Today we are going to take a look at the Greenlight Debit Card app and how it can be used to help teach kids financial independence.
Teachers don’t often get the credit they deserve for the challenging task of educating our youth.
School curriculums, however, in many cases, do not include instruction on personal finance, money management and investing.
We believe children at a very young age should be introduced to saving money and wise spending.
In their teen years, investing should be taught, and that should include the stock market.
So as parents, we need to teach our children how to handle money. Greenlight and their Greenlight Debit Card App can help.
What is the Greenlight Debit Card App?
Greenlight is “the money app for families.” With a Greenlight debit card and app, kids can earn money through chores, set savings goals, learn to spend money wisely, and even invest.
Up to five kids per household can receive their own debit cards, and there is no minimum age restriction.
Cards even provide cash back rewards. Savings accounts yield up to 2%, depending on the Greenlight plan.
The Greenlight Debit Card can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted, and this includes both retail and online stores.
You can even use Greenlight internationally in over 150 countries without incurring any foreign transaction fees!
Is the Greenlight Debit Card App Safe for Kids?
Greenlight debit cards are FDIC insured, and can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
However, since cardholders are kids, Greenlight puts some safeguards in place that may restrict use of the card to certain vendors.
Greenlight blocks “unsafe” spending categories, sends real-time transaction notifications and gives
parents flexible ATM and other spending controls.
The company also provides additional layers of protection to families in the form of face or fingerprint recognition, as well as the ability to turn the card on or off.
Parents and grandparents can give money as gifts, adding money to the kids’ cards through the Greenlight.com website.
What Greenlight Debit Card Plans Are
Available?
Greenlight currently offers the following three plans:
Greenlight – $4.99 a Month
With the Greenlight plan, you’ll get the following benefits:
- Debit cards for up to 5 kids
- Use of the educational app
- Core financial tools for saving, spending, earning and giving
- Parental controls
- 1% Greenlight Savings Reward
Greenlight + Invest – $7.98 a Month
With the Greenlight + Invest plan, you’ll get the following benefits:
- Debit cards for up to 5 kids
- Use of the educational app
- Core financial tools for saving, spending, earning and giving
- Parental controls
- 1% Greenlight Savings Reward
- Investing for kids
- Investing for parents
Greenlight Max – $9.98 a Month
With the Greenlight Max plan, you’ll get the following benefits:
- Debit cards for up to 5 kids
- Use of the educational app
- Core financial tools for saving, spending, earning and giving
- Parental controls
- 2% Greenlight Savings Reward
- Investing for kids
- Investing for parents
- 1% cash back on purchases
- Greenlight Black Card
- Priority customer support
- Identity theft protection
- Cell phone protection
- Purchase protection
No matter which plan you select, you’ll be happy to discover that Greenlight is designed to work with both Google Pay and Apple Pay.
About the Greenlight Debit Card Kids Education App
The included educational app provides a whole lot of learning, and it does so in a way that kids and teens will respond to.
There are built-in lessons that features both entertaining videos and quizzes to check retention.
As your kids use the educational app, there are chances to enter contests and sweepstakes for prizes and cash.
This is an excellent incentive and I’m so glad Greenlight offers it!
There’s also the opportunity to invest for college, a car, or any other future goal.
Fractional shares of stock in your
favorite companies can introduce older kids to stock market trading, and there are no trading fees.
Parents, however, must approve each trade, which allows teens to learn while still under the protection of their parents.
Greenlight does a great job of empowering next generation of investors!
Greenlight Debit Card Review
Greenlight offers families a 1 month free trial, which gives parents a chance to fully explore all that Greenlight has to offer.
I believe now more than ever it is important to educate your kids and teens about money, and set them on a smart financial path for life.
That’s why Five Bags of Gold highly recommends Greenlight and the Greenlight Debit Card app.
Additional Recommended Articles:
Investing for Kids: Help Your Kids Start Investing Early
This is such an amazing initiative! You can literally teach kids about financial independence from a young age. I do not have kids yet but this is definitely something I would teach my future sons and daughters. Thank you for this article. I had a blast reading it. I will be sure to share it with family
Thank you for sharing and so awesome that you plan on teaching your children financial independence, as sadly many parents don’t prioritize it.
This is such a great idea. If I had kids I would totally go for this. Smart spending, a chance to save for the future, early education about money. All things I could have done with when I was young. IT is something that needs better training and more awareness, I am glad Greenlight exists to help young ones. The pricing isn’t bad either, with every plan including the parental controls, getting one of these for your kids is a no brainer.
Thanks Kelly! I agree and I wish I had done many of these things when I was young. I did teach my daughter about financial matters, but when she was growing up we didn’t have Greenlight. I’m glad parents will now have that tool available to them!
The kids of today are growing up in a much different world than the kids of past generations, so an app that can teach them how to gain financial independence definitely has my attention! I love the idea and the features that the app includes, but the price seems fairly high. I am interested in the free month to see if it’s something that will be worth the monthly recurring cost.
The lowest plan is just $4.99 a month and includes up to 5 kids, so pretty good price, but yes, that’s why the free month is so great. You can make sure it has enough features to justify the price.