Online Financial Resources
Illustrations By Tim Marrs
In a pinch, these sites have the know-how, tips and tools to make financial conversations that much easier.
- Navigating the college financial aid maze or adjusting to paychecks can be intimidating. Cashcourse.org/prep helps students transition to college as they learn budgeting, saving and setting goals.
- Parents don't always know what to say, but the National Endowment for Financial Education's personal finance site, smartaboutmoney.org, offers a searchable library with hundreds of resources, including tips for talking with your kids, exercises and worksheets.
- Ever bought something on impulse and regretted it? So have 66% of Americans. Some of them have uploaded one of spendster.org's nearly 300 funny videos about the purchases they wish they'd never made. The site can be a fun discussion starter between you and your teen or tween.
Middle and high schoolers can practice risk taking through online games created on the Council for Economic Education site, genirevolution.org.
Other Helpful Websites
- FamZoo.com and ThreeJars.com bring allowances into the digital age, helping parents assign chores and oversee a tween's earning and spending.
Apps like Toshl Finance (toshl.com) and Money Strands (money.strands.com) help teens track spending and saving goals and alert them when they go over budget.
Originally published in the July 2012 issue of Family Circle magazine.