Goal #1: Teaching your child to stick to a sound budget 

You want to make sure your kid or teen does not build a habit of spending 100% of their money each time they earn it. Rather than spending every dollar they have the second it lands in their account, you want to encourage them to think before they spend - consider the bigger picture and work towards savings goals.

Time-based spending limits with a True Link Visa^® Prepaid Card helps address this challenge. First, talk with your child about their spending needs and savings goals. Not sure where to start? Download [[this spreadsheet]] to create a budget together. Then, determine whether their budget resets weekly or monthly, and you decide the amount. 

For example: your daughter wants to save money to help purchase a car. With her allowance and income from odd jobs, she earns around $50 a week. She currently uses this money to buy snacks at school and random shopping needs, like new clothes. By budgeting just $25 for these expenses and setting her True Link spending limits to $30 a week, by the end of the month, she will have saved around $70-100 dollars. Next month, if the budget stays the same, her savings will have doubled!

Setting spending limits helps to empower your child to budget their money, while learning the value of saving, without the risk of spending all funds at once. It opens a healthy conversation for you to support and influence their budget approach, including how much flexibility they’ll have to learn in trial and error. In no time at all, their Visa card balance will have accrued, and they’ll have a head start on their savings.

This saved-up balance could eventually become the start of a separate savings account at your local bank which can continue to grow with your child as they mature and more financial accounts become appropriate.

Goal #2: Limit the size of mistakes your child can make

You’ve probably heard stories about a teen going off to college, getting approved for a credit card with a huge limit, and then going overboard and maxing it out. What follows can be a nightmare—long repayment struggles, wrecked credit, or even a parent stepping in to pay it off when they never expected to, and might not be able to afford.

The fix? Setting spending limits. Spending limits act as a safety net, making sure kids and teens are thoughtful about how much they’re spending, and block purchases over the allotted amount. This helps your child avoid getting carried away with in-app purchases, addictive online games, or shopping, especially when they’re still figuring out how to manage money.  

Goal #3: Protect your child from bad actors

Customize your alerts to stay up-to-date about how your child is spending, ensuring you are altered right away if there is any unusual activity. True Link allows you to set real-time notifications for transactions too, so you can quickly identify if something looks suspicious. 

Alerts are also helpful to stay in the loop on your child’s activity - see when a purchase is approved to know they’re safely having dinner with friends, or step in when a purchase attempt is blocked to learn more about what they’re trying to purchase and why - you may want to enable the purchase as a one-off, or open a conversation about a potential problem area like spending beyond their budget. 

If your child’s Visa card is lost - or you suspect fraudulent or unwanted activity - quickly and easily freeze the card through the True Link mobile app to prevent further spending until the issue is resolved. 

Goal #4: Visibility into spending history 

True Link’s spending history helps you to see detailed records of how your child has spent their money. This transparency helps you to lead informed, constructive conversations with your child about their financial choices, trade-offs, and the importance of thoughtful spending.

For example: You learn that your child wants to make a large purchase on concert tickets, but doesn’t have enough money on their Visa card. You decide to review their spending history to see if they have made frequent small purchases and notice daily trips to a local coffee shop - this starts a discussion about how daily expenses add up over time and how they might allocate that daily money differently so they are able to save up to buy the concert tickets in the future. 

Alternatively, if you see a large, unexpected purchase, it presents an opportunity to talk about impulse spending, evaluating needs versus wants, and the importance of planning for bigger expenses. These insights foster meaningful financial lessons tailored to real-life scenarios.

Goal #5: Stay a step ahead of issues before they occur

By default, True Link blocks transactions at smoke shops, bars and liquor stores, and dating apps or services. Even if these aren’t problem areas, these preventative measures can notify you and help trigger a conversation with your child if it does crop up. As you talk with your child and have conversations and as their maturity increases, each of these may become appropriate over time. 

You can also use merchant-level or category spending controls to create real-time friction in plans you might have discussed with your kid.

For example, you can enable spending at grocery stores, gas stations, and bookstores while disabling it at online gaming sites or fast-food chains. This not only helps manage their spending but also encourages thoughtful purchasing decisions. If your child tries to purchase new game skins, or levels from an online platform, the block is a great conversation starter about the value of digital items versus saving for something more substantial – or about impulse control. 

Another important feature is the ability to turn off the Visa card if the need arises.

Goal #6: Help reduce extra work on your end, making life a little easier 

As much as you may be eager to help your child learn some financial skills, you may be just as (if not more) excited to help foster their independence. With self-service tools, help your child increase  autonomy within True Link’s guardrails. They can text to see their Visa card balance, or download the True Link mobile app with view-only abilities, to check their balance and review recent transactions.

Unlike a typical bank account, our “one account, two experiences” solution is designed to increase their independence while making the experience easy for you. Send money quickly while maintaining proper oversight, transfer funds instantly in an emergency, and set up recurring transfers to set-it-and-forget-it when it comes to allowance. Settings like time based limits put budgeting and savings on autopilot too. Customizable alerts keep you in the loop for extra peace of mind.

We often hear that automated budgeting, balances, or spending restrictions can help limit the repetitive day-to-day back and forth that comes with managing money. These settings help to ensure you are not having the constant “yes for this, no for that” conversation daily as you will have already set it up and then the answer going forward is “whatever you see in the app, that’s what we agreed on.”