How And Why To Keep A Close Eye On What Kids Buy

FamZoo comes with several builtin tools to help parents pay close attention to card activity within the family.

1. Transaction History — when signed into FamZoo, family members can browse the full history of all transactions on a card. Just click or tap on the balance of the desired card to see its history.

   The scope of visibility depends upon the family member’s role. Kids just see the transactions on their own cards, while parents can see all transactions on all cards in the family.

   The entries are sorted from newest to oldest. The history includes completed transactions, pending transactions, and even declined transactions. Having visibility on all declined transactions is unique to FamZoo and very powerful. Why? Because we believe every failed transaction is a potential learning opportunity. Select the red DECLINED lozenge next to an unsuccessful transaction, and you’ll see why it failed (insufficient funds, incorrect PIN, invalid security code, blocked merchant, etc.). Beneath the reason, you’ll find a suggestion on how to remedy the situation.

2. Weekly Activity Reports — each week, family members receive an email from FamZoo that summarizes transaction activity for the previous 7 days. Kids just see their own activity, while parents see activity for the whole family. The reports are a handy way to quickly detect interesting patterns or unexpected transactions that bear further discussion — like too many trips to Starbucks or 20 declined iTunes transactions in a row! 🤔
3. Activity Alerts — FamZoo can send real-time activity alerts to family members via text or email for all transaction attempts on a card — including failed ones. The alert includes the amount, the last 4 of the card, the merchant description, and the remaining balance. When a transaction is declined, the alert includes a brief description of the reason. Alerts can be directed to the parents, the child, or both (recommended).

   👉 If there is one monitoring tool to use to maximize awareness, this is the one!

So, why should parents keep a close eye on child card activity? Isn’t that just helicopter parenting? Nah. Here are three reasons why it’s good parenting when done right:

1. Education — your kids are just learning the financial ropes. They don’t know what they don’t know. The fancy term for that phenomenon is the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

   Your kids won’t know to ask (or want to ask) for your help. And you won’t know how and when to mentor your kids if you don’t know what they’re up to with their money. Observing their card activity allows you to provide thoughtful, just-in-time coaching as needed.

2. Protection — mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process, whether it’s sharing the card with a friend, falling for a phishing attack, losing the card at school, or getting suckered into an unwanted subscription (looking at you, Amazon Prime 👀).

   Minimize the damage. If you see an unexpected transaction, lock the card right away to secure its funds. After discussing with your child, you can take the appropriate next step which might include canceling a recurring charge, seeking a refund from a merchant, or reporting an unauthorized transaction and getting a replacement card.

3. Transparency — transparency among family members is a good personal finance habit. It improves decision making, builds trust, and reinforces habits that are consistent with your family’s values.

   As Ron Lieber says in one of my favorite books about money and kids: “Every conversation about money is also about values.”

That’s a big payoff for parents just paying little attention.