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BusyKid vs Greenlight vs Chase First Comparison: Which Kid’s Budgeting App to Pick?

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Family finance has evolved in recent generations with many modern parents adopting a strategy that rewards responsible choices with the incentive of an allowance in place of mandatory chores and working for the family business with little to no pay. Like many new aspects of modern life, family finance can be executed with more efficiency with the aid of specialized software.

BusyKid vs Greenlight vs Chase First Checking

Family financial apps help parents manage their households, including assigning chores and tracking allowance. Greenlight was one of the first apps to replace the piggy bank standard with individual debit cards for kids to help parents instill valuable lessons around finances early in life. BusyKid is a competing platform that assists parents with managing chores while providing kids with their own debit cards. Chase First Banking is available to all Chase customers and allows parents to provide their children with a bank account.

How to use family financial apps to teach kids about personal finances?

Teaching kids about finances at a young age can avoid considerable stress for parents and children alike when they set out on their own and face difficult financial decisions. Using a family financial app, parents can reward children for making smart financial decisions while setting limits and monitoring their activity.

Are family financial apps safe?

Greenlight, BusyKid, and Chase First Banking all come with built-in features that allow parents to limit how kids can spend their money.

  • Parents can block unsafe spending categories
  • With the Greenlight app, parents can even choose the exact stores their children can spend in.
  • All apps can provide parents with real-time spending notifications

The case for Greenlight

Greenlight offers parents the opportunity to set chore expectations and monitor their children’s finances with a flat fee of $4.99 for up to five kids. Parents can also teach their children about investments through Greenlight + Invest and Greenlight Max plans which allow kids to invest in stocks and ETFs at an extra cost.

Pros of Greenlight vs Chase First Checking vs BusyKid

  1. Kids that have jobs and earn paychecks can use Greenlight to direct deposit their earnings onto their cards.
  2. Greenlight provides store-level spending limits as well as the ability to lock and unlock all spending.
  3. With Greenlight and BusyKid, kids who meet the minimum age requirements for using Apple Pay and Google Pay may use these services through their phones.

The case for Busykid vs Greenlight

BusyKid is an award-winning, parent-approved app that teaches kids about finances through chores and earning an allowance. The BusyKid Visa Prepaid Spend Card lets children spend the money they earn in stores or online while offering parental controls and monitoring. Comparing BusyKid vs Greenlight – Busykid charges parents a flat fee of just $3.99/mo for up to 5 cards.

Pros of the BusyKid App

  1. Earn – Kids earn an allowance by completing optional chores and other various incentives assigned by parents
  2. Save – Parents and kids can set automatic saving habits, allowing any percentage of their weekly allowance to deposit directly into a savings account.
  3. Donate – Children can be taught to give back by donating any percentage of their funds to a charity of their choice.

The case for Chase First Banking

Chase First Banking is an excellent option for parents that already have a Chase Total Checking or Chase Secure Banking account or are thinking about signing up. Parents can set spending alerts and activity limits from the Chase Mobile app. Kids have access to a bank account and debit card specifically designed with in mind.

BusyKid vs Greenlight vs Chase First: Which is the best budgeting app?

The best budgeting app for kids is Greenlight due to the flexibility of the app and the ability to offer parental controls and monitoring.


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