The Merit of Giving Out Teen Debit Cards

I remember when I got my first job and had to pay the bank $5 every other week to cash a check. Eventually I got sick of it ($5 was a hefty portion of my check back then) and started working on getting my own account. I was 16.

Being 16 I had to have a parent open the account and I distinctly remember that my Father was very hesitant about giving me this freedom. After all, he had to co-sign the account.

Fast-forward several years later and we arrive at the point where I recently set up an account for my not-quite-14-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Not just a checking account, but a checking Account with a Visa Debit Card.

At 14 my daughter has the power of plastic and the responsibility of a checking account. How far we have come.

We don't give her money - she has to earn it. So what started out as a an account with quite bit of Christmas money, quickly dwindled to nothing by Valentine's Day, but the lessons are still being learned.

Not only does my daughter check her account regularly to make sure she knows exactly how much she has, she also is learning a lesson or two about the international financial markets. In addition to checking her account balance, she also checks the currency rates before heading out to the store or the mall.

The only way I could be more proud is if she set up her own Microsoft Money Account.

We've also found other uses for this. When she recently went to London - we padded her account with some money and let her take that out as needed. What was left-over - we took back at the end of her trip.

I also ordered her an additional credit card for the credit card that I primarily use. That one stays locked up in the safe and hasn't been used yet, but the purpose will be for school trips and other times when she's not with us and might possibly need to buy something expensive. (Heaven forbid!)

For all the rest of her purchasing needs, she has a Visa Debit card and she got it years before I did. Hopefully she'll make better use of it than I did.

You know...

When she has money in it again.