You know I’m passionate about financial literacy and teaching kids about money and investing. So I’m always looking for great ideas on how achieve this.
This week, I came across a new Aussie app, Drip Invest, that teaches kids under 18 about investing using real money, but under the supervision of parents. It’s designed to help under-18s build healthy financial habits and literacy using real investments.
From as little as $5, kids and their parents can make smart, real investment decisions together, turning pocket money into potential profit and helping kids to build the knowledge and confidence needed for financial success in adult life.
Children can choose between 15 different ETFs to invest their money and there are a whole bunch of video explainers and tools for them to do their research.
It’s the brainchild of Aussie Isabelle Charter, who acknowledges she was never taught how to manage money or invest wisely from a young age and this knowledge gap can have long term consequences for financial wellbeing.
Parents create a Drip Minor investing account for their under-18s who can access the app on their devices with a ‘view and request only’ profile. Teens can then explore 15 different investment options, from companies, to metals and even crypto, and can request investments, which parents then approve or decline. Parents can also set rewards for learning, like weekly money boosters unlocked by answering questions about market updates and investing concepts.
The app uses special features like a plain language dictionary that explains investing lingo, learning rewards, gamification, and a visualisation tool that demonstrates the impact of long-term investing.
There are no transaction fees (which could be huge on a small transaction) but there is a subscriptions fee of $14.99 per month for one child, and they are currently offering the beta version for $6.99. Adult subscriptions are free. An administration of 0.8 per cent a year is also deducted.
