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Mar 30, 2021

Here are 6 ways your kids can start saving money in 2021

Only about 10% of the money in the United States is printed in cash bills. The rest? Digital. Traditional kids’ savings accounts aren’t always as practical — so, how can kids save money this day and age? Step 1: Start with Greenlight. We’ll show you the rest. 

Round up and save automatically

Spare change sure does add up, doesn’t it? When your kids use their Greenlight cards, they can turn on Round Ups to send extra cents into their savings. Say they pay $4.30 for a smoothie. 70 cents automatically goes to savings. 10 smoothies later, they’ve saved 7 bucks. Automatic saving = priceless.

Make it a goal

Don’t you wish you learned how to save money as a kid? Luckily, your kids can. Work together to define their short-term and long-term savings goals. It may help to share a little bit about your own financial goals — perhaps you’re saving for a college fund for your kids or a down payment on your next home. 

savings goal ideas, for both short-term and long-term

Match their savings

While your kids are saving, you can give them rewards to keep up the good work. Setting a Parent-Paid Interest rate is an automatic incentive for your kids to save more. You can set an interest rate (from 1-100%) to reward them for their savings. The best part? They’ll check their balances more often to see how much they’re saving.

Save to give 

Some kids may be more incentivized to save for others than themselves — like Garrett, who donates ⅓ of his allowance to charities. If this sounds like your kids, work together to research charities and start saving to donate. 

Host a sibling saving competition

Try the sibling saving competition. Kids compete against each other to see who can reach their savings goal first. They’ll have so much fun they won’t even know they’re learning along the way. No siblings? Try with cousins or friends — just as fun.

young boy in a wheelchair playing tennis

Score a sweepstakes win

We host sweepstakes for Greenlight kids to learn more about money for a chance to score some cash. To enter the sweepstakes, they’ll need to practice their financial responsibility — like finishing chores or setting savings goals. While they get a chance to earn some dough, they’re also creating good money habits.

Find the rest in your app

Greenlight has kids’ savings accounts, but it’s also jam-packed with tools to help your kids spend wisely, budget, earn money and invest. Download the app (and make sure they do too!) so they can start learning about the world of money.

screenshot of savings goal (tennis racket)

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