Apps and tools to teach students financial literacy are necessary if we want to reverse a frightening money trend. Nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed in 2017 have poor financial literacy skills, as evidenced by rising credit card debt, lavish consumer spending, lack of savings and retirement funds, and huge student loan repayments.

Teaching students financial literacy is one of the best ways to reverse this trend, and learning about financial literacy is best done in the early years. Fortunately, there are apps and tools for that:

• iAllowance – If you’re tired of reminding your kids to get their chores done before giving them their allowances, try this app. You can create incentives such as allowing additional gaming time, print charts and reports, and best of all, send reminders via the app.
• Bankaroo – This bilingual (English/Spanish) virtual bank app shows children 5-14 how to budget money, set financial goals, save money and use basic accounting skills. The app is for individual students, and it also allows schools to manage student accounts for book fairs, lunch money, and more.
• PiggyBot – Kids ages 6-8 can learn financial literacy basics like virtual banking, goal setting, and saving. Upload photos of goals and review “transaction records” along the way.
• Celebrity Calamity – Kids idolize celebrities, often wanting to be just like them. That may mean driving fast cars, going on shopping sprees, and living in expensive homes. Children often don’t realize how unrealistic these habits can be, but this app teaches how poor financial literacy skills can end a career.
• Green$treets – This free app helps children ages 5-8 determine if they are spenders or savers. Next, the app engages users in an animal rescue game in which users must budget for the care of their chosen animal.
• LearnVest – When high school and college students are ready to learn money management and investment strategies, they may benefit from using this fee-based app. LearnVest focuses on reducing credit card debt, building emergency funds, and planning for retirement. Users set personal goals, and the app makes appropriate recommendations.

Finally, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) offers Money Smart – A Financial Education Program. The FDIC programs represent a comprehensive effort to teach children and adults how to sharpen their financial literacy skills and achieve greater financial health and independence.

With apps and tools like these for teaching financial literacy, you can help your students become more savvy masters of their finances.