Experts explain why a cashless world is making it harder to raise money-smart kids. I’m about to reveal my age, but trust me: It’s relevant to this story. When I was growing up, my parents gave my brother and me cash.
It might have been our weekly allowance or money for a Saturday afternoon at the mall, but whatever we had in our hands was our budget. There was no tapping the phone, swiping a screen, or asking Mom to Venmo us another 10 bucks. Melissa Murphy Pavone, a certified financial planner, remembers it the same way.
She recalls counting coins, organizing bills, putting money into a piggy bank, and physically handing cash to a cashier when she wanted to buy something. Her philosophy was simple: “When the money was gone, it was gone.” But for today’s kids, that lesson is becoming increasingly harder to teach because cash is disappearing from everyday life. Think about how different the world of money looks for Generation Z and Generation Alpha.
Venmo launched in 2009, giving people a quick way to send money digitally. Apple Pay followed in 2014, allowing consumers to pay with their phones. Zelle entered the cashless arena in 2017, making it easy to transfer money directly between bank accounts.
The US Mint stopped making pennies in 2025, and many companies have stopped issuing checks, replacing them with direct deposits. With fewer people carrying cash, kids are growing up in a world where money is virtual rather than something they can hold... and moms and dads are taking notice. While some parents have tried to find humor in this growing epidemic by jumping on the "Mom Can You Send Me 4/5 Bucks" trend on TikTok, where a kid repeatedly asks their mom for varying amounts of money to a catchy jingle, others are not amused.
Jeanine Bobenmoyer, a mother of two teenagers from Indianapolis, describes the money her kids spend as invisible money. To them, she says, money doesn’t always feel real. Robbie Hyman, author of The Money Savvy Teen, agrees, saying, “There is a major difference in the way today’s teenagers experience spending money because many transactions are digital.
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