Family Mint

I have been tremendously blessed in so many ways. But one important way is financially. No, we’re not rich. (On a little side note, have you ever noticed that no one will admit that they’re rich?) Well, I take that back, by American standards we are not rich. Compared to the vast majority of the world, we are extremely wealthy.The financial blessing I am talking about is a heritage of wise financial management. My parents lived within their means. If we couldn’t afford something….we didn’t buy it! Novel idea. I am not only blessed to have learned wise money principles from my parents, but I married a man who also grew up in a home with parents who also made good financial choices. As a result, we both came into marriage with NO DEBT. I’ve heard countless times that the number one thing that married couples fight over is money. Our home has been spared from this. Not that we’ve never argued about money. But in general, we’re in agreement over how much money can be spent. What to spend it on, does sometimes cause some friction.

So, why have I given you this lengthy introduction for a product review? Simple. It’s important to teach kids about money. The biggest way you can teach is by example. Next to that, we need to teach our children how to save and spend their own money.

Family Mint is a new, on-line resource to do just that. It has a lot of great features to track saving and spending. The basic premise is that the parent becomes the “bank”, or keeper of the money, but the child makes deposits and withdrawals through Family Mint.

I found the program relatively easy to set up. I couldn’t figure out everything without watching some of the tutorials, but that is why they have the tutorials.

What I’m having difficulty figuring out is what we can actually use it for. My kids are somewhat unusual. They don’t buy anything. As they get older I’m sure that will change, but for right now their needs and many of their wants are supplied by us. We do pay them an allowance from which they tithe and save the rest. But we had already developed a system for keeping track of their money. We have been transferring their allowances directly from our checking account into their individual savings accounts on-line. So, although I set up an account with their balances and set it up to automatically add their allowances, using Family Mint is a bit redundant right now for our family.

However, I would recommend taking a look at Family Mint, especially if you do not already have a method for teaching your children to manage their money. I support the mission of the company, it’s relatively simple to use, and the price is great.—FREE. The support is excellent too. Along with information on using the program, they also provide helpful general financial tips.

Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.