Giving your kids an allowance can be an effective way to teach them about financial responsibility and money management. Providing allowance in exchange for doing chores around the house or yard can help children to see the relationship between hard work and earning money. This is a lesson that is best learned early on in life.
Additionally, when you give your kids a consistent allowance, it can prevent them from continuously asking you for money (hopefully!) If they complete their chores each week then they know how much pocket money they can count on and can begin to budget accordingly (at least this is the desired effect!)
Why use a kids’ allowances app for managing their allowance and chores?
We are living in the digital era and, while many of us didn’t experience a childhood with the internet, streaming services, and apps, this is our kids’ reality. This is why an allowance and chore app can be an effective tool for helping parents and children set up an effective allowance system and manage their weekly chores.
Allowance apps can be used to help parents remember when they are due to distribute allowance, track allowance earnings, and can even act as a resource for improving financial literacy.
Top free allowance apps to help kids learn the basics of money
If you’re using an allowance app for the first time, you may want to trail a few different apps to see which one is the right fit for you and your family. There are many free money apps you can try out before you make a decision. An app is a medium your kids are probably used to using, whether on a mobile device or the family’s desktop computer.
RoosterMoney
The RoosterMoney app is best suited for children aged 4 to 17 years however, it’s designed so the entire family can get involved. For young kids, RoosterMoney offers a star chart that is used to introduce the concept of a reward system before you start giving an actual allowance. The idea is to start forming positive money habits and associations as early as possible.
On the app, parents can customize the amount of allowance they want to give as well as an allowance schedule. Children can use the app to organize their money into different “pots” based on different saving and giving goals. RoosterMoney is also a financial literacy app with tons of resources available for the entire family. The entry-level app is free however, you can also pay $2.99 per month for upgraded features.
Homey
The Homey app is meant to help children and parents manage chores and allowance. You can set up specific responsibilities and paid jobs that you want your kids to achieve. Then, you can assign specific rewards, allowance, or privileges when a chore is achieved. Your kids can use the app to track their progress and can assign their money to different savings goals. The Basic Homey app which includes chore, allowance, and rewards management is available for free. If you want to pay for the premium account, it will cost you $4.99/month or $49.99 annually.
OurHome
OurHome is another free kids allowance app designed to help you and your family manage your money. The goal of the app is to motivate children to help around the home by gamifying chores and tasks. Children earn points when they complete a chore or a task that is on their list. Parents can use the app to assign and schedule tasks and chores, view personal progress and activities, enter events into a family calendar, and even add items to a shared grocery list.
Top paid allowance apps to help kids learn the basics of money
You might be wondering why you would want to pay for a kids allowance app when there are free ones available. Well, the choice is yours. However, some of the paid chore apps offer premium features that you might deem to be worth the monthly or yearly fee.
Greenlight
Greenlight is a family-based allowance app. There is no recommended minimum or maximum age, it’s available to everyone. In addition to the app, Greenlight also offers a debit card for kids. Parents can set certain controls, and you will also receive notifications every time your kid spends money. This is a good way to give your child some financial freedom with some built-in support. You can use the app to create a chore list, automate your kids’ allowance, and send money to your kids, anytime, anywhere.
As an increased safety measure, certain transactions can not be made using the Greenlight debit card (such as spending money at a casino or on an online gambling site). For $4.99/month, you can access all of Greenlights “core tools.” For $7.98/month, you can add on an investing platform that is designed just for kids. Finally, for $9.98 /month, you can also include features like identity theft and phone and purchase protection.
FamZoo
FamZoo offers a prepaid card and a family finance app that offers a ton of allowance-based features like allowance and chore splitting, chore penalty options, first dibs chore charts, automated allowances, parent-paid interest, and more. In addition to all of the allowance features, FamZoo is dedicated to improving the financial literacy of our youth. Subscriptions are for the entire family and start at $5.99/month. You can also save money by signing up for a six, 12, or 24-month subscription.
GoHenry
GoHenry offers a kids debit card and app and is focused on teaching kids the money skills they need. While the debit card is specifically designed for kids (age 6 to 18), there are a ton of useful features for parents too. For instance, you can use the allowance manager to set up regular allowance transfers and make instance one-off payments to your child. You can try GoHenry out for 20-days before deciding if you want to commit and then you will pay $3.99/month.
How to start using a kids’ allowance app
To sign up for a kids’ allowance app, simply head to the Apple App Store or the Google Play store and search for the chore app you want to try. Before you start using the app, it can help to have a list of the household chores you want to assign to each child, how much money you want to assign to each task, and how often.
It can also be a good idea to sit down with your kids and talk to them about why you want to use an allowance app. At the same time, you can use this as an opportunity to discuss the concepts of earning, budgeting, spending, and also how to set savings goals. To ensure your kids are engaged, you can ask them to help you research the different money apps available and get their opinion on which one they think they would most enjoy using.