Are your kid’s wants driving your budget to an all-time low? Avoid the online cash advance and start teaching the young generation how to manage money. Some parents may find that giving a child a weekly allowance is their way of giving a child money skills. More often than not, a child with an allowance is still going to tug on a parent’s arm asking, pleading or most often begging uncontrollably for something new any chance they have.
Which parent are you?
- Buys the item just because a child makes the request?
- Makes the purchase to avoid embarrassment?
- Purchases the item as a bribe for good behavior?
- Spends no money and lets the child scream?
- Drops everything and leaves the store?
- Purchases the item with the idea the child will have to pay the money back?
- Purchases the item with the idea the child will have to perform many extra jobs around the house?
More and more parents are teaching their children about plastic money, through the use of prepaid cards or gift cards. Many parents don’t pay with cash anymore, and children are privy to the power of plastic. We might as well conform to this way of life and begin teaching them control over their spending. Learning to spend within their means may help the child avoid needing short-term cash advances. It is a start, an option, one that may not suit everyone’s lifestyle, yet still something to consider.
Prepaid cards offer a child the freedom to use their money any place a regular credit card would be accepted. If your child is too young for a bank account, but enjoys shopping online, this card would give them the freedom to make their game application or music downloads themselves.
Shop for a cash advance lender without hidden fees.
Parents who choose this route will need to do their homework. Prepaid cards have their way of tacking on many hidden fees which can eat away at your child’s money, (and you thought hidden fees were only in a cash advance). Talk to your bank or card provider and find out about any type of fees associated with the card. If this option seems too much of a hassle, you could try gift cards or simply a running allowance balance in which a child can spend on the parent’s card.
The most important aspect to consider and repeatedly teach a child is that if there is no money available to use, then there is no purchase. Too many of us have grown up learning to spend beyond our means and pay for it later. As those of us who are thousands of dollars in debt know, we do pay for it later, over and above the initial price tag.
When a child bargains with you for a cash advance on their allowance, go ahead and explain the fees and interest which will be charged for that loan. In the real world, we parents cannot go obtain a cash advance without sacrifice, and the sooner a child understands the costs involved of living beyond their means, the less apt they will make poor choices in the future.
