Finance Apps for Children Every Parent Would Enjoy
Educate your kids to be responsible with personal finances, manage allowance and reward chores
Head of Fintech Research
Published: 22.12.22
Updated: 08.03.24
Published: 22.12.22
Updated: 08.03.24
Why do kids need to learn about money?
Don't you think it would be helpful if kids learned about finance from an early age? That would be great, of course! In today's world, most of us and our kids always have some type of gadget in their hands. So why not make them useful and educational at the same time?
Research shows that we’ve formed many of our basic money habits by the age of 7 (originally published by Money Advice Service in 2013). Meaning, it really is essential for parents to ensure their children have a full understanding (and "hands-on experience"!) of personal finance, budgeting, saving and such by that age. Fortunately, the issue is important enough it prompted many of the respectable financial institutions (like NatWest) and a lot of innovative high-tech start-ups to come up with solutions. As such, our team of experts performed an investigation and we're presenting our take on the best apps and services to teach your kids about money in this article.
The trick is to find balance between the kids' desire for financial freedom and parents' need to maintain control, and explain your rationale in a way your children understand.
Financial apps can be extremely helpful to parents who want their children to be organized from an early age or who want to help manage their little one's finances. This topic is now increasingly important as more and more transactions happen digitally and the number of dishonest practices used by scammers preying on kids with unrestricted access to their parents' cards or wallets is growing exponentially. You definitely don't want to see a bank account statement with ridiculous bills for Candy Crush coins your kid bought the other day! In this content piece, our team of digital finance experts aims to highlight some of the best finance apps for kids every parent would enjoy.
After you've finished this article, you will learn about numerous helpful and truly fun ways to instill the sense of responsibility when dealing with money into your children and discover a few options on how to have a non-invasive overview into their spending habits.
Best Apps To Teach Kids Personal Finance
These apps will help you start a healthy chat about financial matters with your youngest family members. They'll inspire and motivate your kids to develop wise spending, saving, and sharing habits. Having emergency funds is also a great way to safeguard your kids against unexpected trouble. Without further ado, here are our experts' picks.
#1 - Rooster Money
Ages: 3 to 17
Rooster Money
Rooster Money is an allowance and chore tracking app designed to help parents teach children about financial responsibility. With the app, parents can set up allowance payments, assign chores, and track their children's spending and saving habits. Children can use the app to view their allowance balance, request money, and track their spending and saving goals. The app also includes educational resources and tools to help children learn about budgeting, saving, and money management. Rooster Money is available on both iOS and Android devices.
Undisclosed
United Kingdom
Available in: Worldwide
Year founded: 2015
- Convenience & User-friendliness
- Customer Support
- Features Available
- Value for Money
- Overall Rating
Rooster Money is an extremely popular finance app for kids any parent would enjoy. You may design and manage reward charts full of stars you compliment good behaviour with, establish financial objectives, schedule and send allowance, and visually track spending using the Rooster Money app. You may divide your money into four categories: Spend, Save, Gift, and Objectives. Additionally, add a Rooster Card if you want your account to have extra banking capabilities.
A paid Rooster Plus subscription is required to use the task management system and other premium features, although families can use the virtual money tracker and other helpful functions at no cost whatsoever. It's safe to say this is a perfect example of monetization - you don't feel like you're restricted in functionality when on a free version, but the additional features sound enticing enough for sure!
#2 - GoHenry
Ages: 6 to 18
GoHenry
GoHenry is a financial app that exploded in popularity over the last year. It offers a prepaid Visa debit card tied to a convenient app for children aged 6 to 18. It works by giving kids a bank-like app and providing parents with a "companion app" where they can track their offsprings' progress, spending habits and get real-time notifications. Kids enjoy "banking like adult", while parents Setting up allowance limits, viewing child's transaction history all while knowing they have an emergency fund to access just in case - it's all possible with GoHenry. This app will give parents a much-needed peace of mind, and is fun enough for your kids to get excited about such a fundamental topic.
Undisclosed
United Kingdom
Available in: United Kingdom
Year founded: 2012
- Convenience & User-friendliness
- Customer Support
- Features Available
- Value for Money
- Overall Rating
GoHenry is yet another amazing personal finance app for minors any parent would enjoy. The good thing about this app is that it accepts debit cards so you can actually manage money in real-time. This finance app is available on Google Play as well as App Store and the subscription costs £4.99 per month.
Parents sign up for GoHenry account (it takes less than 5 minutes!), which is then linked to each child's accounts. Children registered with GoHenry receive their own prepaid debit card parents can control through the app. Parents can create tasks, set spending limits, receive notifications for purchases made all in one app. It's very straightforward and we want to commend this UK-based company for making a complex topic so trivial.
#3 - Revolut Under 18
Ages: 6 to 17
Revolut
Europe's biggest neobank, Revolut is a pioneer of mobile-first banking. Offering a wide range of financial services and banking products, including (but not limited to!) trading stocks and crypto, Revolut is a safe option regardless of customer's country of residence.
28'000'000+
London, UK
General Information
- Deposit ProtectionUp to £85'000
- Customer SupportChat, email
- Currencies30+ currencies
Bank Accounts
- Individuals Free plan available
- Businesses Free plan available
- Joint
- Convenience & User-friendliness
- Customer Support
- Features Available
- Value for Money
- Overall Rating
The purpose of Revolut Under 18 account and card is to educate kids aged 6 to 17 about money management, saving, and other financial topics. And it's very easy to accomplish: just sign up for Revolut yourself, navigate the app to set up a Revolut <18 account for your teen, and order a personalized prepaid card for them. That's it!
Kids can start using their Revolut <18 app as soon as their parents approve the account opening deposit money into their account. Junior app allows children to check their balance and transaction history. They can also set up alarms to notify them when their accounts are running low on money. All of it is accessible to parents, who can also restrict specific features like digital purchases and modify how much allowance they will deposit to their kid's account.
Worth noting: Revolut is one of the world's biggest digital-first banks available in dozens of countries all over the world. Make sure to read ourreview of Revolut bank accounts for individuals,guide to sharing a Revolut Joint account and ourin-depth assessment of business banking with Revolut.
#4 - Homey
All ages
Homey
Homey is an app that allows you to define responsibilities and set up rewarded jobs for everyone in the family, as well as manage each person's privileges, compensation levels and recurring allowance. Managing children's finance has never been easier - all you need to do is create tasks (which can also be scheduled to pop up daily, weekly or monthly), assign rewards and check everybody's progress! Teach kids real life financial skills in a fun and educational way.
Undisclosed
USA
Available in: Worldwide
Year founded: 2016
- Convenience & User-friendliness
- Customer Support
- Features Available
- Value for Money
- Overall Rating
Homey is a chore-management app that aims to teach kids and teenagers the distinction between duties and work. Parents can use the app to move money between their bank accounts. you can have access to the Homey app on Google Play or App Store and choose the subscription accordingly.
Families have free access to Basic Homey features, including managing chores, allowance, and incentives for up to three family member accounts. You must purchase a Homey Unlimited account to access all of the app's features.
With Homey's "Basic" free account, you can assign daily, weekly, and monthly duties to family members, manage allowance and other monies, transfer payments, set up "jars" for saving objectives, and add to or take money out of wallets. Homey Unlimited, the paid "Premium" version that costs $4,99 a month provides for an infinite number of family members and various savings accounts for each child.
#5 - iAllowance
Ages: 5 to 17
With iAllowance, you can easily manage the allowance you give your kids. Currently, the app is only available for iOS users and costs €2.99. You can assign chores and deposit money into your children's accounts when they accomplish them.
The app lets kids track their own budget and allowance amounts earned for completing chores and other tasks. Additionally, they can make changes to their bank account and keep track of their savings and spending. In the long run, iAllowance will help your kids become more responsible by helping them manage their money themselves.
An interesting feature of this app is that if you don't want to use real money, you can use stars or even a time bank (say, TV time?) instead. You can also mix and match these to make iAllowance work best for you. Moreover, you can easily set an (obviously optional) interest rate to each of the "pots" to emphasize the benefits of compounding return on children's patience. Great way to nudge youngsters into realizing the importance of long-term thinking!
#6 - FamZoo
All ages
FamZoo
Prepaid Mastercard you could give your children and a family finance app that suits both young kids and teens, aiming to give parents a full overview of family finance and their kids' spending habits. IOU account options, automated allowance and savings goals that are easy to set up - FamZoo wants your kids to learn financial health at an early age. FamZoo can be accessed from any browser on any device and has convenient iOS and Android apps that support real-time notifications and easy-to-access customer support.
Undisclosed
USA
Available in: USA
Year founded: 2006
- Convenience & User-friendliness
- Customer Support
- Features Available
- Value for Money
- Overall Rating
FamZoo can be your go-to virtual family bank and a wonderful finance app for kids every parent would enjoy. Using this app parents can assess their children's finances when they earn or spend money. Additionally, the app allows you to choose to receive or send money in real-time.
The software has an easy-to-use interface for parents to view accounts and make checklists for chores and other things. You can specify dollar amounts for each work, and FamZoo will transfer the money as the tasks are finished and crossed off the list. More complex elements, like college-level finances for students, loans and much more can be added when your kids get older.
Top 5 Tips When Teaching Kids About Money
It's never too early - but you also can't expect a kid to have the same perspective as you do. It's important to realize the motivation children have and the reasons they do things so you can make sure good behaviour is encouraged and rewarded. When dealing with money and kids, remember these tips:
- Educate your children on where your money comes from.
- No matter the allowance they get, help them plan and create a budget for themselves.
- Introduce the idea of set allowance for kids to feel financially independent and responsible for their decisions.
- Always highlight the importance of setting goals and monitoring progress towards these.
- Take your time to listen to what your little ones have to say and advise them wisely without looking down on them.
FAQ: Teaching Children Financial Literacy
How can digital finance apps help educate kids about money?
The positive effect of correctly introducing your kids to monetary matters has multiple aspects to it. First of all, it helps kids understand the long-term impact of their decisions. Using a special app helps children keep track of their goals and highlight the importance of staying on track despite the temptations. It will also evoke a sense of responsibility in them and assist them in realizing the importance of good financial habits.
How do I introduce allowance to my kids?
Firstly, you need to sit them down and have a conversation, highlighting how important it is that they learn what being responsible is. Secondly, the key to success is persistence and rules that you mutually agreed to beforehand. You need to ensure your kids understand the rules and the fact that they're aware they can now make their own decisions and the consequences of these. Lastly, it is up to you whether you want to tie the allowance to a certain set of chores or educational goals you want them to achieve. Ultimately, just be open to listening, stay consistent and be fair!
Money & Kids: Bottom Line
Educating your youngsters about complex concepts is always a tough task. Luckily, parents today have a full arsenal of various apps and systems to assist them. There is no reason to be avoiding these extremely useful allowance management digital finance apps. They are invaluable in helping kids form healthy habits when dealing with finance at a very young age, while giving parents a peace of mind and a non-invasive form of control.
The apps we listed in this article will also help you arrange the never-ending list of house chores and maintain your finances at the same time. These finance apps for kids every parent would enjoy mentioned here would resolve all your dilemmas regarding sorting out your budget. Best of luck!
