One of my kids’ favourite toys is a cash register. In addition to a tray for cash payments, it also has a pretend machine for taking card payments.
One of the things I find staggering is that my two daughters think nothing of taking card payments when playing shop keepers. They’ve seen mummy and daddy do it so often it’s just second nature to them.
In some ways I shouldn’t be too surprised. When I go shopping or use a cashpoint I will, time permitting, talk my eldest daughter through the process. So few payments are made with cash these days that I’m only too happy to start their financial education with electronic payment systems.
The video below was filmed on behalf of payment services specialist Visa at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. From the discussions taking place, especially about the Innovation Hub, it’s clear my wife and I will need to go much further in terms of the financial education of our children.
There’s a lot of talk about using mobile devices for paying for products. In time, Toddler Adams and her big sister will have to be educated about how to go about doing this. As Nicola Huss, Visa’s Chief Executive for Europe made clear, security is a major issue. It’s good to see Visa is taking this seriously. It’s an issue I’ve already started talking to my eldest about. I think it’s good to start having these discussions from a young age.
Then, of course, there’s all the talk of wearable technology. For me, this may not be such a bad idea. I’m awful at leaving my wallet and mobile phone lying around. If I were actually wearing my own mobile payment system it may stop me from losing it!
It’s funny, just the other day I was told I could pay for some books with a cheque. It dawned on me that I’ve never made any attempt to educate my children about cheques. I guess in time I will, although what are the odds they’ll never write one?
Pic credit; H Lundgaard. reproduced under Creative Commons agreement 3.0.
Disclosure; this post was written in collaboration with Visa.
