By Fox 40 Staff.

Tom: There's a new twist on an old way to teach kids about money, according to Greg Lesko from Lesko Financial. Greg.


Greg: Thanks, Tom. The traditional piggy bank is again fashionable among children, with bright designs encouraging them to save their loose change.

piggy banks date back to 17th century England. Now, fast-forward to 21st century kids, who are more familiar with electronic or virtual reality.


It was only a matter of time before a company came up with the idea of an online piggy bank, and oink.com has done just that.


Tom: How does oink.com work?


Greg: For a ten-dollar annual fee, parents can set up an account on oink.com and put money into it. The idea is to encourage kids to save. But here's the twist: Oink.com also includes a pre-paid, discover-backed, debit card, so the child can make purchases from the account.


The card can be used at stores, but not at ATMs. And parents can put controls on the account to limit their kid's spending and to keep track of it.


Tom: Is this a good way to teach kids about money?


Greg: Since kids spend so much time online anyway, this can be a fun way to give an allowance or teach about saving and responsible spending.

but as a parent, you have to wonder.


The average age of oink.com users are teens, but there are some as young a six. And, since the card is backed by a credit card-issuer....is it really teaching them to save money, or merely encouraging them to become future credit-card "spenders?" It's an idea that definitely calls for careful monitoring from parents.