By Courtney Frazer, Bankrate.com

Teaching kids about money has taken on new complexity in our digital age. While previous generations learned financial basics through piggy banks and cash allowances, today’s parents are turning to technology to help children understand modern money management and develop a better relationship with the screens they are so often glued to.

Digital budgeting tools now enable kids to experience real-world financial decisions — from setting savings goals to tracking spending — all under parental supervision. These digital tools do more than just track dollars. They create natural and often fun opportunities for families to discuss spending habits, savings goals and smart financial choices.

What to know about family money apps

As digital payments and online banking become the norm, traditional methods of teaching financial literacy need a refresh. Family money apps help bridge this gap, offering several advantages:

Encourage financial independence: These apps create a safe space for children to practice money management skills while parents maintain oversight. Kids can make real financial decisions — like choosing to save or spend their allowance — building practical knowledge through hands-on experience.
Build financial literacy: Many apps incorporate learning through interactive features, games and age-appropriate lessons that help children grasp key money concepts naturally.
Simplify allowance systems: Parents can easily manage allowances, set up chore rewards or help children budget their funds digitally, making the process simpler for both parents and kids.
Offer learning opportunities: When parents can see their children’s spending patterns in real-time, it creates natural moments to discuss financial choices and guide better decisions.
Improve relationship with technology:Modern parents are constantly trying to peel their kids away from screens. However, money apps can create an engaging yet educational experience that begins to introduce your child to the idea that screens can be used for more than just video games and movies.

One of the most valuable aspects of these apps is how they turn abstract money concepts into tangible experiences. When children actively participate in decisions about saving, spending or donating their own money, they develop a deeper understanding of financial responsibility. This hands-on approach helps them grasp the real value of money and learn to set meaningful financial goals.

The best money apps for families

With numerous family budgeting apps available, finding the right fit depends on your family’s needs and children’s ages. Here’s a breakdown for parents to help narrow down the decision:

1. BusyKid — Best for allowance management

BusyKid takes a practical approach to teaching kids about earning money. The app connects chores with earnings, helping children understand the relationship between work and rewards. Beyond basic allowance tracking, BusyKid introduces children to real-world money management through its prepaid debit card option, which lets them use their earnings within parent-set boundaries.

Key features:

Clear tracking system for chores and allowance
Parent notifications for spending activity
Options for saving, spending or exploring basic investing

What stands out about BusyKid is its introduction to investing — children can learn about the stock market with real (but parent-supervised) investments. This early exposure to investing concepts helps kids understand ideas like long-term growth and financial risk in a controlled environment.

2. Greenlight — Best for teens

Greenlight strikes a balance between teenage independence and parental oversight. The app allows teens to develop financial decision-making skills while keeping parents in the loop. This approach works particularly well for families looking to give their teenagers more financial responsibility without removing safety nets entirely.

Key features:

Customizable spending controls, including store-specific limits
Instant transaction alerts and balance updates
Educational resources focused on teen financial literacy

The app’s investment features and comprehensive educational content make it particularly valuable for teens who are ready to learn about more advanced financial concepts, such as long-term savings strategies and investment basics.

3. FamZoo – Best for multiple children

Think of FamZoo as your family’s private banking system. The app excels at helping parents manage multiple children’s accounts while teaching everyone about household finances. Its straightforward approach makes it easier for families to create a unified system for allowances, savings and spending.

Key features:

Separate account tracking for each child
Flexible options for prepaid cards or digital IOU tracking
Customizable spending categories for different age groups

FamZoo’s strength lies in its ability to adapt to different family situations while maintaining consistent financial teaching. Its family-centered approach is perfect for households with more than one child, as it creates a team environment around budgeting and savings.

4. GoHenry — Best for financial education

GoHenry places learning at the forefront, making it particularly effective for younger children just starting their financial journey. The app combines practical money management tools with educational content that grows with your child.

Key features:

Age-appropriate financial lessons and quizzes
Adjustable parental controls
Real-time updates on spending activities

The app’s focus on building foundational money knowledge through interactive learning makes it especially valuable for families with younger children who are just beginning to understand financial concepts.

Key considerations for choosing the right app

Every family has unique financial teaching needs. Here’s what to consider when selecting an app that fits your household:

Age-appropriate design: Match the app’s features with your child’s understanding level. Younger children benefit from simple, visual interfaces focused on basic concepts, while teens need tools that can handle more complex financial decisions.
Cost and fees: While most family finance apps charge monthly or annual fees, their costs vary significantly. Consider whether premium features — like additional educational content or specialized debit card services — align with your family’s goals and budget.
Customization options: Look for apps with adjustable settings that can evolve with your child. Features like customizable chore lists, adjustable spending limits and expanding educational content help ensure the app remains useful as your child develops financial independence.
Educational approach: Consider how each app teaches financial concepts. Some focus on learning through daily transactions, while others offer structured lessons about topics ranging from basic budgeting to understanding interest rates.
Security features: Prioritize apps with robust security measures, including parent-controlled accounts and secure transaction monitoring, to ensure safe financial learning.

Encouraging financial conversations at home

While apps provide valuable tools, meaningful family discussions about money create lasting financial wisdom. Here are five natural ways to incorporate money talks into daily life:

Use everyday moments as teaching tools

Turn regular activities into learning opportunities. Whether you’re comparing prices at the grocery store or deciding on a family purchase, share your thinking process. These real-world scenarios help children connect financial decisions with actual outcomes.

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Create shared financial goals

Work together on family savings projects, like planning a special trip or saving for a shared purchase. This collaborative approach shows children how individual choices contribute to larger financial goals and teaches the value of working together.

Support individual money goals

Help your children identify and work toward personal financial targets, whether saving for a special item or setting aside money for charity. Using family finance apps to visualize progress can make abstract concepts like delayed gratification more concrete.

Show financial responsibility in action

Children learn by example. Share appropriate financial decisions you make, explaining your thought process for saving, budgeting or planning larger purchases. When facing financial challenges, discuss them in age-appropriate ways to demonstrate realistic money management.

Make financial check-ins a routine

Set aside time each month for casual family discussions about finances. Keep these talks positive and age-appropriate, gradually introducing more sophisticated concepts as your children grow. These conversations help normalize money discussions and keep financial education an ongoing process.

The bottom line

Today’s digital-first world requires a fresh approach to teaching children about money. While family finance apps offer valuable tools for hands-on learning, they work best as part of a broader strategy that includes open discussions and real-world practice.

Success comes from finding the right balance — using digital tools to provide practical experience while maintaining active family conversations about money. By combining thoughtful app selection with regular financial discussions, parents can help their children develop the knowledge and confidence they need for lifelong financial well-being.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best age to teach financial literacy?

The best age to begin teaching financial literacy can be as early as three to five years old. More generally, once your child starts to verbally express their wants and needs, they become an active participant in everyday transactions — and how you respond in those moments plays a key role in shaping their understanding of money and value.For example, if they want a chocolate bar, it’s important to show them that crying — a method that may have worked as a baby — is no longer effective. Instead, they can learn that completing chores or meeting other expectations helps them earn what they want.The financial literacy apps mentioned above can provide helpful structure as you guide your child through these lessons that may last a lifetime.

What is the 50/30/20 budget rule for kids?

The 50/30/20 budget rule is a popular money management strategy that can be used by kids and adults alike. It suggests dividing your income into three categories: 50 percent for needs, 30 percent for wants and 20 percent for savings.For kids, this might look like setting aside half of their allowance for essentials like school supplies or lunch money, 30 percent for fun purchases like toys or treats, and 20 percent for future goals.

©2025 Bankrate online. Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Each Friday, City Limits rounds up the latest news on housing, land use and homelessness. Catch up on what you might have missed here.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announcing the Council’s budget response earlier this month. (John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)

Welcome to “What Happened in NYC Housing This Week?” where we compile the latest local news about housing, land use and homelessness. Know of a story we should include in next week’s roundup? Email us.

ICYMI, from City Limits:

The NYC Council released a response to Mayor Eric Adams’ preliminary budget proposal that seeks billions of additional dollars for programs and services, including funds for housing and maintenance at NYCHA. Housing Chair and Councilmember Pierina Sanchez said she wants to see more money go to preservation efforts to fix up the city’s aging housing stock, and to hire more staff at the Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development.

President Trump’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which will create “a point of contact” between the two federal agencies to share data about undocumented immigrants living in government-subsidized housing. What does it mean for NYC?

“Through a tax on the mega-rich, the Livable New York Act would fund 100,000 units of deeply affordable housing and transition every building in New York off of fossil fuels over the next 10 years—all while creating tens of thousands of good union jobs for New Yorkers.” Read the oped here.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

For the first time in seven years, the city seized a violation-riddled property from its landlord under its Third Party Transfer program, Gothamist reports.

Meet the New Yorkers who work full time but still can’t afford a place to live, via the New York Times.

A NYCHA tenant is suing the housing authority because her apartment is inaccessible for her wheelchair, The City reports.

The City Council passed a bill to double the number of public restrooms—an important resource for homeless New Yorkers—over the next 10 years, NY1 reports.

The post What Happened This Week in NYC Housing? appeared first on City Limits.

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is undergoing his annual physical on Friday, potentially giving the public its first details in years about the health of a man who in January became the oldest in U.S. history to be sworn in as president.

“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump, 78, posted on his social media site.

President Donald Trump waves to supporters from his limousine as he arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Despite long questioning predecessor Joe Biden’s physical and mental capacity, Trump has routinely kept basic facts about his own health shrouded in secrecy — shying away from traditional presidential transparency on medical issues.

If history is any indication, his latest physical is likely to produce a flattering report that’s scarce on details. It will be conducted at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will be the first public information on Trump’s health since an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

Rather than release medical records at that time, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson — a staunch supporter who served as his White House physician and once joked in the White House briefing room that Trump could live to be 200 if he had a healthier diet — wrote a memo describing a gunshot wound to Trump’s right ear.

In a subsequent interview with CBS last August, Trump said he’d “very gladly” release his medical records but never did.

Trump is three years younger than Biden. But on Inauguration Day of his second term in January, Trump was five months older than Biden was during his 2021 inauguration — making Trump the nation’s oldest president to be sworn into office.

Before Jackson’s memo, Americans hadn’t seen key details about Trump’s health since November 2023, when Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald released a letter to coincide with Biden’s 81st birthday, saying Trump was in “excellent” physical and mental health.

The letter, posted on Trump’s social media platform, contained no details — such as the Republican’s weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, or the results of any test. Instead, Aronwlad wrote that he’d examined Trump that fall and found his “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” while also noting that Trump had “reduced his weight.”

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Trump was treated at Walter Reed for his serious bout with the coronavirus in 2020. During that, Trump’s physician offered a rosy prognosis on his condition, though White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said some of Trump’s vital signs were “very concerning.”

After Trump recovered, more details emerged that he had been sicker than he’d let on.

But Trump largely refused to say more about his health at the time, instead submitting to a pretaped, remote medical “evaluation” and interview on Fox News Channel. That was conducted by Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor who had questioned Hillary Clinton’s physical ability to serve as president in 2016 and later urged the Biden White House to test the then-president’s cognitive acuity.

In November 2019, meanwhile, Trump’s trip to Walter Reed for a physical was omitted from his public schedule, breaking the White House protocol of giving advance public notice of them.

The visit was revealed three days later, with Trump disclosing that he’d had a “very routine physical.” The White House released a subsequent statement from the president’s then-personal physician, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, saying it had been a “planned interim checkup” kept “off the record” due to scheduling uncertainties.

Arguably, Trump’s most famous past comments about his own health came during a television interview in July 2020, when he listed off “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV” while attempting to demonstrate his cognitive abilities.

Trump said that a collection of those five nouns, or ones like them, stated in order, demonstrated mental fitness and were part of a cognitive test he had aced.

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans narrowly got their budget plan over the finish line. Now comes the hard part.

The resolution adopted this week was only a first step that allows Republicans to draft legislation that they can push through Congress without Democratic support. Next, they begin crafting a final bill with enough spending cuts to satisfy those on the right while not jeopardizing the reelection prospects of more vulnerable lawmakers whose constituents rely on key safety net programs.

With thin majorities in the House and the Senate, Republicans can afford to lose hardly any votes from their side of the aisle as they draft legislation, giving each lawmaker leverage over the process.

“It’s going to take all of us to get it done,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The road ahead is daunting.

Republicans are determined to extend the individual tax cuts that were approved during President Donald Trump’s first term before they expire at year’s end. But they intend for the legislation to do far more than that, potentially enacting a host of tax reductions that Trump promised during the campaign, such as no income tax on tips and overtime.

And the tax cuts are only half the equation. Conservatives in the House gave the budget plan the final votes needed for passage Thursday after they said they received assurances from leadership in both chambers that they would work to have a final product with at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — forcing changes to federal programs including Medicaid that could prove hard for some in the party to support.

“The struggles Republicans have faced so far are only a glimmer of what’s to come,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

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Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, senses a difficult fight for Republicans. He said Trump has made clear he doesn’t want any benefit cuts for those who get health insurance coverage through Medicaid, which could conflict with the desire some conservatives have for steep spending cuts.

“If it’s this rocky now, it’s only going to get worse from here on out if the speaker is not able to get the entire conference in line,” Miller said.

Democrats have framed the debate as Republicans looking to slash key government programs so they can pass tax cuts that predominately help wealthier households. It’s a message Democrats will hammer home leading up to the 2026 midterm elections.

“At this point, they’re all worried about primaries and they are worried about Elon’s money, but they ought to be worried about a general election as well,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., referring to Trump’s billionaire ally and adviser, Elon Musk. “I think it’s going to be very difficult for a moderate Republican, if there’s still any left, to be able to vote for this and go home and defend it.”

Some Republicans also made clear to GOP leadership before Thursday’s budget vote that they will be closely monitoring the changes to Medicaid in the final bill.

“This was just making sure that there is a clear understanding here that there are a group of members that will not cut benefits from seniors and our most vulnerable New Yorkers who rely on Medicaid,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is up for reelection next year, said she’s also made her position known to leadership.

“I could not make my position on Medicaid cuts clearer,” she said. “I am not going to support cuts that affect low-income families, disabled individuals, low-income seniors, rural hospitals.”

Republicans say their focus is on instilling work requirements for able-bodied beneficiaries and more rigorous eligibility assessments. But Democrats say Republicans can’t generate the savings being discussed without also cutting benefits.

Meanwhile, Republicans see extending the individual and estate tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term as key to their electoral success next year. The House Ways and Means Committee says a family of four making $80,610 a year, the median income in the United States, would see a $1,695 tax increase if the tax cuts are not extended.

Republicans spent the last few years blaming President Joe Biden’s administration for increasing the debt, and a key test will be how many keep that focus as they seek to extend and expand tax cuts.

A recent estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation projects that extending the 2017 tax breaks will add $5.5 trillion over the next decade when including interest, and $4.6 trillion not including interest. On top of that, adding Trump’s campaign promises would swell the price tag to $7 trillion.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he’ll advocate for splitting the measure into two reconciliation bills if Republicans take too long to get to a final product.

“I’m going to say break it apart, because they need money for the border yesterday and they also need money for DoD,” Graham said, referring to the Department of Defense.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he looked forward to the challenge and there was a lot of work ahead.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“The American people are counting on us,” Johnson said.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he’s confident a final bill will pass with the House winning the most important tussles on the scope of taxes and spending cuts.

“I will bet you they will fold rather than inflict the largest tax increase in American history on their voters,” Cole said of the Senate. “And two-thirds of them, with all due respect, aren’t on the ballot next time. … Whereas everyone here is on the line. And our majority is much more on the line that their majority is.”

Associated Press staff writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.