{"id":39901,"date":"2023-10-20T15:05:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/make-allowances-pocket-money-app-to-teach-kids-about-finance-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:05:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:05:06","slug":"make-allowances-pocket-money-app-to-teach-kids-about-finance-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/make-allowances-pocket-money-app-to-teach-kids-about-finance-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Make allowances: Pocket money app to teach kids about finance – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reji Eapen was on a bus when the penny dropped.<\/p>\n

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He saw a young boy, playing on his smartphone, turn to his mother and ask for pocket money.<\/p>\n

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The mother refused: the boy hadn\u2019t done his chores, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018surely in this world there\u2019s got to be an app that manages the process of pocket money between parents and kids\u2019,\u201d Eapen says.<\/p>\n

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Eapen, a former finance analyst, is preparing to launch Pennybox<\/a>, an online piggy bank system that allows parents to set a list of chores and their children to get paid for doing them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pocket money economy is, in fact, big business, with the Commonwealth Bank estimating its worth at $1.4 billion<\/a> a year. In Australia, 80% of young people aged 4 to 15 earn pocket money, receiving an average of $10 a week from their family.<\/p>\n

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Eapen says his part-fintech, part-education startup will teach young people how best to use that money.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019ll show them how to earn it honestly, spend it wisely and to understand concepts like savings and credit,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Parents set up a Pennybox account for them and their children, list odd jobs they want done around the house and determine the value of each job.<\/p>\n

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Kids can then accept proposed chores and have the corresponding amount of cash transferred into their bank account \u2013 if the task is completed to the parents\u2019 satisfaction.<\/p>\n

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Eapen says using technology to manage pocket money is common sense in the digital era.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are very tech savvy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGrade two kids now have an iPad on their booklist and use it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eapen also stresses his app isn\u2019t just about saving money. Young people should also know how to spend it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, there were Dollarmite accounts where you put in money and it\u2019s held for you.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat doesn\u2019t teach kids about spending which is a crucial part of earning money.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With Pennybox, parents can set up a \u201cspending bucket\u201d or \u201ccharity bucket\u201d, before discussing with their children where their earnings are allocated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know some kids will spend their money on something they\u2019ll regret, but it\u2019s better to make a $100 mistake at 10 than a $10,000 mistake at 20,\u201d Eapen says.<\/p>\n

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The tool also empowers children to value their work. If a youngster feels the amount offered for a job is too low, they can post a message to their parents negotiating for sweeter deal.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, Eapen hopes the app can target children with financial tips tailored for their age, introducing more complex concepts like investment as the users grow up.<\/p>\n

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The app launches on December 1 and will be free to download.<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Reji Eapen was on a bus when the penny dropped. \u00a0 He saw a young boy, playing on his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}