goHenry is pre-paid Visa card that helps teach children to manage money responsibly.
In these tough times where we all have to tighten our belts and manage our money better what a great time to start teaching our youngsters how to manage money responsibly. Once children get to 7 or 8 years old some parents give them their own pocket money or maybe get them to earn pocket money to do chores around the home. While everybody these days using the debit or credit cards children still use cash but what if they could have their own plastic cards where they could be taught to manage them properly and save them carrying around cash, which kids being kids while probably lose while running around. While looking around to see if there was such a thing I came across goHenry – the smart approach to pocket money.
goHenry is an online account for children aged 8 to 18 years old where they get their own pre-paid Visa card but with a big difference – you can set the rules and spending limits. And because it’s pre-paid they can only spend money that is on the card! This will help teach children to manage their money and accounts. Their pocket money can be transferred to this card and you set their weekly spending amounts – so for instance, let’s say you give your 8 year old £10 pocket money per month, you can set it so that they can only spend £2.50 per week rather than them spending it all at once. This teaches them how to make their allowance (or wages when they are old enough to work) last the whole month rather than blowing it all straight away. You can even set where they can use the cards, in shops, online or cash machines.
You can even set the card up so that they can earn extra money by doing tasks at home, for instance you could set up tasks like washing the dishes would earn them 50p on their card. Maybe you don’t believe in rewarding children for doing everyday household tasks but would rather reward them for washing the car… you can create a list of things that they will get extra money for and then they learn the value of working for their money. Maybe if they have a paper round their wages could be paid on to it and setting spending limits so that they are forced to save some of it.
The goHenry card is a great way of teaching the value of money and managing it responsibly, whether spending or saving, and allow parents to keep an eye on accounts so you know how much they have left to spend. If they don’t spend all their weekly allowance this stays on the balance but they can still only spend the weekly limits you set so building up a savings balance.
The goHenry pre-paid Visa card costs £1.97 per month for each child to run and as its pre-paid there is no chance of running up a debt or going overdrawn and their card can be blocked or unblocked easily by parent or child. Cash withdrawals using the card are free, there are no joining fees and the card can be used anywhere that accepts Visa (there are fees if used abroad, for full details see www.gohenry.co.uk).
I personally think that this is a great way to teach children the value of money and responsible spending and saving and giving them the chance to earn their own money as well. Learning to manage money responsibly at a young age will better prepare children for adulthood.
For more information or get a free three month trial visit www.goHenry.co.uk.
Disclaimer: I was not paid to write about goHenry and there are other companies that offer similar products available.