FamZoo News

Two out of three ain’t so good.

I was talking to Steve on Tuesday. He called FamZoo about a strange charge on his teen’s card (a popular support topic here 😬).

As we got to chatting, he confided that he’s grown exasperated with his son’s “flashy” spending habits.

“Do you have something he can read about saving?”

I chuckled as I thought about my own luck in that department. Personal finance was not high (or anywhere) on the reading list for my 5 kids during their early teen years.

“Steve, I don’t think that’s gonna work. The only thing less likely to work is a stern lecture from you.”

Instead, we talked about parent-paid compound interest and activity alerts.

I showed him where he could set up a reward that would be calculated as a percentage of his son’s balance each week. The higher the balance, the higher the reward.

The steady drumbeat of activity alerts helps reinforce the behavior.

“You earned $1.02 in interest this week.”

“You earned $1.25 in interest this week.”

And so on...

The message: Keep your paws off your money, and it will grow.

Steve’s gonna give it a shot and join the one out of three (32.4%) FamZoo parents who are delivering parent-paid interest already.

Are you in?

HOW TO SET IT UP

Yeah, but...

So you’re on board with parent-paid interest. Excellent.

But how much? How often?

One way to get a handle on those questions is to play with our interest calculator. It’s in the desktop UI on the account settings form. Try different amounts and frequencies. See just how much the Bank of Mom/Dad could be shelling out over the years. Yikes!

Another data point is what the other FamZoo parents who pay interest are doing.

• 60.6% of families pay weekly. Average rate: 1.65% 😲
• 35.6% of families pay monthly. Average rate: 3.15%
• 3.8% of families pay annually. Average rate: 7.07%

My personal preference?

Pay often. Pay aggressively, but cap it, so the Bank of Mom/Dad can stay solvent.

HOW TO CAP INTEREST

Learn from fellow FamZoo parents.

Recently in the FamZoo parent community:

• I reminded parents how they can earn $15 referral bonuses delivered right to their primary funding cards. 💰 → 💳
• Gabriel asked about transferring funds between a savings IOU account and a spending card account. ↔️
• Shannon asked about how to withhold chore payments until a parent has OK’d the work. ✋

What’s your question?

JOIN THE GROUP

The right side of interest.

“Those who understand interest earn it. Those who don’t pay it.”
~ Unknown Wise Person

Which side will your kids be on? Let’s make sure it’s the earning side.

A big THANK YOU to...

• Lou — for helping me clarify the default PIN FAQ entry and spell out why it’s important to update your PIN.
• PrepaidCards123 — for ranking us the #1 prepaid card for teens in 2019. We’d like to thank the academy, our moms, ... 🏆
• Cathy and Todd at Zen Parenting Radio — for inspiring us to be better parents. You’ll find the Zen Parenting resources here.

Dear Bill...

Got a question, comment, concern, suggestion?

I’m no robot, just an everyday dad on a youth financial literacy mission. 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