As a CEO of an Ed-Tech company, providing financial literacy learnings to young children, I am inspired to develop this online-to-offline smart device for young children to learn and also to practice their financial knowledge in reality, anywhere, any time. I name this future product “MoneyWise Kids(MWK) bank”. This is an IA robot for children to manage their allowances, incomes, expenses, budgeting, account booking, and also solve personal finance problems.
This little MWK bank is 5G supported, and is connected with a smartwatch, online banking, online learning resources, and also online database. It could also generate financial literacy quizzes and rewards for good deeds.
There is the introduction video from me. Please feel free to leave your suggestions, advices and questions! Those are highly appreciated and welcomed!
Hi Nini,
I really like the idea of your MWK financial literacy device powered up by AI. Providing financial skills to children at 7-13 is important step to encouraging financial responsibility for the rest of their life. Currently in Alberta, financial literacy is covered in high school, when students are preparing to leave for post-secondary or for employment. Your product could change the way financial literacy is taught and perhaps eliminate the need for school to cover it.
Although I think the MWK is a valuable piece of hardware, have you considered developing an app instead? The features of MWK such as e-currency, the financial quizzes/games and advice could still be available through an app developed for a smartphone. Smartphones and watches afford the capability to pay for items already. However I do like the AI feature which perhaps might be likened to a “financial Siri” that has a dialogue with you before you make a purchase. I really like the dialogue between the user and the AI that gives the user time to process whether this purchase is a need or want and is within their budget constraints. The delay of gratification reward is also a great incentive, perhaps once banks sign on to this technology they could provide small % of interest/e-currency when you choose not to access funds at a particular time. We all too familiar with banks charging users to withdraw/spend money. Also, when you make a purchase, it could also notify the user of the potential interest/e-currency credit they could have accrued if they never made that particular purchase. In this way MWK makes consumers more aware of purchases and may reduce impulse buying. Further, digital pay options are already available on smartphones/watches; MWK could partner with bitcoin/e-commerce so that ultimately MWK payments could be made anywhere.
Finally, I do enjoy the RPG element to the MWK when Mike listens to a story regarding financial literacy, perhaps once he completes this story and follows some of the advice he is rewarded with special discounts or additional interest/credits to his savings.
Overall, a wonderful presentation Nini,
Thank you
Hi Nini,
I really enjoyed your A3 assignment, thanks for sharing! It’s exciting to see that someone is making this product! My daughter is 5 years old and I have been thinking about how to better get her started on her savings plan. I’ve set up a bank account for her and I’m depositing a monthly small amount into it and also investing in some stable stock shares. I think this would be a great tool for her, and it would get her interested in learning about how to use money wisely. Sometimes kids are not always willing to share and discuss calmly about buying toys with their parents. A lot of times it’s just “I want this or else!”. I think by getting them to interact with a robot AI, it would help with teaching them how to be wise with their money.
I hope your venture will be successful! Good luck!
Emily
Hi Nini,
Thanks for sharing your A3 project and introducing your future product! I can definitely see the benefits of the product in teaching financial literacy to young learners. I am assuming that the product would be personal use as it connects with your bank account and a wearable smart watch, but I am wondering if the product could be programmed for multiple users for households with multiple children or school use. I also have concerns with privacy and security issues of connecting it to a personal bank account, so, instead, could the product be programmed to store “credits” and “withdraws” in the hardware as an alternative option? My children (ages 1-7) are also saving their “reward” coins in their piggy banks (they recycled and decorated Pringles containers) for their Disneyland trip when this pandemic is all over. If they see your Money Wise Kids product ad on YouTube, they would want it for their next birthday present, because they are pretty and they are pink! ????
Hi Esther
Thanks for your interest in this future product. We plan to launch it as soon as possible. That is a great idea to have “credit” calculated to reward childrens’ good financial behaviors.
As for privacy and security, we will employ matured online banking system with face ID. For the first batch, we might only work with single login than multiple users for security purposes. We believe that the best way for childrens’ learning financial literacy is by letting them practice in reality. Therefore, we tend to make it in real-life sinarios than mock learning in schools.
Hi Nini,
Your A3 definitely highlights the need for students to develop literacy about money. Since we live in a ‘tap and go’ society, many students may never touch physical money until they get their allowance. This has almost made the idea of money abstract. When we learned about coins when I was teaching grade 2, many students struggled, as they had never touched coins. I am wondering if an app and wearable can be developed to accompany MWK that focuses on education without having actual money. I definitely think that having the funds makes the learning more authentic, but it would be great for students to learn these skills even if they don’t get an allowance. Thanks for a very interesting A3!
Hi Jennifer
Yes. You have touched the most struggling part of this product – physical money is disappearing from our daily life. Many parents give their kids e-money for an allowance. That is why we need to connect the MWK with online banking accounts to make it work.
From our research and teaching practice, we found that for different ages, different financial knowledges and skills should be introduced. This MWK product is designed for children at 7-13 years old, who have some basic math skills and money-knowledge.
Hi Nini,
I think this type of learning would have been useful for me when I was a teenager with a paper route! Learning to manage money and budgeting is such an important life skill and one that is often overlooked, I like that you are thinking about ways to help children learn this in a practical way. It’s also nice that you have included paper money in your plan, since I think that we deal with it in a different way than money on a card or in an account.
Do you think that a similar system could be as effective if it didn’t include the hardware/atm component? I like that it is the piece that allows for the use of cash, I’m just wondering if it could be more accessible and affordable without that piece of hardware. Do you see this being associated with specific banks? It certainly would be an opportunity for banks to get their branding out and start developing loyal customers – that might also bring the cost down for individuals!
Hi Janice
Thanks for your interest in this topic, and the great advice of using a more cost-efficient way to achieve the same goal. I will discuss your idea with the development team to see if we might alter the product to a more virtual one. I presume that a little robot toy might attract children to play with and to learn from.
Yes. we work mostly with banks for all these products. As you have mentioned this is a good channel for banks to broadcast their value proposition and branding. Good news to share, we have reached a pre-agreement with a major bank, which has pre-ordered 10,000 pieces for their family clients. ????
As for the cost to individuals, you might consider it as NONE, since our business model is B2B, meaning banks pay for their clients.
Hello Nini Mao! Your A3 project is exciting and intriguing since it teaches students how to manage through a personal banking system. I have come to understand that the current education system is failing in this department moneywise. Yes, I know that money lessons are a focus in the curriculum, but it does not teach students how to manage money on a larger scale. I fear that we are failing the students since the world outside the education system is moving faster than education can create a curriculum to match. Your A3 project will help teachers educate students regarding money management and banking skills. In other words, the real-life application to life skills and technology needed to manage money on larger scales. The potential of your project is highly riveting. Most students have a great of trouble budgeting their allowances and other income they receive.
I enjoyed your project’s personal aspect and how it connects with education and home life.
I have a couple of questions that may be of concern. One is the technology price, and two are the tech’s security if connected to a personal bank. The majority of new technology, if not all, are priced extremely high. Can a small school afford the banking system tool?
Your project was well thought out and showed a critical thinking process, which assisted my understanding of your project. Thank you for sharing! I can not wait to be the first to buy Moneywise banking system for my students and children.
Hi Tyrone
Thanks a lot for asking THE one critical question about pricing or the cost of technology. That is the tricky part of running a business. Guess what? Technology did not take the biggest proportion of development cost, as most online banking apps are very matured and what we need to do is only to lobby banks for working with us. We can download bank apps and directly installed them onto the robots. The critical technology here is AI dialogue and database.
As for marketing, we usually work with banks, not schools, to develop and distribute all our financial learning products. Most times, banks use it as a client acquisition present for their family clients. Good news to share, we have reached a pre-agreement with a major bank, which has pre-ordered 10,000 pieces for their family clients. 🙂
The next thing we need to do is to accelerate our product development.