The new Greenlight Max platform introduces kids to investing their own money–with a good bit of parental control.
Robinhood traders may have some new competition. Kids.
That’s thanks to the new Greenlight Max platform. Greenlight Max allows kids to pick mutual funds and stocks using their own money. But parents still have the final say.
Greenlight Max is an addition to Greenlight’s prepaid card account and financial education platform designed for children. The platform already had features for parents to set spending and debit limits. But adding investing makes Greenlight unique among debit cards designed for teens and even younger.
Savings is Important, but so is Investing
Most parents recognize the importance of teaching their children about saving. Yet only 22% teach their children about investing. “[W]e know that financially-smart kids will have happier and healthier lives,” said Tim Sheehan, co-founder and CEO of Greenlight, in a statement. “Investing is one of the most important pieces of the personal finance puzzle.”
As with the core Greenlight debit account, parents are in control. Parents set limits on the amount their child can use for investing. And children have to request their parents’ approval through the app for each transaction. That way, parents can provide investing guidance to their children with a measured amount of freedom for their children to make their own investment choices.
Focus on Financial Education
Investing adds a new dimension to providing kids with an early financial education that’s consistent with the Greenlight platform. The core debit account provides parents with the ability to monitor their childrens’ spending and to set the amounts that available for spending and savings. And it includes convenience features like automated allowance, chore schedules, and instant transfers.
With the addition of the investing platform, Greenlight now offers three account plans. All plans come with the Greenlight account with debit cards for children and a mobile app. The basic account has a monthly fee of $4.99 per family with up to five child accounts. The core account plus the investing platform is available for $7.98 per family per month. Greenlight Max, with the investing platform and other added perks, such as cell phone protection, costs $9.98 per month.