Busy Mom Reviews

My oldest child will be going to college next year, so we've been trying to figure out a money system that works ahead of time. We don't know where she'll be going yet, so I'd like to find a method that can be managed online and isn't location dependent.

We've been experimenting with a few things, and when I heard about the American Express Prepaid card, it sounded like something we should try.

Some of the features that make it sensible for a college student:

Prepaid - Having a prepaid card means no overspending or overdraft fees, important for someone with new independence!

Protection if the Card is lost or stolen - You're not responsible for fraudulent charges and American Express will replace the funds. Things get lost at college, ya know.

Easy ways to add money - You can add money online or by phone, from a bank account or even with cash. This is important since we don't know where she'll be going to school and we'll need to be able to get money to her easily.

Manage the card online - It's going to be important for us to be able to monitor her spending, especially at the beginning, so the ability to manage the account online will be important.

The American Express Prepaid card is something we could also use for our younger children as they get older and need to learn about spending money and are out of the house more, too.

Do you have kids in college? Do you have any hints for me about managing money and allowance?

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of American Express and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate

My two oldest kids are teenagers, so we're in the throes of teaching them about handling money since they'll be on their own before we know it.

We're very fortunate that our school has a fabulous personal economics class that they've both taken, so the have a solid foundation in the concepts of money, spending, saving, credit, insurance and more.

However, it's up to us to teach them to make it work in real life.

My daughter has had a job for a year, so she has some of her own money. She has a car and drives, so we give her an allowance that includes gas money. When she turned 16, we opened a very basic teen checking account (with a debit card) and a savings account, so we can monitor what she does. We wanted her to be very familiar with the banking process well before adulthood.

She's quickly found that she has to pay real attention to how much things cost and that she can't always afford what she wants.

She's less than a year away from college, and there's so much more we want to make sure she knows about money before she goes.

We all want our kids to be able to manage their finances and thrive without mishaps, and American Express provides some tips and tools for parents (created by financial expert Jean Chatzky and Mom Central’s Stacy DeBroff), to educate their teens called, "Practice Safe Spend”.

Some of the tips include:

* Protect yourself from a budget blowout: There are college expenses you plan for – food on the meal plan, books – and then there’s everything else. Laundry, late night pizza and other extras add up fast. Decide how much your teen will have for these variables, tell them to track all spending, then check back in a month to see how it’s working out.

* Understand that no means no: It happens to parents, too – paying for a killer outfit or electronic gadget with a credit or charge card, only to feel the delayed sticker shock at month’s end. Before your college student arrives on campus, talk about the types of spending temptations they may experience and should avoid while at school.

* Keep your teens close, and their spending closer: A card linked to your account proves ideal for teens in emergency situations. Parents never know when their young adult might need immediate access to additional funds to get themselves out of a jam. For example, their car might break down and they need to pay for a tow. You can give your teen a charge card like the American Express Additional Card with Custom Limits, that allows you to quickly and easily raise their spending limit – granting them access to additional funds – simply by going online.

Financial skills and responsibility are just as important topics to cover with your teens as the other "big talks" you have with them such as drinking and drugs. It's an ongoing challenge and we are very fortunate that it's covered at school, and I'd love to see it become a common topic in all schools someday.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of American Express and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.