Thank you to FamilyMint for providing me with a copy of their program for this review.
FamilyMint is a program that teaches money management habits. Did you know that 2 out of 3 high school graduates don’t know the basics of budgeting? I have to raise my hand at this point. My father didn’t have the time to teach me how to budget or how to manage a checking account. I had to learn that all the hard way. FamilyMint gives families the tools to teach their children these basic functions that are needed in everyday life.
The FamilyMint program is comprised of a 57-page book (Money Management Certification Program workbook) with great tools for teaching how to keep track of a checking account and a great computer website to manage the money in a virtual bank. In our family, it is called the Bank of Home. Mom and Dad keep control of the money as if it were in a bank. The money is “deposited” into the bank with pretend deposit slips.
The money is taken out by writing a check. No credit cards here. The child is encouraged to learn how to save the SMART way. We could have just used the computer program to keep track of the money, but I wanted the kids to actually keep track of it using the ledger worksheets. It just makes it that more realistic.
The program encourages picking things to save for. The child can designate a certain amount of money per week to set aside for that item. In the example above, DS10 opted to work toward a Wreck-it Ralph Wii game. He already had quite a bit of money saved, so he put $10 per week toward his goal and got the game very quickly.
DD13 is saving for a Wii Sports Resort game, but she has decided to save slowly for it. Yes, she knows that she has enough money for it right now, but she wants to keep that money available in case she sees something else.
As you can see from the images above, there is a website or application (requires Flash) and a mobile website. I found the mobile site great to have while out at the store. That way if someone wanted to buy something, I could let them know what they had available.
FamilyMint has a special introductory price of $29.99 for the 57-page Money Management Certification Program workbook PLUS a LIFETIME subscription to the FamilyMint Premium application. The normal cost for just the Premium online application is $24.99 per year or $4.95 per month. Honestly, there is so much information in the workbook that I would not do FamilyMint without it.
Disclosure: I received the FamilyMint bundle free of charge for the purpose of this review. I received no other compensation, nor was I required to give a positive review. All opinions are 100% mine.
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