Runtime: ~9 minutes
The setup, in seven steps
By now you have the decisions. Amount, splits, base + commission. This lesson is the order of operations for actually getting it running.
Here’s the seven-step setup. The whole thing can be done in an afternoon, but I’d recommend spreading it over a week so each step lands.
- Pick the start day
- Get the gear
- Have the first conversation
- Write the Our Money Rules
- Run the first transfer day
- Set the recurring reminder
- Set a review date for 4 weeks out
Let me walk through each.
The Lil Banks app in Setup
If you’re using the free Lil Banks app (recommended — but the whole system works with jars and envelopes too), here’s what setup looks like on the app side. Read this alongside the steps below.
- Open app.lilbanks.com — installs like a normal app on iPhone, iPad, Android, or desktop.
- Add Child — enter your kid’s name, a colour, an emoji. That’s the whole signup. No email, no account, no phone number. Data stays on your device.
- Our Money Rules — this is where you set the whole system. Pocket money amount, payday, splits, matches, Weekly Tasks, Extra Jobs. All the stuff we’re about to walk through — in one screen.
- Weekly Tasks (optional) — the app lets you set recurring commitments like “bed made every day” or “feed the dog.” Add them as habit tracking only for the first four weeks. Don’t tick “Link to allowance.” Allowance should be steady and unconditional at the start. If a specific pattern breaks down later, you can revisit — see Lesson 7 for the full argument.
- Export Our Money Rules PDF — this is the printable version for your fridge. Same content, plain-English contract, spaces to sign. When we say “put the agreement on the fridge” — this is the artifact.
- Family Devices — QR-pair every device the kids use (free tier is one device; App Premium unlocks multiple). The app syncs peer-to-peer with no server ever seeing your family’s data.
Cost: free forever with one child on one device. Family Bundle ($49 one-time) adds multi-child, multi-device sync, and the 12-lesson program together — saves $19 vs buying separately. Either way, the setup is the same.
Now to the steps.
Step 1: Pick the start day
Pick a specific day, in the future, that you’ll launch. Not “next week sometime.” A specific date.
The best start days are Saturdays — relaxed pace, plenty of time, easy to make a small ritual. Sundays work too. Weekdays generally don’t, because allowance day should be unhurried.
Make it about a week out. You need a couple of days to gather supplies and have the prep conversation, but not so long that you lose momentum.
Tell your kid: “On [Saturday two weeks from now], we’re starting something new with money. I’ll tell you more soon.”
A little anticipation is good. They’ll come back to it.
Step 2: Get the gear
Different gear at different ages.
For 3 to 6: Four Banks. Mason Banks work, plastic containers work, dedicated four-compartment piggy banks work. The important thing is they should be clear or have a visible window, because seeing the money accumulate is the whole magic. No opaque piggy banks at this age.
Labels: SAVE, SPEND, GIVE, INVEST. Big, clear letters. If they can read, even better — they’re part of the labelling.
Also: get the right coins. Visit the bank if you have to. You want the allocation to be easy to split into physical coins. For a $5 allowance you want a $2 coin, two $1s, and four 50c pieces, or similar.
For 7 to 9: Two Banks or compartments (Spend and Give in physical money) plus a kids’ bank account or kids’ card (Save and Invest in digital). In Australia: Spriggy, KitSplit, CommBank Youthsaver. In the US: GoHenry, Greenlight, Step. In the UK: GoHenry, Rooster Money, NatWest Rooster. Most of these have parental controls and let you split balances into goals.
You’ll also want a way to make the Invest pillar visible. At this age it can still be a “parent-tracked” pretend investment — a spreadsheet or a notebook where you write the balance each month and update it with their match. Real micro-investment accounts come in around 9–10.
For 10 to 12: Mostly digital. A kids’ debit card with separate balances or goals. A real custodial investment account (parent’s name with the kid as beneficiary in most jurisdictions). In Australia, that’s typically a parent’s investment account labelled for the child, or products like Spaceship Voyager with a parent’s account that mentally earmarks holdings. In the US, custodial UTMA/UGMA accounts. In the UK, Junior ISAs. Check what’s right for your jurisdiction.
Also: a shared family note (in your phone) or a small whiteboard for the commission list.
Step 3: Have the first conversation
This is the big one. Pick a quiet time — not in the car between things, not during dinner. Sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning is ideal.
Tell your kid something like this. Adjust for their age.
“I want to start something new with you about money. Every week — let’s say every Saturday — I’m going to give you some pocket money. It’s going to be your money. You decide what to do with it. But there are going to be some rules about how it gets split, because I want to help you build the kind of money brain that’s going to make life easier when you’re a grown-up.
There are going to be four Banks [or four buckets, for older kids]: one for spending on whatever you want, one for saving up for something bigger, one for giving away to help people, and one for investing — that’s a special one where the money is going to grow.
If you want even more money, there’s going to be a list of extra jobs you can do around the house — washing the car, that kind of thing — and those will pay extra. But your normal jobs — making your bed, clearing your plate — those are just because you live here, and they’re not paid.
What do you think?”
Then let them ask questions. Don’t push through to the end of your script. The first conversation is mostly listening.
Common questions and what to say:
“How much?” Tell them the amount and the split. With younger kids, write it on a piece of paper.
“Can I just spend it all on candy?” “You can spend the Spend Bank on candy. The other Banks have other jobs. You’ll see.”
“What if I don’t want to give any away?” “Giving is part of how this works. We’re going to do it together. You can pick where it goes — I’ll show you some options.”
“Why are you making me invest?” “Because investing is the secret weapon for getting rich slowly. I’ll show you how it works in a few weeks.”
“Will [sibling] get the same amount?” “They’ll get the same system, but the amount is different at different ages. When you were [their age], you’ll have got [their amount].” Said calmly, without apology.
Step 4: Write the Our Money Rules
This sounds formal. It is, deliberately. The fact that you write something down makes it real.
The agreement is a one-page document, ideally written by hand by you and signed by both you and your child (and your co-parent if applicable). The course materials include a printable template, but here’s the structure:
Our Our Money Rules
Every [day of week], [child’s name] will receive $[amount] in pocket money.
It will be split this way:
- $[X] to SPEND on whatever [child] chooses
- $[X] to SAVE for a specific goal
- $[X] to GIVE to a chosen cause or person
- $[X] to INVEST so it can grow
For every $1 in the INVEST Bank at the end of the month, [parent] will add $[match amount].
[Child’s] money is [child’s]. It will not be taken away as punishment. It will not be borrowed without asking.
[Child] does not get pocket money for the jobs we all do because we live here: [list].
[Child] can earn extra money by choosing to do jobs from the Commission List: [list with amounts].
Pocket money covers wants, not needs. [Parents] still pay for: clothes, food, school stuff, and basics.
We will review this together in 4 weeks and again at the end of 12 weeks to see if it’s still working.
Signed: [Parent], [Co-parent if applicable], [Child] Date:
Stick it on the fridge. The visibility matters — it’s a constant low-level reminder that this is the agreement.
Step 5: Run the first transfer day
The first one needs to be a little ritual. Sit down at the kitchen table, with the Banks and the money laid out. Walk through it.
“Okay. Here’s your $5. Let’s split it. $2.50 goes here, in the Spend Bank — what do you want to use that for this week? You don’t have to know yet. $1.50 to Save — remember, we agreed you’re saving for [the thing]. 50 cents to Give. 50 cents to Invest. And at the end of the month, when I do the match, that becomes a dollar.”
Make it a few minutes long. Don’t rush. The ritual is the lesson at this age.
For older kids on a digital system, the Weekly Review is logging in together, walking through the balances, approving pocket money together. Same idea as the physical sit-down, different medium — and in the Lil Banks app it’s one screen you swipe through together.
Step 6: Set the recurring reminder
Right now, while you’re thinking about it. Open your phone. Recurring weekly alert. Same day. Same time. Label it something that grabs you.
This is non-negotiable. Lesson 3 was about the trust foundation; this is how you keep it.
Step 7: Set a review date for 4 weeks out
In your calendar, schedule a 15-minute review with your child for four weeks from launch. We’ll cover what to do in that review in Lesson 9.
The review matters because the first 4 weeks are when you’ll spot what needs adjusting. Better to find out at the 4-week mark than the 4-month mark.
Common setup mistakes
Starting before you’ve had the first conversation. Don’t just hand them money and Banks one Saturday. The conversation comes first. The agreement comes first. Then the money.
Skipping the agreement because it feels overkill. It’s not overkill. The act of writing it down — and getting your co-parent to read it — is the moment the system becomes real. Without it, you’ll drift.
Making the first split too complex. If 50 cents to Give feels too small to bother with, just call it 50 cents and let the kid hand a single coin to a charity at the end of the month. Don’t get clever in week one.
Not telling your co-parent before the kid hears about it. This is the biggest one. We’ll cover co-parent alignment in Lesson 12, but for now: have the conversation with your partner first, ideally before you finish this lesson, definitely before the launch conversation with your kid.
What’s coming
Next lesson — the first four weeks. Week by week, what to do, what to say, what to expect, and where kids typically push back.
Action for this lesson: Right now, before you watch the next video: open your phone, set the recurring reminder. Then pick your start day and put that in the calendar too.
— Bec
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