Tykoon – Kids Money Manager

Do you do allowance at your house?  We do – mainly to teach money management.   Several years ago I got tired of the kids asking and asking and asking for things.  Now they know they receive $5 each week and they have to save if they want something.  Works MUCH better!  We expect chores to be done as part of living in the home.  But if chores don’t get done, allowance does get deducted.

I never have cash on hand, and when I do give them cash, then I have to help them find it again when they want to shop.  So, we have been using an online program to keep track of their allowance for a couple of years now.  It has been working farily well.  Each week the program we use automatically adds their allowance.  Then when it is time to shop, I pay and subtract it from their account.  However, the service we had been using did have some drawbacks.

First off, the program we were using did not teach saving for the future (just saving for current wants) nor did it teach giving.  These are two habits I want ingrained into my kiddo’s before they leave the nest.  Second, the program only tracked money, it did not allow for non-monetary rewards.  Third, only I was able to log into my kids accounts to check their balances.

This is why I am so excited to introduce you to Tykoon!  Tykoon offers a relevant and modern way to help you start the money conversation with your kids. This free online financial services platform offers parents a new way to educate kids on how to earn, save, spend and donate money.  And best of all…  accounts are FREE!

Within Tykoon there is the option to set up both Cash and non-cash earnings.  You can set up to pay by the day, week or month.  You can also set up to reward with non-cash earnings such as screen time, a trip to the movies, or whatever you would like.  The earning allocation area allows you to set what percentages of their allowance you would like your child to save, give, and spend.

My favorite feature is the option to add tasks for your children.  You can add one time, or recurring tasks.   Then you can tie each task to their normal allowance, or reward with a payment per task or non-payment reward.  I love this for when my kids are wanting to earn extra money towards something they are saving for, or if I need some extra work done around the home.  They can quickly receive notifications of new tasks via email, or log into their account and check what tasks are available.  Once they have completed the task, they can mark it off in their account.

In the kids area, kids are allowed to propose tasks for you, create shopping wish lists, and explore charities they can donate to.  My 11 year old is loving this program the most.  He is the one that really gets everything computers and money for that matter.  The other two younger boys are catching onto it as well though.

I am finding Tykoon to be very useful in continuing the conversation about finances with our kids.  I’m so glad we found this new program!   It is easy to use after some initial set-up.  (It does not work great in Internet Explorer, but does good in Firefox).  We plan to continue to use it with our kids in place of our previous software.  Our kids find the rewards motivating – especially when they request a chore and we approve it.

Tykoon has a special “Family Connect” program as well.   If you invite 5 friends or family members to sign up for Tykoon and if they stay on for at least one month, you will receive a $25 Amazon gift card!  Can’t beat that!

How about you?  Do you do allowance?  How much for what age kids?  I have heard $1 per year the child is old per week, but we haven’t upped ours that much yet.  How about non-monetary rewards? 

Disclosure: For this review I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Tykoon. I received a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.