阅读理解
In 2009 a group of parents in Lymington started sharing worries about their
children's money-management skills. Pocket money was now stored in a building society
rather than a piggy bank (储蓄罐); household shopping
was done online; the children rarely saw their parents handling cash. They were
spending online, too. Money had become intangible. How, then, were children
to learn its value?
The answer they came up with was
GoHenry, an app now available in America as well as Britain. It is designed to help
young people learn good spending habits through real-world money activities. Parents
sign up with their own bank accounts and pay a monthly fee of £2.99 or $3.99 for
each child aged six or over. Adults and children download separate versions. Parents
can schedule pocket money and set chores. When those are marked as done, the child
is paid the agreed amount. Parents can see what the child has bought and where.
And they can choose where the card can be used: in shops, online or at ATMs.
Children get cards printed with
their name. They can put money in savings pots, view their spending and balances,
and set savings targets. "They could decide to save ten dollars for a friend's
birthday in four weeks' time, or set a goal at 12 to have $2,000 to buy a car at
age 18," says Dean Brauer, one of GoHenry's founders. "The app tells them
how much to save each week to meet their goal."
A big benefit of such apps is
that they inspire family conversations about money. According to the latest research,
more than half of British parents find the subject hard to discuss with their children.
And yet most agree that children's attitudes to money are formed in their early
years.
Some GoHenry customers are wealthy
parents who worry that their children will grow up with little knowledge of money.
Others have slim incomes but regard the app as a preparation for their child's future.
Some say that they have been in debt and want their children to avoid that mistake
when they grow up; others that the app is cost-effective because their children
learn to plan spending. Even though young people no longer touch and hold money,
they can still be taught to handle it well.
