POSB Smart Buddy - Preparing your child for the future world

Singapore, as a whole, is moving towards a cashless society in its aim to be a smart nation. This is made even more evident in PM Lee’s recent National Day Rally speech. And as parents, we are encouraging coding and STEM so it is certainly not surprising that our children are getting a lot more tech savvy than we were at their age.

POSB Smart Buddy Programme is a tech (with a mobile app) that teaches children how to spend and save money using a watch which is a device for cashless payments. I was invited for a briefing as well as to trial the watch with Dumpling.

:: What are the features of the POSB Smart Buddy watch?

The Smart Buddy watch also acts as a fitness tracker (steps and calories counter). Additionally, if your child’s school is participating in the programme, it allows your child to make cashless transactions in the school’s canteen, school’s bookshop and even at merchants out of the school compound.

:: How does it work?

The POSB Smart Buddy watch is linked up to your savings / current account. More importantly, it allows the parent to view the below to understand the spending patterns of the child:

:: 3 things we like about the POSB Smart Buddy Watch

1) Ease of use

It’s as simple as a “tap and go” to make that NETS transaction. Dumpling tried first this out at Popular bookstore. 

All she had to do was to raise her watch and tap against the payment unit and the transaction was reflected real-time via my app.

2) Real-time “top up” and transactions update

I was away at the library when the dad and her decided on a KFC meal and the kiddo wanted to pay for it. Her balance was at $5.80 but the meal costs $8.8.

A quick call to me and I topped up there and then in the library and she was able to pay for it in under 2 minutes!

The best part is in the event if your child drops the watch, we can disable the watch via our app on the phone remotely! How’s that for security? J

3) Encourages the kiddo to be more active

Believe it or not, Dumpling was really excited with the steps and calories counter as it looks somewhat like the smart watch that I am using. She was motivated to walk a lot just to see how many steps she took and if she can outdo herself the following day. I think that this feature, when rolled out in more schools, will be one which will get the children trying to outdo each other, which in turn, get them to walk more and lead a healthier lifestyle. 

:: OK, so I understand the functions of this watch but I am worried about financial literacy. Won’t this watch not allow the child to understand that?

Honestly, to me, there is not much difference between the POSB Smart Buddy and from the child’s EZ link card which is used for bus trips and even for library charges. The only thing is that for EZ link card, we, as parents are mainly the ones responsible for topping up and for managing the account. But in the case of the POSB Smart Buddy watch, the child will be responsible for the spending and savings. 

Now, isn’t this a good thing?

This is especially so if you have a young child (e.g. Primary 1 / 2) where you can now monitor the spending and speak to your child about it before it escalates to a larger “overspending” issue? So how can I make the POSB Buddy watch work even better for us?

:: Here’s 3 tips:

1) Let them earn their allowance

Frankly, Dumpling has never had allowance going to school. We secretly joke that she must be the poorest student we know. :p But the main reason is because she does not fancy school food and even at this stage I still pack her a bento daily. She has an emergency fund which she can tap into but that’s about it.

With Dumpling “earning” her allowance (or commission ~ a term which I learnt from a financial guru), I hope that she grows up with a less entitled mindset. And by earning, it is not the chores that she is tasked to do, but to take on extra tasks. This, I learnt, makes her more careful with her spending as she now understands that money does not grow on trees. 

2) Spending, Saving and Giving

Besides the spending and saving portions, I do get Dumpling to put aside a “giving” portion back to church or any organization she wants to by understanding a certain % of her savings goes to charity.

To us, giving back is very important and I’d like for her to have such a life habit as it is certainly more meaningful than spending on frivolous items such as yet another eraser or shopkins item. 

3) Budget and Plan

Budgeting is a regular topic that I have been talking to her since young. There were instances where I did not give in to whimsy purchases or the 3rd expensive meal that weekend and I’d always told her because we do not need it. Rather, I am saving for our next vacation or for e.g. Christmas gifts, etc.  

Because of such exposure from young, I’d say that she is somewhat quite aware and showed that she seems to be quite prudent with her money management where we monitor how she spent her money recently at a Pasar Malam (night market) near our place.

Right now, Dumpling wants to have her own spending money for the upcoming X’mas and perhaps personal spending money for a year end vacation so.

To find out more please visit: posb.com.sg/smartbuddy
Here's another mum's experience using the POSB watch

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation where Dumpling and I were invited to review the POSB Smart Buddy watch so that we can share our experience on it. All views expressed are entirely mine and does not represent the organisation that I work for.

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