Make Money in Minutes

THANK YOU… THANK YOU… THANK YOU!

As a parent, financial education program facilitator and supporter, I appreciate all that you and Money Savvy Generation do to help our children understand the world of money and finance.

I also have concerns about companies that market products disguised as financial education products and/or programs. Last year I noted that one of the large credit card companies started touting a debit card for youth that parents can pre-load for a monthly fee. I passed the info along to the Frugal Dad blog where he posted about the card. While we need to teach our kids to be money savvy, I don’t agree that paying a monthly fee for a debit card is the right message to send. My 15 year old has had a FREE debit card through our credit union for almost 4 years now.

Where the Frugal Dad and I differ on “plastic” is that I am in total agreement with you that we MUST teach kids how to use credit wisely. Like it or not, our society is becoming more and more cashless and almost all electronic transaction. Having a credit card is important because:

1. It helps develop a credit history for your credit score which is necessary for larger loans - mortgages, rental properties, business start-up, etc.
2. Try booking a plane or hotel without a credit card to secure it.
3. It’s safer for travel and offers benefits such as insurance, etc.
4. Emergency situations where cash isn’t readily available.
…and many more advantages that are for another time/post.

So, it just makes sense to teach kids about credit as they grow and I think the tween years are the perfect starting point. Otherwise it becomes the “forbidden apple” that they just can’t wait to take a bite out of. If they are allowed to use credit under the watchful eye of a parent, they can learn and make mistakes that will positively impact their financial futures as opposed to making those same mistakes as adults where the result can have HUGE negative affects on their financial “report card”. They NEED practical, real-life experience to increase their financial IQ’s (and making mistakes is part of the learning process).

A question for Susan: With the new credit card legislation, will it be more difficult for parents to put their child’s name on their account?

Again, thank you,

Stacey

I’ve looked at your partner websites. Their target demographic goes below the age of 13. FooPets co-founder Scott Sorochak indicates in a NYTimes story dated 2-7-2010 that FooPets “…core demographic is 12-14 year-old girls”. FooPets privacy policy states the following: “If you are under the age of 13, please have your parent or guardian register and assign you a FooPet, then together share the daily experience of pet ownership.”

As for Kwedit not being a form of credit, in my opinion, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. But a dangerous duck because it does not teach the financially unsophisticated any real world consequences. And the fact that Kwedit is trying to pass off some of what it is doing as a form of financial education is a slap in the face to those of us who truly work in the financial literacy arena.

As a parent, I really appreciate your helpful advice about teaching our children about the responsible use of money; thank you.
I work with Kwedit and have a couple of comments about your post:

- Kwedit is only available through websites with whom we partner, and we don’t partner with companies whose audience is younger than 13.
- Kwedit is not credit. We do not provide credit, lend money, underwrite loans, charge interest, impose late fees, levy account maintenance fees, or do any of the other things that make credit cards expensive and problematic for so many people. Instead, we facilitate payments for people who want to make on-line payments with cash.

Thank you,
Loree