FintekNews Friends, as so often is the case, we stumbled across this fintech app by pure happenstance, but then as we looked into it, thought it bore further review. Pennybox was founded by Australian Reji Eapen, who created the app in response to watching "his own sister hurt by a lack of financial knowledge" according to their website.
The app helps kids learn the value of money by organizing kids allowances according to the tasks they have completed, and enabling them to withdraw their earned funds by asking their parents for payment. It includes photos of the chores and tracks deposits and withdrawals. It's pretty ingenious really.
The app also has a linking feature with parents and children that enables money flow between family members and helps parents stay abreast of their children's chores.
Another interesting feature is a following feature that enables kids to share their activities with other kids, and according to the site, teaches kids "ideation and consumer research skills". Translation - "WHAT?!! YOUR PARENTS PAID YOU $10 TO WASH THE DOG, AND I ONLY GOT $5???"
So, there may be a few issues with this - peer pressure is one that immediately comes to mind - but overall, we think it's a pretty great way to get little people engaged in financial technology in a meaningful way, early on in life.
Now the next step for our wealth manager and fund manager readers - getting them to learn investing skills. But we'll save that for another time.
Website: Pennybox.com