> When/what was the last conversation you had with your kids about money?
We've been having a lot of discussion recently about their imminent college plans. We were very sensitive to her being saddled with debt. When we started looking at schools with (M), we gave some guidelines core expenses (tuition + room & board + fees), how financial aid generally works, and what we could afford from college savings. While we're helping out with the base expenses, she is obliged to come up with money for extras such as study abroad.
The youngest (H) was interested in these numbers, so we went over them with her, too. However, unlike (M), she is an extreme packrat. I don't thinks she's ever withdrawn money from her savings account.
> How can we help you pay your kids money/allowance and teach them how to manage it?
It would be interesting if they could get their allowance from the ATM machine and also track their balance. While they know to look for a BECU ATM, there have been a few occasions where that simply wasn't an option and (M) incurred a $2 charge on a $40 withdrawal that, I think, she didn't fully appreciate.
> What resources or support do you wish you had?
I would like a way for them to experience credit cards, especially since aspects like Apple Pay or card-only (e.g., airline food service, Costco gas) are becoming mainstream. We briefly tried the "visa gift cards" that I periodically get at work for being awesome, but they're surprisingly inconvenient: they often don't work at checkout and after a while, the fees eat away.
Ideally, I'd like to set them up with a limited credit card (e.g., cap at $100) so they can gain some experience with the concept without doing too much damage. (Debit cards scare the bejeezus out of me because they seem to lack many of the protections.)
It's been helpful having the monthly BECU paper statement sent to each. (H) reads it through, (M) may look at every third.