My son is growing up fast and with that comes the responsibility of learning how to manage his money. He earns an allowance most weeks and is now at the age that he can start looking for part time work with a work permit. He is very excited about that.
My husband and I have been talking with the child about different options he can use to manage his money and to always make sure that he is prepared should something happen. He has a bank account and has had one for many years, but it is a savings account only and sometimes the money is not accessible when he needs it, like on a Friday night or a weekend. We think he is a bit young to have a checking account, which would give him access to a Debit Card, although it is an option.
The other option we have been looking into is a Mastercard prepaid debit card. Now this option is actually quite interesting. These prepaid cards are a great way of having cash easily but not having to carry cash with you all the time. You load the card with the amount of money that you choose and you then have access to purchases at any place that takes a Mastercard Logo. This makes it easy to have access to your money at any time, but not have to stress out that the banks are not open or is you do not have a checking account.
There are many people that do not trust banks or that are not eligible to have a checking account. This is a safer option than carrying loads of cash around, especially if you want make a large purchase. It is also great for people like my son. He can only spend the amount of money that is on the card, so no overdraft fees and he will have to learn to budget his money until he has it reloaded my myself or his dad.
I like they way these Mastercard prepaid debit cards work for us too. All we have to do is go on the website and we can load it that way, or call and load it with the amount of money that we want to. The fees are nominal so it seems like an easy way to solve our dilemma. Plus I like the fact that I still have some control over the money until he is working and earning his own income. Somehow that makes me feel a lot better!