Rooster Family Story: Meet the Kylven Family

Ross Kylven and his family have been using RoosterMoney since September last year to help better manage their money habits.

Dad to Carter and Michelle, Ross runs theFIway.com and advocates financial literacy and independence. He lives with his wife Ann and their children in Massachusetts.

1. Did you give pocket money before starting RoosterMoney? If so, what problems did you have? 💰

We tried all kinds of tactics first.  Spreadsheets, popsicle sticks, jars, poster boards, the usual “old school” methods to teach our kids about money.  None of it worked. Some of the apps we tried initially didn’t have the necessary features. Showing the magic of compound interest wasn’t native to many of them.  RoosterMoney had everything we needed.

2. Why did you start using RoosterMoney? 📲

Over the past few years, my wife and I changed the way we manage our money.  We discovered a popular subculture within personal finance called “FIRE”, Financial Independence Retire Early.  

Having lost many of our prime savings years, we decided that we must educate our children about money management early.  RoosterMoney has all the tools built in to make that happen.

3. How do you use RoosterMoney in your family? 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

We set the allowance to just $1 per week, but only included what we expect them to do everyday, such as homework.  This was to simulate a time card to get paid for their workday.

We also created optional chores to replicate earning money as an entrepreneur or freelancer.  They can do as much or as little of these as they want. The intent is to incentivize and motivate them to seek opportunities to earn more.

4. What are your favourite things about it? 🎉

It’s certainly made life easier in terms of giving the kids their pocket money and not having to use cash all the time. The kids are also more aware of what they have earned and what they can spend now.

5. How has RoosterMoney helped your family? Has it made life easier? 😌

Each of us can access the app from our mobile devices. No complicated spreadsheets or physical clutter to manage.  The kids can see their income, expenses, and interest in real time.

If we’re at the store and they wish to buy something, it’s simple and easy to just deduct the purchase from their account immediately. No risk of them losing cash or having to carry around real money.  At their age, that’s priceless.

6. How has RoosterMoney changed your kids' understanding of money? Do you feel they're better savers or smarter spenders?  💵

Our first 30 weeks of using the app is well-documented in our experiment.  My daughter turned out to be the natural saver, but my son keeps on spending.  They are coming around though and RoosterMoney has become a household name for our family.  

The other night my son wanted to watch a movie, but you couldn’t rent it yet. He said, “Can you just buy it Dad, please?”  “Nope, but you can use your ‘Rooster Bucks’” I replied. We didn’t buy the movie. Both our kids are moving toward being more thoughtful consumers!

7. Give us your top pocket money tip? 🐓

Spend some time to set everything up correctly with images and profiles to get your children engaged.  After the initial setup, it’s a cakewalk to manage. Your kids will thank you down the road.

8. Anything else you'd like to add? 🤔

I continue to teach my children about money by writing virtual letters to them on theFIway.com.  They aren’t ready for some lessons yet, such as investing and tax avoidance strategies.  I’m prepping them for when they out grow RoosterMoney and start earning real income. Hopefully, the foundation will have already been provided and they continue to learn how to become Financially Independent.

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A massive thank you to the Kylven family for sharing their story! You can connect with theFIway on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. You can also download their FIRE spreadsheet tool here.