Greenlight Review

Wednesday, December 11th

2024 Personal Finance Software Reviews

Greenlight

• Personal finance software geared towards children and teens
• Costs from $4.99 to $14.98 per month
• Offers banking as part of membership
• Includes investments, teaching tools, and budgeting
• Mobile app and desktop option
• Designed for multiple operating systems

Have you ever felt like you needed to teach your kids about finance, but you wanted something better than school books or having long chats about money? Well, Greenlight steps up to help.

Designed for kids

Greenlight is not your typical financial app; it's more like a banking app designed to help kids learn about handling money, all while you and Greenlight keep a watchful eye on your child's funds. Greenlight isn't trying to beat those serious money apps for grown-up finances, so this software may not stand out for adults who want to grow their assets. Instead, Greenlight stands out as a great option for your kid's first step into the world of financial management.

User-friendly parent and child portals

Greenlight offers a user-friendly account setup process that begins by asking you for your basic family information. To fully utilize the app, you need to link your (and your child's) bank account so real money transfers into your accounts and those of your children. Supervising the accounts is straightforward, and with funds stored in the Parent Wallet, you can make easy money transfers to your child's account while keeping tabs on their spending limitations.

Kids benefits

For your child, their app displays their available balance and any spending restrictions. Greenlight also offers prepaid debit cards, so your child can have a way to pay if they're somewhere without you. As added security, you can enable or disable notifications for various events, such as a child's money request or family debit card purchases. This system provides a transparent transaction history for both you and your children.

Manage allowance and teach investing

If you subscribe to Greenlight there are a wide variety of tools and features that help your child learn the ins and outs of financial responsibility. Within the Greenlight app, kids have the convenience of requesting funds from their account supervisor, while adults can provide money for specific purposes or as part of allowances, which can be made automated or contingent. For instance, you can assign chores like tidying up a room or caring for the family pet on the app, complete with deadlines and frequencies. The app offers a list of suggested chores, and parents can also input custom tasks.

Kids can allocate their spending

Kids are offered the flexibility to allocate their earned money according to the app's recommendations (70% to Spend Anywhere, 20% to General Savings, 5% to Giving, and 5% as Cash to Invest), or you can create a different allocation that's better for your family. Teenagers with jobs can conveniently have their paychecks directly deposited into their Greenlight account. Plus, both parents and teens can learn about investing and make trades, though children must get approval.

Prices include banking capability with 1-5% APY for kids

Greenlight offers three pricing plans, which you'll need to pay for only after a one-month free trial. However, to really get a sense of the app, you'll need to link it to an actual bank account and activate the debit cards that come with it. Unwinding all that can be a hassle if you decide Greenlight isn't for you, so the free trial isn't as risk-free as it is with some other apps.

3 tiers of paid membership

The paid membership options are offered through monthly pricing. Here's what the three tiers look like:

• Greenlight Core: $4.99 per month
• Comes with essential tools for saving and spending
• Savings account offers come with a 1% interest rate
• Adults can access "lite" investing tools, and kids get fun educational content and quizzes
• Greenlight Max: $9.98 per month
• Get all the perks of Core plus:
• More investing tools for kids and more advanced investing options for supervising adults
• Priority support, and a protection plan covering identity theft, purchases, and phone protection
• The associated savings account yields a 2% interest rate
• Greenlight Infinity: $14.98 per month
• Includes everything from the Max plan, plus:
• Family location sharing
• An SOS feature for quick alerts to emergency contacts and 911, and crash detection that can automatically dispatch 911
• The interest rate for the savings account is bumped up to 5%

No listed money-back guarantee

Unfortunately, beyond the 1-month trial period where you aren't paying for anything with Greenlight, we couldn't find any mention of a money-back guarantee or refund policy listed on their website. While you can get help through Greenlight to process refunds when you use a debit card issued by the company, there aren't any statements regarding returns for the actual membership.

Solid reputation and great for kiddos

In terms of the company's reputation, it's pretty solid. Greenlight has a "B” rating with the Better Business Bureau. On top of that, with over 4,000 individual verified reviews, Greenlight has a 3.8-star average from third-party review sites. And, according to app users, Greenlight has an impressive 4.8-star rating out of 5. Parents praise how easy it is to set up Greenlight and how helpful it is to actually teach financial know-how. A few customers complained about the features for older kids, finding that it wasn't as effective for them as with younger kids since there are some limitations for withdrawing money. In general, the comments for Greenlight are mostly positive, so parents with young kids or young teens might enjoy this family app for finances.

Great for kids, but missing some features for adults

The bottom line is: Greenlight offers a range of tools aimed at educating kids about various aspects of personal finance, combining practical learning with interactive features. Even if you don't opt for the top-tier package with extra features, the core services remain accessible, making it a practical choice for families with lower budgets. However, this isn't the ideal platform for adults looking to truly grow their portfolios or increase solid investments. Geared toward kids and families with kids, Greenlight provides a fantastic service, but for a really specific user base. For this reason, it receives a solid rating but doesn't get higher on our list because adults looking for personal finance software will probably be disappointed here.