We know that most children have a difficult time saving money. It burns a hole in their pocket whenever they get their hands on it and they MUST spend it on something. At least, that is how it happens with most of our kids. So getting them to save their money poses a difficult challenge for them.
Enter the Goalsetter app!
Financial Literacy In Children
Teaching financial literacy to our children is high on our list of priorities to teach them. This is because we want them to be smarter and savvier with money than we were growing up. As older, wiser versions of ourselves, we understand exactly what our youthful mistakes have cost us now. At least, from a monetary perspective.
But our children don’t understand that yet. They can’t because they haven’t lived long enough to understand the consequences of their actions. This is where we come in to guide them as best we can, and open their eyes to financial literacy.
I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time listening to my parents when I was younger. This was the case with most things, but especially when it came to money. However, one of my parents spoke my “language” better than the other. So I was more likely to understand and listen to my father’s advice because he spoke in a way that made sense to me.
As parents, we have to be teachers to our children. This means figuring out what their language is in order to get them to fully comprehend what financial literacy really means. The Goalsetter app is a great tool to have in our parental arsenal, because it speaks many of our children’s languages.
Related: How To Open A Roth IRA For Kids And Teach Your Kids About FI
What Exactly Is Goalsetter?
Goalsetter is an app that works to teach kids about saving money, and allows adults in their lives to gift them money towards their savings goals. it can be downloaded directly onto any Apple or Android device. Both the child and the parent will have to install the app.
The owner of Goalsetter saw that we were creating a generation of mini-consumerists by the massive amount of gift-giving we do on birthdays and holidays. She wanted to change that gift-giving behavior into goal-giving to help teach her children, and other children, about financial literacy.
I love this message because I feel the same way about our children. The amount of gifts they receive for their birthdays and holidays is simply ridiculous! All it teaches them is that they should get whatever they want just because it is a special day. This isn’t a message that translates well to adulthood.
Another great thing Goalsetter does is donate 5% of all transaction fees back to specific partner charities around the world. This is a lesson about giving is a fantastic addition to all the other lessons they already teach.
Besides teaching kids about giving and working to reduce gift giving, here’s a quick rundown of Goalsetter’s features:
- Children get to save money for specific goals
- Kids can save money for the future with no goal specified
- Parents can help children save through the auto-save feature
- Parents can use the round-up feature
- Friends and family can give GoalCards instead of gift cards to help them reach their goal
- Parents can pay kids for chores as a set amount monthly, weekly, or by the chore
- Children can take quizzes about financial literacy topics and earn money from parents
These all sound like much better options than another gift card to purchase more unnecessary things that will end up on the ground or in the trash.
Goalsetter Pros
We just started using this app and, so far, there are more pros than cons. It was easy to set up, which is helpful for busy parents like us. Since we don’t have a lot of free time, if something is quick and easy, I’m more apt to do it.
The app was also easy to connect between parents and children.
They make it simple to send out a Goalsetter link to friends and family for the things our children want. So instead of gift cards for their upcoming birthdays, we are requesting GoalCards towards their goals.
I really love the allowance option, which lets them earn money by the chore. We have some children who can be pretty lazy but still want everything under the sun. The allowance option helps them learn that they simply can’t have what they want whenever they want it; they will have to work for it.
The other big bonus of this app is the “learn and earn” section. This is the area where your children can take quizzes about topics of interest, but usually, there is a financial aspect to them. You, as the parent, can decide how much they get for passing the quizzes, and that money will go into their Goalsetter savings account.
I really love this idea because my kids get tired of hearing me talk to them about financial literacy. So it is great for them to get information from other sources that may help them retain the information better than just listening to their dear old Mom.
Listen: The 5 Most Important Financial Conversations To Have With Your Child
Goalsetter Cons
There are certainly more pros than cons to this app. But one of the cons I noticed is that it only has the capacity to link one parental account for round-ups. A lot of us have multiple accounts, so it would be beneficial to see this expand in the future. That way we could give our children more savings power through round-ups.
The only other con I have come across is the limited amount of banks you have to choose from. So if you use a smaller local bank, you may not be able to play this game with your children yet. I am hoping that they plan to expand the available banking institutions.
Here is a current list of the banks they do partner with:
- Ally Bank
- BB&T Bank
- BankFund Staff Federal Credit Union
- Bank of America
- Bank of the West
- Capital One
- Capital One 360
- Chase
- Chime Bank
- Citibank
- Citizens Bank
- Fidelity
- Fifth Third Bank
- First Tennessee
- HSBC Bank
- M&T Bank
- NC State Employees Credit Union
- Navy Federal Credit Union
- PNC Bank
- Regions
- Santander Bank
- Charles Schwab
- SunTrust Bank
- Silicon Valley Bank
- TD Bank
- TD Bank BusinessDirect
- Union Bank
- US Bank
- USAA
- Wells Fargo
Goalsetter Roundup
Overall, I feel that this app is a great additional teaching tool for our children. It is easy to use and engaging for children. Not only that, but it helps makes saving money a game. Which is good, in my opinion, because if they see it as a game, they are more willing to play.
As a parent, I want my kids to win with money and be financially literate. This way, they will have the financial freedom to live the lives they want to without money holding them back.
The Goalsetter app is a great start to this journey and one that I am happy to join them on.
Have you tried the Goalsetter app yet with your children? What has been your experience with it?
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