can master your finances and your kids’ and grandkids’ finances from that Christian perspective. So, as always, I end the show: stay financially savvy, and God bless. And as always, check out all of my information at askralph.com. Again, that's askralph.com.

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00:26:02

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