Some Sage Advise About the Prepaid Credit and Debit Cards You Give To Your High School or College Bound Kids

Prepaid credit and debit cards can be a great way to introduce high school and college bound teens about managing finances. Prepaid cards are really the perfect training tool: kids get to feel good about managing their own school-related spending (I know I would have loved to do my own shopping when I was a teen), etc. while parents get a great tool that can go a long way toward teaching kids the value of money. Parents also get to have complete control over spending limits which takes a whole lot of stress out of the equation.

Alan Safahi, President and CEO of Card Express, Inc. (CardEx) in Irvine, California, offers a few pointers for parents who give prepaid cards to their kids:

• Explain the purpose of the card with your child and create a workable budget
  
  
• Advance the card with enough funds for everyday, school-related items and discretionary items
  
  
• Reload the card at regular intervals (up to the dollar maximum) to gauge average spending/saving
  
  
• Review the card usage with the kids and offer periodic encouragement and advice as needed
  
  
• Allow funds to "rollover" as a reward, if your son or daughter doesn't entirely use the original loaded amount
  
  

The above bullet points are part of a Card Express press release.