What makes the best investing app for kids truly the best? Is it accessibility and ease of use, the abundance of features, or maybe even the price? Or is it all of the above?
With a plethora of investing apps for kids on the market, parents sometimes need help finding the right fit for their family. Luckily, we’re happy to help guide you through the process. So let’s see how these apps work, what features to look for, and all the rewards your kids can reap from them!
What Is an Investing App?
A mobile or in-browser mobile app that lets you invest in a financial market, an investment app can help set up both you and your kids for life. Almost all apps allow you to purchase investments, manage your portfolio, and get exchange-traded funds. Using your device(s), you can get complete oversight into your stocks, bonds, and purchases.
Benefits of Using an Investment App for Kids
Can you imagine how much better your portfolio or net worth would look now had you started investing early on? While there’s no use in crying over spilled milk, you can provide your children with the best opportunities. So let’s take a quick look at just what the best investing app for kids can do for your little ones.
Financial Literacy
Unfortunately, as you’ve already probably experienced, kids get little to no education on financial literacy when they’re in school. Even though it’s an invaluable skill that’ll follow them throughout their life, formal education just doesn’t cut it.
Kids don’t get to learn the cornerstones of financial literacy, which are:
- Money spending
- Spending plans
- Earning plans
- Savings and investing
- Retirement
- Emergency plans
Since kids don’t learn any of these lessons while they’re young, they take the burden of it well into adulthood. According to the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC), people reported that they lost approximately $1,634 in 2020 alone. If we were to scale those numbers to all the adults in the US, that sum would come out to $415 billion. So the cost of not knowing is more than steep.
Now, if you are a total novice when it comes to matters of financial literacy, but realize its importance, we can help. Some of the ways you could start learning about money and investments are simply through reading, listening, and watching.
One excellent tool to start you on your journey is the book Personal Finance for Dummies by Tyson Eric. If you prefer listening to your lessons to reading them, there are countless podcasts and shows that discuss real-world scenarios and implications.
You can also look for help from financial advisors or tax experts, and even watch financial news. And of course, you should always use technology to your advantage, and get the best investing app for kids, like BusyKid.
Whichever method you choose, you’ll be making the right step toward your financial future.
Setting Goals
One of the most important lessons you can hope to teach your kids is how to set goals and follow through with them. Investing is one of the best, potentially most rewarding ways you can do that.
Once they start expressing wants and desires, you can begin explaining financial goals. Of course, how in-depth you go will depend on your child’s age, but it’s key always to be honest and realistic.
If you have a teenager who wants to go to a school abroad or live on their own, they need to know the steps necessary to accomplish that. Your main role in this will not only be educating but also helping to set a solid framework to help them achieve what they want.
Financial Security
No matter which financial tool you and your kids end up using, you’ll be investing in their future. Depending on your financial goals, budget, and account, you can save up for your children’s education, retirement, properties, and much more. Having any of these expenses covered will surely take a lot of pressure on your kids and help them avoid debt.
Planning for the Future
Even though parents are the ones always footing the bills, especially when it comes to housing, they shouldn’t be doing it alone. While you might not want to ask your 10-year-old to cover your mortgage, they can help with bills in the household.
If your child is getting an allowance or has a part-time job, they can contribute to the household. This isn’t simply about money, as you can’t expect your kids to be pulling the same wage as you. But they should know what to expect.
If they want to live alone, buy a car, or have a shopping spree, they need to know what that’s going to cost. They should also get accustomed to having monthly bills as it’ll help them plan better once they’re the ones doing it.
Sense of Accomplishment
No matter how big or small the goal (or investment) is, your kids will undoubtedly feel better about themselves once they accomplish what they set out to do. But just think how much better they’ll feel knowing that they’ve done something good for themselves and their parents.
How an Investing App for Kids Works
On the face of it, most investing apps for kids and adults look the same. You deposit a certain amount of money into an app, choose your investment type, and wait for the funds to grow.
However, investment apps for kids tend to be a bit different to accommodate learning. All of the best investing apps have parental controls, which means that parents can always be on top of their children’s spending. Also, most come with some chore features and spending limits.
While kids wanting to learn about investing is an incredible feat, they’ll still need help and guidance while doing it. But more specifically, here are some of the features you should be looking for when considering what the best investing app for kids is.
Features of an Investing App for Kids
Ease of use should be top of your list of priorities when looking for the right app for kids. It doesn’t matter how old they are, apps with overly-complicated interfaces and too many bells and whistles might put them off investing.
Another thing that needs to be high on your list is safety and security. As we mentioned earlier, kids do need supervision while investing, and they need to be safe doing it. Also, the app should try to protect them from themselves sometimes. That can be done by putting limits on their cards or having vendors that can’t be paid, like gambling sites.
Lastly, we also want to talk about a variety of features, as well. Every family and child is different. What works for one family might not be the right fit for you. So when you look past all the standard features, look at those that support your values, like charitable giving.
Why BusyKid Is the Best Investing App for Kids
Teaching kids financial responsibility while having fun and growing a portfolio probably sounds too good to be true. But not with BusyKid, the best investing app for kids on the market!
BusyKid is where chores, investments, and charities come together for everyone’s brighter future. Not only is our app easy to download and use, but it will also help motivate your kids while teaching them financial literacy.
Our app comes with a list of preloaded chores that are customizable and can be based on your child’s age. In fact, we have thousands of pre-populated chores with recommended payments, but you can also create your own.
Parents can also easily connect a checking account or card to pay for chores and allowances. Not only that, but we give parents the joy of cashless convenience.
But we offer much more than a simple task list for your little ones to check off. We also give your kids the option to have a savings account, invest in the stock market, and contribute to charities.
With BusyKid, parents can teach their kids the art of money management, while encouraging a strong work ethic. And with a one-month cash-back guarantee on your subscription, there’s no reason not to try.
You can download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play for only $3.99/mo.
How to Get Kids Interested in Investing
One of the easiest ways to get your children into investing is by using the best investing app for kids, like BusyKid. But if you need some more reinforcement, books are an excellent place to start.
Of course, the books should be easy enough for your little ones to follow along with, but also have the right information. That is why our top recommendations include books like “The Startup Squad” by Brian Weisfeld and Nicole C. Kear. You can also try “One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent” by Bonnie Worth.
For teens who might need something more complex, you should level up. Our recommendation would be “O.M.G. Official Money Guide for Teenagers” by Susan P. Beacham and Michael L. Beacham.
