Online allowance trackers, or virtual family banks, are popular
tools for organizing a child’s money and encouraging financial literacy skills. We created our MoneyTrail website and app to
fit a need that we have in our family.
We have four kids and keeping up with allowances, IOUs and cash was
difficult. I would continually forget
the last time I paid allowance or I would lose the sticky note that reminded me
to pay Brittany $10 for washing the car.
Since Frank was a computer programmer and I was a teacher, we put our
heads together and created a solution that worked for us. (Read our full story here.)
MoneyTrail may have started with our family but it has rapidly
grown to help thousands of families with their allowance and money management
needs for kids. Frank and I are proud to
offer our free virtual family bank from our website and we have an app in all
the major app stores.
MoneyTrail
features include:
- Tracking of allowance, cash, IOUs and gift cards.
- Free website access
- Three formats: basic allowance, Save Spend Share or no allowance
- Parents can add interest to their child’s savings.
- Allowance can be added automatically
- No limit on the number of children on a parent account
- Custom accounts can be created for each user to keep track of savings for specific items, such as a new cell phone or Disney trip.
- Supported devices: Apple phones and tablets, Android phones and tablets, BlackBerry phones and tablets, the Kindle Fire and the Nintendo DSi
- Teens can have their own accounts.
Visit MoneyTrail to get started with your free account or visit our Apps page to learn where to get your mobile app.
There are many other folks who offer similar online allowance tracking services. Here is an alphabetical list of other choices and their price:
- Activeallowance.com: Basic is free; full membership is $2.99 per month
- Allowancemanager.com: Free.
- Allowancetree.com: Basic is free; premium membership is $2.99 per month.
- Bankaroo.com: Free.
- Doughmain.com: Free.
- Familymint.com: Basic is free; premium membership is $4.95 per month.
- Famzoo.com: Free trial, then $5.99 per month. Two year membership option is $59.99 ($2.50 per month)
- Kidworth.com: Free.
- Firstkidbank.com: Free.
- Littlemoneybags.com: $12 per year for a family account that can have up to 6 kids.
- Guluck.com: Free
- Kashpile.com: Not sure; membership is by invite only.
- Kidelity.com: Free.
- Onefatpig.com: Not sure.
- Payjr.com: Free for 12 and under; teen version with Visa Buxx card has $4.95 initial fee and then $3.95 monthly charge after that. There is a $0.50 to reload the card.
- Smartypiggybank.com: Free
- Threejars.com: Currently free.
- Tykoon.com: Free
- Zefty.com: Free but accepts donations.
That is so cool. Have your kids money grown? What have they learned from your development?
ReplyDeleteIt has been very beneficial for our kids. They have a much greater awareness of their money and are so-o-o much more careful with their spending choices.
DeleteGreat list of sites. I'm amazed there are so many competitors in this arena!
ReplyDeleteWhen we started a few years ago, there were just a handful of companies. There has definitely been a lot of growth in this area.
DeleteThis is a great idea and I lean towards having an app on my phone to keep track.
ReplyDeleteIt's never too early for our kids to learn the responsibility of working to earn money!
Wow, I thought yours was the only one!
ReplyDeleteMy kid is 6 months old, so the app may not apply at the moment, but what a great idea. I am most likely not going to lean toward giving an "allowance" but more of the commission structure (dave Ramsey kids style). But teaching them to track every dollar at a young age will have generational implications!
ReplyDeletePam, thank you for mentioning FamZoo, one of the handful that was around back in the day - founded "way back" in 2006. Note that most of our customers purchase our 2 year prepaid subscription option for $59.99 which is equivalent to $2.50/month. Our prepaid billing options are described in this post: http://blog.famzoo.com/2011/02/now-you-can-get-famzoo-for-just-30-per.html
ReplyDeleteOur pricing philosophy is described here:
http://www.famzoo.com/main/about/what-does-it-cost.html
We've intentionally chosen a sustainable business model that does not run counter to our mission of teaching kids to be prudent with their money. That's why we eschew ad and affiliate driven business models that might encourage impulsive spending by kids or parents.
Thanks for the update, Bill! I added the info about your two year option to the list above.
DeleteThanks for the list of apps. I don't have a use for them now but I'll keep them in mind for others or if things change for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a very useful app. Aside from financial awareness, this tool is also beneficial to update parents and children with what modern technology can fully offer.
ReplyDelete