FamZoo News

Not YOUR lemonade stand!

The lemonade stand is one of the classic earning rituals of summer. It’s an excellent hands-on way for younger kids to learn some business basics.

But, only if you let them!

Unfortunately, many parents inadvertently rob their kids of a golden educational opportunity by jumping in to handle or hide the real-world business mechanics along the way.

Don’t be that parent. Take a step back. Let the kids plan and run the lemonade business themselves. You’re available for advice (and seed capital), but otherwise they’re in charge.

I’ve put together three simple steps to get rolling on a summer lemonade venture while letting your child experience the fundamentals of planning, budgeting, and pricing along the way.

SEE THE STEPS

Opportunity knocks next door.

Does your teen have access to a pickup truck, a strong back, and 60 minutes to spare?

Boom. $40.

That’s what Jayne L. across town is paying to move 5 clay planters.

“Hi. I have a 5 large clay planters that I would like to move from Menlo Park to Stanford. Will happily pay $40 to anyone who has a truck and a driver’s license who will move them for me.”

How would your teen know that?

SEE HERE

Negotiate the summer savings split now.

Parent: “How much did you save from your summer job last year?”

Teen: “Umm, nuthin’.”

Sound familiar?

Time for a preemptive strike before summer rolls around again.

As Warren Buffett says, “Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”

So, negotiate a savings split deal ahead of time.

If your teen agrees to save 27.68% of every paycheck this summer, you’ll agree to do one or more of the following...

SEE YOUR BARGAINING CHIPS

Is it real or just IOU?

Sometimes parents inadvertently create IOU accounts in FamZoo thinking they hold actual money when, in fact, only prepaid card accounts hold real funds.

IOU accounts are merely a way to declare a promise to pay in the future, or a way to record funds being held outside FamZoo, or a way to track informal family loans. It’s the electronic equivalent of writing “I Owe You $10” on a piece of paper and stuffing it in a jar to be redeemed later.

Before May 22, an IOU account was implicitly signaled in FamZoo by the absence of the “[***1234]” next to its name (where 1234 is the last four digits of the number on the face of the corresponding prepaid card). As of May 22, IOU accounts are now more explicitly identified in account listings by the presence of “[IOU]” next to the name.

We hope this small but significant change helps minimize the confusion between the two account types!

Growing strong!

The FamZoo members-only parent community keeps growing at a healthy clip, and the discussions abound.

One of the hottest threads in May was over choosing “credit” vs “debit” when making a purchase with a FamZoo card at a Point Of Sale device. What’s the difference? Does it matter? Oh, and how do you get your kid to remember the darn PIN anyway?!?

COME JOIN US

Opportunity goes incognito.

Circling back to the summer work topic, I’m reminded of this gem:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
~ Thomas Edison

Remind your kid not to be too picky about what qualifies as a viable summer gig. In fact, the crummier the job, the better in many respects — especially for teens.

HERE’S WHY

A big THANK YOU to...

• Karey — for sharing your three year experience with FamZoo in a Facebook review. I can’t tell you how valuable these reviews are for our fledgling mission-driven brand. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• Rob Carrick — for featuring our “A+” parenting tips in your personal finance column at The Globe and Mail, Canada’s most widely read newspaper. Unlike our cards, which can only be issued to U.S. families, our tips can be leveraged by parents everywhere around the globe. (Even countries that spell “paycheck” with a q, as in “paycheque”.) It’s fun to see the ones you’ve applied within your own family in Canada. And thank you for the big spike in traffic to our blog!
• Our patient families — May started with the most significant outage our card processor has had in 4 years. May ended with the Chili’s breach which affected a handful of our cardholders. Tough month! While we couldn’t control the root cause of either event in this case, we can always control managing the after effects and our own communication. At minimum, you can count on us to be candid, caring, and competent. It’s baked into the FamZoo DNA. If you ever see something amiss with FamZoo, please contact us.

Dear Bill...

Got a question, comment, concern, suggestion?

I’m no robot, just an everyday dad. Hit reply, and I’ll respond.

Or catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter.

Best to you and your family,
Bill

Founder, FamZoo.com