Cash or Debit card
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Our oldest seems like he's ready to start managing an allowance. Would you all go cash or visa debit card (lots of kid oriented product these days).
He's 7 and good with math and is able to log into a kids account on a PC and see his balance. So I don't think using and understanding a bank account will be an issue.
But - is there something foundational about learning with cash?
I'd lean cash, but a lot of the doodads kids buy these days aren't even available without a card.
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“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@Mik said in Cash or Debit card:
The thing I would like about a debit card is it encourages saving.
You clearly haven't met my family.
I'd go cash. I think having a concrete way of seeing the money is helpful in understanding its value. It's not like he won't have a card later.
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We started with cash but almost always he would end up wanting something online that we’d buy and he’d reimburse us.
When he turned 13 he was eligible for a Chase high school checking account so now he uses a debit card.
If you can find a debit card solution for a seven year old I’d go for it.
My son just turned 15 so this wasn’t that long ago.
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@xenon said in Cash or Debit card:
Our oldest seems like he's ready to start managing an allowance. Would you all go cash or visa debit card (lots of kid oriented product these days).
He's 7 and good with math and is able to log into a kids account on a PC and see his balance. So I don't think using and understanding a bank account will be an issue.
But - is there something foundational about learning with cash?
I'd lean cash, but a lot of the doodads kids buy these days aren't even available without a card.
Cash or card. But make him work for it. Doesn't have to be digging ditches, just a regular chore or two he is responsible for.
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By the way I think an allowance is a good thing. As Jeffrey, a former poster here put it, without an allowance their only means of acquiring things is by begging mom and dad.
We started at about age 6 or 7. The rule was a dollar a week per year of age. When he got to high school we made it a straight 20 a week. High school kids here can leave school for lunch, so a lot of that goes to pizza slices.
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Cash
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You want him to physically see the money leave. If he wants to buy something that is in an online game or some such, have him pay you from his cash to put it on your card. Have him physically pay it.
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Get them working early. They'll thank you for it later
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@LuFins-Dad said in Cash or Debit card:
You want him to physically see the money leave. If he wants to buy something that is in an online game or some such, have him pay you from his cash to put it on your card. Have him physically pay it.
Agree with this. Kind of like the "envelope" method of budgeting.
