Should Kids Have e-Wallets?
Should kids be eWallet holders? Short answer: yes.
Do you remember your earliest experience with money? Did your parents give you a sum of money to buy something from the supermarket and you had to count the change you received and return it to your parents? Did you get a monthly allowance that granted you the chance to shop for school supplies or clothes of your liking? Today, teaching adolescents the nature and utility of money is a different ballgame as the operation of digital payments and eWallets continues to increase. To avoid financial setbacks in adulthood, one must be familiar with how tech has integrated itself into financial affairs at a young age.
Kids as young as 7 years old are able to grasp the concept of money. Parents need to take the lead on topics regarding savings, budgeting and clever spending in the modern day society to ensure they raise individuals who are financially literate. Parents can impart wisdom on their children on how money should be handled in a consumer centric era by allowing them to have access to eWallets, as children learn best through experience.
Parents can track their children’s spendings, implement rules, limit spendings and so much more with eWallets
Digipay is a user-friendly virtual wallet that aids parents in forming a better understanding of their children’s behaviour towards money. Parents can load funds into their children’s virtual wallet, monitor their spendings, review their fund transfers and limit the amount of money they can spend in a day.
Additional benefits are:
Big family? No problem! Create multiple profiles for multiple kids.
Establish regular fund transfers to ensure overspending does not occur.
Create tasks that kids must complete to earn their allowances. The app comes with an image-capture function to help kids verify completed tasks. This can help them understand the concept of building a good credit score.
Parents have the option to block cards attached to the app if overspending occurs.
Parents can get real-time updates on kids’ eWallet usages.
The app comes with a function that helps kids set goals for their savings.
Parents can reward their kids with additional cash when their kids fulfill their savings goals.
Vircle is a cashless payment option designed specifically to help parents supervise their children’s expenses. It is a platform that stretches beyond conventional eWallet functions as it allows parental figures to positively shape their children’s spending habits and build their financial knowledge through the app’s gamification engine. The app also provides cards that children can use for purchases at selected stores. Vircle has been implemented across several schools in Malaysia.
Additional benefits are:
Parents can get an insight of all products purchased to ensure their kids aren’t consuming any harmful products.
Parents can approve or disapprove of spending requests.
If a child’s school is partnered with the app, it will allow parents to gain insight on their child’s food consumption during school. This can be beneficial to parents whose kids have certain medical conditions that requires them to be on a strict diet.
For parents who are dealing with teens, the suggestions above might not be ideal as teens have a higher need for privacy and freedom. Parents can still engage in their teens’ spendings through mainstream eWallets that are able to implement boundaries that will offer a fair amount of control for parents and independence for teens.
Teens can learn a great deal about budgeting and setting financial goals with eWallets. However, let’s remember that an eWallet is merely just a tool, the one responsible for making it good or bad is us, the consumers. Once teens are able to understand this concept, they can cross check their purchases through reviewing their eWallet’s transaction history, save money and get the most value by learning how to shop strategically. Let’s explore some options that will help teens manage their funds and help parents monitor their teens’ spendings.
Parents can attach their credit/debit cards to their teens’ Grabpay account. This will allow parents to be notified whenever funds are being loaded into the account. Grabpay is also regulated by Bank Negara, which means a spending limit of RM500 for a basic Grabpay account is set.
Additional benefits are:
Grabpay users can earn rewards by making Grab-related purchases. This incentive will help teens become selective with their spendings and encourage them to save.
If teens are heavily relying on a variety of Grab services such as Grabfood and Grab transportation, they can get involved in challenges, a feature on Grab that allows users to earn rewards by completing Grab-related tasks such as ordering two meals from a Grab merchant. This system will help teens see the value in keeping an eye out on special deals rather than mindless spending.
Parents can also provide their teens insurance through Ride Cover , an insurance policy that offers protection and vouchers for Grab transportation. A compensation of RM100,00 will be given to any accident that causes death and a RM5 voucher will be given when transportation via Grab isn’t punctual.
Kiplepay offers a feature to help users track their expenses, which will help teens avoid splurging on unnecessary purchases. Kiplepay also partnered with Bank Islam to create Kipleuni, a program designed to help students in college/univeristy make cashless payments on campus, facilities bookings, mobiles reloads and fund transfers. KipleUNI allows PTPTN students to make cashless payments through their linked cards. Kipleuni is predicted to reach more than 175,000 universities by the end of 2020.
Additional benefits:
Kippleuni comes with easy mobile reloads.
Students can make payments via QR codes, fingerprint scans or 6 digit PIN with merchants linked to the app.
Easy order and pay option on various retail stores.
Each eWallet comes with different functions that penetrate different market needs. By exposing young people to how eWallets can expand one’s budgetary functions, add value to product purchases and become an excellent measure on one’s spendings. This will shape their sense of independence and financial adequacy. Find out which eWallet will benefit your child’s financial learning here.