Bank of Mom and Dad Spreadsheet Help?

[Shane]

MMM's recent post, "What I'm teaching my son about money," (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/05/20/what-im-teaching-my-son-about-money/ inspired my wife and me to want to try the same thing with our 6 year old daughter.

I can make my own spreadsheet that'll keep track of our daughter's deposits and withdrawals from her savings and then calculate interest on the current balance manually, once a month, but it seems like it'd be cooler and more accurate to keep track, like MMM's spreadsheet seems to do, of how many days the money has been in the account, i.e., if the money was just deposited a day before interest gets calculated, it doesn't get interest for the full month, only for the one day. It would be nice to have that in our spreadsheet, but unfortunately I have no idea how to do it myself...

Have any of you spreadsheet wizards created a spreadsheet similar to MMM's to keep track of your kid(s)' finances? Would you be willing to share your spreadsheet?

We're thinking of doing one in Google Sheets, that'll be accessible to both me and my wife via a phone or tablet and will sync when one of us makes a change. That way if my wife's out with my daughter at Target and our daughter insists on buying a new game or a snack or whatever, my wife can buy her what she wants, but she'll be able to debit the money from our daughter's account, so she has to pay for it herself.

Thanks in advance for any help you're able to give us.

[expectopatronum]

This is similar to the way my parents handled my allowance/accounts growing up, except it was my duty as a kid to record each transaction (generally every Sunday, and based on the receipts of any of my purchases). We had no interest, so it made things simpler. The savings account was routinely emptied and put into a real-world account which accrued interest. I kept my accounts (checking was called "short term" and savings was called "long term") on a piece of notebook paper.

Google Sheets sounds like an awesome idea. I would, however, add that I think it was super helpful that I had to keep track of my own account from day 1 - even at age 6. We always rounded to whole numbers, so the math was simple, and it made me take ownership of my account. That way I was very aware when my virtual money was changing hands, and it wasn't just a balance that Mom and Dad maintained for me.

P.S. Maybe this could be moved to the Mini Mustaches section?

[Thegoblinchief]

First Kid Bank is a web app that's got most of what you want.

[MDM]

See also http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/continue-the-blog-conversation/growing-your-kiddo%27s-mm/ for similar discussion.

[Shane]

I would, however, add that I think it was super helpful that I had to keep track of my own account from day 1 - even at age 6. We always rounded to whole numbers, so the math was simple, and it made me take ownership of my account. That way I was very aware when my virtual money was changing hands, and it wasn't just a balance that Mom and Dad maintained for me.

We'll keep that in mind and figure out some way to let our little one be involved or in charge of keeping track of the money so it's not just some abstract thing that only mom and dad can see on our phones.

[Shane]

First Kid Bank is a web app that's got most of what you want.

On first glance First Kid Bank looks really good. Maybe it'll work for us. Thanks TGC!

[StockBeard]

Will have a look at First Kind Bank too, thanks for the suggestion Thegoblinchief!

[marty998]

Hi there.

See attached file. Very basic daily interest spreadsheet tracker.

You can pretty it up with colours, I just put the nuts and bolts in.

[Shane]

Thanks for the spreadsheet Marty998!

[shelivesthedream]

Why not introduce her to double bookkeeping (is that what it's called?) and you have your spreadsheet and she has her notebook and you reconcile once a month? It'll keep her maths sharp as she'll have to add and subtract and if you do ever have a discrepancy it'll be interesting to work out how it came about.

[Shane]

Why not introduce her to double bookkeeping (is that what it's called?) and you have your spreadsheet and she has her notebook and you reconcile once a month? It'll keep her maths sharp as she'll have to add and subtract and if you do ever have a discrepancy it'll be interesting to work out how it came about.

That's a great idea SLD! We were just discussing how we were going to get our daughter actively involved in keeping track of her money. I think your idea will work.

[shelivesthedream]

Why not introduce her to double bookkeeping (is that what it's called?) and you have your spreadsheet and she has her notebook and you reconcile once a month? It'll keep her maths sharp as she'll have to add and subtract and if you do ever have a discrepancy it'll be interesting to work out how it came about.

That's a great idea SLD! We were just discussing how we were going to get our daughter actively involved in keeping track of her money. I think your idea will work.

:)

[dadof4]

I've been using http://s3.mykidsbank.org/  for the last few months. Free site, supports allowance, interest, deposits and withdraws, multiple accounts etc. Also has a free phone app.

Allows the kids to check on their balance and past transactions with their own username/password. Very easy to set up.

[Shane]

I've been using http://s3.mykidsbank.org/  for the last few months. Free site, supports allowance, interest, deposits and withdraws, multiple accounts etc. Also has a free phone app.

Allows the kids to check on their balance and past transactions with their own username/password. Very easy to set up.

Thanks Dadof4. I bookmarked that site as well. Right now we're using First Kids Bank, and that is working out for us, but I'll keep mykidsbank in case we want to try something different.