We’re on a mission to make every kid smart with money – and our new, in-app Money Missions are designed to accelerate kids’ financial education. Developed with teachers and education experts, and linked to financial education guidelines, Money Missions are fun, informative, and tailored to each child.
When your child logs into their GoHenry app, they can watch animated videos, take quizzes and earn points and badges. When each lesson comes to a close, another one begins and the levels adjust according to their age, skills and confidence. You can use your GoHenry parent app to track their progress and, best of all, Money Missions are included in your monthly GoHenry membership fee.
Money Safety is the sixth Money Missions topic. Teaching kids about money doesn’t just involve lessons on earning and saving – it’s also important to explain how to look after their money and keep it safe.
Here we take a look at everything kids need to know about money safety, whether they’re spending in-store or online. Topics include how to identify a scammer, how insurance works, and steps we can all take to reduce the risk of our money getting lost or stolen.
Where can I keep my money safe?
Money is valuable, which means that if it gets lost or stolen, it’s unlikely to be returned. This is why it’s so important to keep it safe.
Explain to your child that it’s best to keep money protected by storing it in a safe place, such as a bank or GoHenry. Cash should be kept in a purse or wallet, or in a money box when at home – this means it’s less likely to get lost, or disappear down the back of the sofa.
Debit cards also need to be kept safe, so that no one else can use them. Remind kids that if they lose their card they should always tell an adult and make sure their card is blocked immediately on their GoHenry app.
Don't forget, strong customer authentication (also known as 3D Secure or SCA) gives an extra layer of security when your child makes payments online. As you will have seen yourself when shopping online, your child will see a message explaining that they’re making a 3D secure transaction as they move through the checkout process. In some cases, transactions will be automatically approved and your child will see their order confirmation. But sometimes they’ll be asked to enter a code or one-time passcode (OTP) that’s sent as an SMS message to their mobile phone, or to the parent mobile number, if that’s the one that’s registered to their account.
It's a good idea to remind your child that all the things we use to access our money, such as PINs, passwords and account details should be kept secret. That means that kids should never share a photograph of their card or their PIN with anyone, even their BFF.
Take a look at our Money Mission on keeping money safe to find out more.
How to identify a scammer
As well as keeping cash and cards safe, kids need to know that it's important to watch out for scams where people try to trick others into giving them their money. People who do this are known as ‘scammers’.
Most scams will ask people to share details of their bank account, card, password or PIN. Sometimes this works because scammers make people so worried or excited about something that they forget about the risk. They will often try to get these details by calling, texting or sending an email. This is called ‘phishing’ – and if scammers can get hold of this information they could have everything they need to access someone else’s bank account and spend their money.
If you’re wondering how to tell if someone is scamming you online, there are a couple of things that kids should look out for :
- They might receive a call or a message saying that they’ve won some money, or a warning that money has been taken from their account – but they have to confirm their card details for security reasons. For this reason, they shouldn't open suspicious messages or links, and never send anyone any of the numbers on their debit card.
- Sometimes scammers set up websites selling things at much cheaper prices than usual. It’s risky to buy things from these websites because there’s a good chance they’re selling poor quality or fake products – or your child might not receive anything at all!
You can prevent this from happening by reminding your child that they should only shop on websites that they know and trust, and should check reviews on Trustpilot. When paying online, look for the lock symbol in the address bar, as this shows that all card details are being processed securely.
Finally, remind your child that if they’re not sure about something it’s always best to check with a trusted adult.
Take a look at our Money Mission on scammers to learn more.
What is insurance and how does it work?
No matter how hard we try to keep our stuff safe, sometimes things go wrong. If our valuables get lost, stolen or damaged we might have to spend money to replace them, which is why we often buy insurance.
How does insurance work? Well, you pay some money every month to an insurance company and if anything happens to the thing you’ve insured, the insurance company will pay for it to be replaced.
We can insure all kinds of things, including our house, car, and luggage when we go on holiday. We can even insure our pets, so that insurance will cover most of the costs if they have to go to the vet.
Buying insurance means we’re less likely to have to spend a lot of money if something unexpected happens, as we can spread the cost by paying monthly insurance.
Learn more in our Money Mission on insurance.
Want to teach your kids all about earning, saving and spending money?
Create a GoHenry account today and gain unlimited access to our new, in-app Money Missions. These feature fun videos and quizzes, designed to teach kids about finances and build crucial money skills from an early age.
