A Gene Grawe Fund grandparent has an 11 year old grandson who lives out of state and loves to eat at Subway. So grandpa gave him a reloadable Subway card that is linked to grandpa’s RaiseRight.com account. Now, grandpa can reload the Subway card whenever is get’s low.

We recently had a Gene Grawe Fund grandparent tell us about a grandma who gives all her grandchildren a reloadable gift card for Christmas, then adds small reload funds to it throughout the year for other holidays, birthdays, or just because she loves them. It saves her on shipping cost for gifts and since she reloads from home, grandma doesn’t have to go out shopping and to the Post Office!

I’m no expert, but I think this would also help kids have a real world experience learning to manage plastic spending without the big risk of losing a credit card. It won’t be the end of the world if they lost a Subway gift card with a $20 balance. They might shed a tear or two, but that would be a good learning experience.