Teaching kids about the cashless economy

The cashless society reigns and it is getting more powerful every year.

One area of life that usually does involve cash are allowances paid to kids every week.

But even kids need to learn that cash comes in many forms. As they become adults, today’s kids will manage virtual money more than coin and paper, according to walnutrow.com

It’s a good thing to teach kids how money moves from place to place and what forms it takes.

If you give your kids an allowance in cash, it’s worth taking a trip to an ATM and explaining how an amount from your paycheck goes into a checking account. From the ATM, you access the money and turn some of it into paper.

When you write a check, explain that you are giving your bank a notice to transfer money from your account to another account. Even young kids need to know that a stack of checks is not necessarily money.

Gone are the days when mom or dad comes home with a paper check. Nowadays many paychecks are electronically deposited. Explain to kids that the paycheck is really a transfer of dollars from the employer’s account to your account.

One note: If you give your teenagers some sort of debit or credit card instead of cash, set up balance notifications and spending notifications so you can monitor their use of digital money.