6 Ways to Get FamZoo for Free. But Hurry!

There are 6 different FamZoo giveaways (coupled with a gift card in some cases) going on right now on 6 different blogs. Click through each link below to see the FamZoo review, what's being given away, how to enter, and when entries close. Some close today and the rest close over the next few days, so hurry!

Listed in alphabetical order, the 6 blogs are:

1. The Centsible Life
2. Connect With Your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology
3. Daddy Forever
4. For the Mommas
5. Money4This, Not4That!
6. Tech Savvy Mama

Good luck!

Seeking Concise Parenting Wisdom from a Veteran? Ask Evelyn

Have questions about parenting? Looking for “short, clear, and practical answers” that aren’t full of “theory and jargon”?

Ask Ev!

That’s “Ev” as in Evelyn Petersen, a parenting columnist who currently writes for the Traverse City Record-Eagle in Michigan. I happened upon her column, Ask Evelyn, a few days ago during one of my regular searches for articles related to teaching kids about money matters.

Here’s a sampling of FamZoo-relevant articles from this no-nonsense mother-of-four, grandmother, and even great-grandmother:

• How to "unspoil" a child
• How and when to teach kids responsibility
• How to deal with a teen’s sense of entitlement

If you like those pearls of wisdom, you can find Evelyn’s weekly column here and even more material on her site, AskEvelyn.com.

6 Tips for Raising Cash Savvy Kids

This final week in April marks the end of National Financial Literacy Month. The objective of the month (ironically) supported by Congress is to "highlight the importance of financial literacy and teach Americans how to establish and maintain healthy financial habits". Hear, hear! (Um, "Americans" includes our federal, state and local governments, right?)

To commemorate National Financial Literacy Month, I spoke in a teleseries today hosted by Sarah Cook over at RaisingCeoKids.com. Each of the speakers shared their 6 top tips for raising "cash savvy" kids. Here are mine:

1. Practice, practice, practice!
2. Have a system
3. Do the math
4. Create balance
5. Insist on accountability
6. Promote passions

You can see the next level of detail (and some fun drawings by Henry Payne) by clicking through the 17 slides here:

6 Tips for Raising Cash Savvy Kids

What are some of your favorite tips for raising cash savvy kids?

FamZoo Review Roundup: 3 New Ones This Week

We received three nice reviews this week:

• FamZoo: Teach your children sound money management by Mike Scutari over at Slapstart.com which covers new products from software Startups. I love Mike's sense of humor, and he gives a nice accounting of FamZoo with a few chuckles thrown in for good measure. You'll want to check out the other witty and in-depth reviews on Slapstart.
• FamZoo: a great tool to teach your children how to handle money by "Stew" (aka Josh) over at Gather Little By Little, a personal finance blog with a Christian perspective. Stew set up FamZoo for his family, and he shares some very thoughtful impressions on how FamZoo can teach important financial lessons. Gather Little By Little devotes a topic area to posts on Kids and Money. You can click here to browse through them.
• Sarah Cook of Raising CEO Kids just produced the FamZoo video review below. In honor of National Financial Literacy Month, she's hosting a 3 day TeleSeries starting Wednesday April 28th that covers best practices for educating, inspiring, and mentoring kids to be Cash Savvy. I'll be speaking on day 1 to share my top 6 tips for parents to teach their kids financial responsibility. You can find the complete 3 day lineup (about 15 speakers in all) on Sarah's Cash Savvy Kids web site.

New Video: FamZoo Intro And Quick Tour

We're just starting to put together some videos to help describe FamZoo and show folks how it works. Here's one we just put together that combines a brief segment on the "FamZoo story" with a quick tour of the virtual family bank.

Take a look, and let us know what you think:

Note: We'll probably be splitting this into two videos to keep each one under the 3min mark.

On BetterParenting.com - How to Save Money by Giving Your Child an Allowance

I've written an article called How to Save Money by Giving Your Child an Allowance over at BetterParenting.com. Sound counter-intuitive? Check it out, and let me know what you think