Disclosure: I received the Budgeteer Notes App for free to review. I was compensated for my time to test and review this product. All opinions represented in this review are my own.
Teaching my children responsibility when it comes to finances is very important to me! I remember when I was a child, I used to think that my parents could just write a check any time they wanted to buy something. As I learned that you could’t just “write a check”, I decided that our family must be very poor if we couldn’t buy everything that I desired! Little did I know that my parents were just living off of a budget. Sometimes that budget was probably more strict than they would’ve liked it to be, but they did a fine job of staying within it. As I grew older, I was able to learn more about a budget and what it means to get out of debt and stay that way.
In today’s culture, Americans tend to have a “Gotta Have it Now” mentality. We get loans and charge things on a credit card any time that we can! I do not want my children to grow up thinking this is OK! That’s why I was happy to have my children take a look at the Budgeteer Notes App by Second Nature Learning. After all, anything that they can learn about responsible money management is a step in the right direction. I believe that the Budgeteer App is a great tool for any student to enhance their own financial management and budgeting skills.
Teaching Financial Skills with Budgeteer Notes
There are 6 phases that the app takes your student through.
- Pre Quiz – In this section, the app will assess what you already know about money management.
- Needs & Wants – Describes the difference between your needs & your wants by having you sort them into interactive columns.
- Income & Expenses – It helps you to understand the difference between fixed and variable expenses.
- Setting Goals – Teaches the difference between short-term, medium-term and long-term goals.
- Creating a Budget – At this point, the student is given a set amount of money and can choose from expenses. It teaches about how to choose living expenses first and then fill in with other expenses. It makes sure to include an emergency fund as well!
- Post Quiz – At the end, you will go through a few short questions to be sure that you understood what you learned.
Besides the quizzes, each section of the app are interactive. There may be a short video explaining the concept followed by question and answer scenarios that the student will have to walk through and make decisions about. It really does get the student to think through the best answer. If they get it wrong, the app will correct them.
The Budget Tool
When you’ve completed the whole Budgeteer Notes App, it unlocks a Budget Tool, that you can use to track any saving goals that you or your student may have. This is a fun feature to play with as it helps you to quickly calculate how much you’ll need to save in order to reach your goal in your specified amount of time. Even I had a fun time punching some numbers in to see how long it would take us to save for a vacation next year. It’s a handy tool to have on hand! It also lets you track those goals, by entering in each time you’ve set aside some money for your goal. As you can see, we decided to see how much we’d have to save if we wanted to buy a car by my son’s birthday next year. We can get email reminders and even involve our friends and family in our financial savings journeys by having the app email them about our goals.
Other Features We Love!
- It’s Interactive! You can hear it, see it and touch it, helping your student to conceptualize the content all the better.
- Works on many Platforms including a phone, tablet or PC
- It helps the student build habits of financial responsibility, by helping them to practice it with the tools provided.
- Aimed for Middle School and High School Aged Students
Where Can I Buy It?
The app is available on Google Play for Android devices (works best for 10.1″ tablets) and on iTunes for Apple devices. You can buy it for just $3.99.
Get it for Android here
Get it for Apple here
Be sure to follow Second Nature Learning on Twitter: @secondnatureL, Facebook, and Pinterest.
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