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Annie – Ontario, Canada
After watching the introductory videos, I was able to set up accounts for the children very easily, and the children had no difficulty beginning to play with the program. They loved personalizing pictures for their accounts.
Our children have savings accounts at the real bank, so we entered that amount in ‘general savings’ in FamilyMint. The little ones also have piggy banks, so we called that account ‘piggy bank’. Our Little Misses have almost no income except for the tooth fairy and birthday money, and when asked about financial goals, Miss 7 said she wanted to buy a pair of sunglasses from the dollar store. Smile. I’m not about to encourage an obsession with money or stuff by getting them to set goals for other purchases. So every time they make a bit of money, they can enter it in their account, and if they want to buy something, they can withdraw it from the piggy bank account as well as from their piggy bank itself. We also took them to their real bank to deposit some of their piggy bank money—patient teller, counting out so many pennies!—and transferred the money in their Family Mint account from their ‘piggy bank’ account to their ‘general savings’ account. The Little Misses have fun with this and are starting to understand what it is all about.
FamilyMint is very adaptable. You can use it as intended, to teach your children about money. Or you can use it as a learning tool in a completely different way.
That is what Miss 9 did, after watching Disney’s Robin Hood for the first time in her life. We set up an account for Robin Hood, and used the goal categories as people. So there was one category for Robin Hood, one for the sheriff, one for the poor, and one for Prince John. Step by step she went through the story. For example, she transferred money from Prince John to Robin Hood after the carriage scene (transaction description: stealing from the rich to feed the poor), and from the poor to the sheriff (transaction description: collecting taxes), and she even let the poor lay up a bit of money (transaction description: scrimping and saving). At the end Prince John had nothing, and the poor had it all. Yippee! Miss 9 wants to make a category for King Richard as well, so that he can have some money and the story can continue. I’m wondering what King Richard will do with his money, and if Robin Hood will have anything more to do.
This application of the program is really exciting me. Suddenly there are so many options! For example, I think Family Mint would be a great tool for my teens to analyse the next Canadian budget. As the old saying goes, “Money makes the world go round,” and many current and historical events lend themselves to in-depth financial analysis. FamilyMint can easily be tweaked for this purpose.
Michelle – Sheridan, WY
The first thing we did while creating an account, was to name our bank. Then we created individual user accounts for each child. To make this fun, we gifted each child by making a $5 deposit. Here’s the kicker ~ we require a $5 minimum balance at Good Sense Bank (just like many bank accounts do). Each child was eager to deposit all their money and create goals and then start transferring their money into savings accounts for each goal.
What makes this work is that every dollar in the bank is a real dollar that you owe your kids. When they hand you cash (make a deposit), you owe them that money and need to pay it back when they ask for it (just like a bank). But, you are not really depositing the money online ~ Family Mint is just a tracking system.
Each child was able to pick a different icon to represent their account (which is funny because I have an icon on my online bank account, too).
Instead of using the allowance feature, we gave each child a monthly “salary” for doing their chores. On the first of the month, each child gets half his age in wages for the month. I then took their salary and divided it by 30. Each day that their chores are not complete, I withdraw 1/30 of their salary from a special account. So, for Jordan, who is 13, his salary is $6.50 a month. His daily penalty for not doing his chores is 22 cents. At the end of the month, what ever he has left will be transferred into his general savings account to be used. Then from the wages he receives, he will transfer 10% into a tithing account.
Dylan’s goal is to keep 100% of his salary in his account. As he loses money for not doing chores (just as he would lose money for not working in real life) he will see the blue bar start to fall. (Note that I locked the account so that money cannot be transferred until it is unlocked). I think this will visually help him to see how he is doing. I may even offer extra work for the kids to earn some extra money. So far, all the boys are doing well with keeping up with their chores and I think this is a fun system for them.
Lynn – Washington, MI
We have always had our children place their money into divided plastic piggy banks. The banks have 3 separate sections labeled “Save, Spend, and Give.” Since their money was already organized in this conscientious way, I was initially uncertain if keeping Family Mint accounts was going to provide any new motivation or insights for the kids. Boy, was I wrong!
I think the single greatest benefit thus far is that the kids can clearly see, at any given time, exactly how much money they have in each category. Before, they just saw stacks of change and wadded up dollar bills inside the piggy bank divisions, but there was no concrete amount attached to each. I had never realized how this was hampering them from making good plans for their funds. How can they save for a specific goal when they don’t know how much they’ve accumulated so far? Or If they decide to take out some cash to purchase a coveted item, do they realize how this impacts their bottom line?
Since logging my kids into their Family Mint accounts and showing them the ropes, I’ve already seen great results. Last week while we were out shopping, my 7 year old wanted to purchase a toy gun. Since he knew exactly how much money was in spending account, he was able to quickly evaluate the purchase and make his decision. As soon as we arrived back home, he raced to the computer to log in to his account and enter his withdrawal. And he made it very clear that he wanted to do it by himself!
A few days later, my 13 year old daughter saw an outfit that she really liked at the store. I told her that I was not going to purchase it for her, but she was free to buy it for herself if she would like. Immediately, she turned to me and said, “Well, I can’t. Because I already bought two things this month, and I only have $11.76 left in my spending account. I’m going to have to get some more babysitting jobs so I can earn the money.”
There is a lot of power in taking an abstract concept like finances, and making it visual. The progress bars are a key part of the kids accounts as they make it easy for even my 7 year old to know at a glance what is happening with his money. Along with the obvious values of visually managing their money, they have also really enjoyed being able to personalize their accounts with pictures and color changes. I’m now very confident that Family Mint is going to be instrumental in helping my children to tell their money where to go, instead of asking where it went!
Thank you for this wonderful program!
Kathi – Rochester Hills, MI
With 6 kids, it has been a challenge to find an organized way of handling the money they received as gifts, babysitting or for chores around the house. Initially, they each wanted to hold onto all of their money. The little ones would lose it around the house when they went to count it and forgot to put it away. The older ones put it in their wallets or purses but when one wallet went missing with the money in it, they all finally allowed me to give them a notebook to keep a record after they gave us the money for safekeeping. I had no idea how much each child had accumulated which could put a real dent in the family monthly budget when one of them wanted to buy something. The kids, especially the older ones, did a decent job of keeping track of how much they had and what they were saving for but it was very disorganized at times and sometimes they would lose their record book.
When we started using FamilyMint, it did take us a few weeks to get used to this new way of organizing the kids’ money. But I have to say, I LOVE IT and so do the kids. My husband and I now know exactly how much each child has in his or her account and we see clearly how much money we owe each of them (Quite a bit more than I expected but no more surprises messing up the monthly budget.) The kids love signing into their own account and having a clear visual of how much money they have and how they are progressing toward their goals. I really like the flexibility to use it in a way that works best for our family and I like the ability to match funds toward their goals.
It has definitely made a positive difference in our lives. Thank you!! We look forward to using for years to come.
Michelle – Rochester, MI
We are new to implementing money into my daughter’s life, but she has taken to it lovingly! It might be her age, but she is interested in helping around the house more, hoping she will be rewarded with a deposit in FamilyMint. I know FamilyMint is a good thing, and it sure has inspired my daughter to help more. She actually looks forward to snow so she can shovel!
