The present invention generally relates to educational financial management systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a smart card financial and socio-emotional control, training, and use system embodied in a mobile application for a smartphone, tablet, mobile device, or stationary device having Internet connectivity.
Financial management is a necessary task which greatly affects the happiness and prosperity of households in the United States. When finances are wisely managed, a family will know their budget, be able to pay necessary expenses, build a savings, and know how much they can spend on entertainment, travel, etc. Thus, a family will gain greater happiness from managing their finances wisely because financial stresses stemming from not knowing where money is going, from feeling like money was wasted unnecessarily, and from not being able to pay for necessary expenses will be minimized.
Unfortunately, in today's society, many people do not understand or follow basic financial management principles. This largely has to do with the fact that many people have never had a financial management class because such classes have not traditionally been offered or required by the public education system. Furthermore, many people have not taken the time to learn financial management principles on their own. Consequently, in many families, parents do not feel comfortable or able to teach their children about financial management. Thus, children are more susceptible to form bad financial management habits that carry on into their adulthood.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an educational financial management system that helps parents and children to learn and talk together about basic financial management principles. In today's world of technology and interaction, a financial management teaching system that uses current technology, such as being in the form of a mobile application, and allows for its users to learn through real world interaction would be well received.
There exist financial management teaching applications. While these applications are a great step for helping families to learn about financial management principles together, they do not contain features that would be highly beneficial in learning financial management principles and skills. For example, it would be beneficial to have a mobile application that helps a child see a budget and spend so they stay within that budget. It would also be advantageous to have a feature that allows parents to set limitations on where, when, and on what items money can be spent. It would also be helpful to have a feature that blocks a child's transaction if he or she spends outside of his or her budget or in some other restricted way. Also, a mobile application that has in-app lessons, videos, and educational games would help a child stay motivated to learn financial management principles.
Many people, particularly teenagers, struggle with anxiety, social and other emotional issues. Mental health is of an increasing concern. Many parents are either very busy with their professional lives and thus have limited time to interact with their teenagers to address such issues, or feel inadequate in helping them in these areas. The child may also not always want to communicate or convey their feelings, stress or anxiety to the parent. Emotional well-being affects other aspects of one's life. Accordingly, it would be helpful to have a system for assisting a person, such as a teenager, in assessing their social and emotional health on a regular basis, and provide tools and assistance in overcoming social and emotional difficulties and shortcomings. The present invention fulfills these financial and socio-emotional management and skill-building needs, and provides other related advantages.
The present invention generally relates to a financial and socio-emotional well-being management system and process. The invention enables a parent to assist a child in learning financial management and socio-emotional skills with oversight from the parent and using tools and guidelines provided by the invention.
In accordance with the invention, an account is created which is fully managed by a parent. A physical financial debit or credit card is created for a child of the parent. This is typically created and issued by a bank or other financial institution, which may also provide a software application for use by the parent and child.
The parent establishes parameters associated with the child's use of the account and financial card. This may include a budget for the child as well as spending restrictions for the account and/or the financial card. A software application is downloaded at least to the memory of a child's computerized electronic device. A report is periodically provided to the parent and the child of tracked activities of the account. This may include purchases made with the account or financial card and the financial state of the account compared to the established budget and other parameters.
The child's computer may comprise a smartphone or other portable digital device. Typically, the parent downloads the software application to a computerized device of the parent for overseeing and managing the account. Managing the account may include establishing parameters, such as setting limitations as to where, when or on what items may be purchased by the child using the account or the financial card. The budget may be established by the parent for the child in a plurality of pre-selected purchase categories.
The account or a prepaid financial card is funded, typically by the parent. The frequency of funding the account or financial card may be established. The child may also be able to fund the account or financial card from his or her own income.
A perks marketplace may be created. The parent may establish a savings goal for the child to purchase items from the perks marketplace. The parent and/or child may establish a savings goal over a predetermined period of time for the child. The savings of the child may be tracked and reported over the period of time. Achievement of a savings goal may result in a benefit, such as the ability to purchase items from the perks marketplace. The child may also be able to not only save, but invest excess money not spent after a budget time period.
A financial score of the child's account may be determined, such as being based upon past purchases, savings and attainment of preset goals. The financial score may be periodically updated and displayed to the parent and/or child. Such a financial score may be similar to a credit score, which may assist the child in understanding the importance of achieving a high credit score.
A financial literacy curriculum may be provided for the child. This may comprise videos, games, quizzes and/or interactive lessons. The child may review items from the literacy curriculum to improve the child's financial literacy. The child may be required to complete a component or item of the financial literacy curriculum in response to a financial action or decision taken by the child, or as a requirement to continue to purchase items using the account or financial card. The parent may have the ability to selectively lock and unlock the ability of the child to make purchases using the account or financial card.
The invention contemplates permitting digital payments between the child and a third party. The parent may establish digital payment limitations in the account as well.
The parent or child may enter events for a schedule of the child. The system and process of the present invention provides reminders to the parent and/or child of the events during a time period of the schedule. The parent and/or child may set an alarm for an event. The alarm will be automatically activated at the preset time. This may be, for example, a time to wake up in the morning, or accomplish a task, leave for a practice or an event or the like.
The system may periodically inquiry and/or the child periodically input socio-emotional health of the child. A video, article or the like from a playlist may be displayed or provided in response to the socio-emotional health input by the child. Additionally, or alternatively, a skill advancement or socio-emotional assistant playlist of videos, articles and the like may be provided for viewing and completion by the child.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:
As shown in the accompanying drawings, for purposes of illustration, the present invention is directed to a financial and socio-emotional management system and process. The system and process of the present invention allows parents to create a family account which children may join, wherein each child has a prepaid debit or credit card or other financial card associated with the system and may be used for purchases. The parent may set limiting filters for items, location, time and amount of money the child can spend. The system also keeps track of the child's balance and allows parents to provide the child with an allowance. When a child tries to make a purchase not passing the set filters, the child's card and account will be placed on hold and the child may be required to go through interactive lessons, quizzes, and/or educational games in order to unlock his or her account. The system and process of the present invention can also be used to assess and assist the child in his or her social and emotional well-being.
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As will be more fully described herein, the parent may establish an account, such as a family account, which is fully managed by the parent. Parents may create budgets, set limitations, and set financial goals for their children to follow. As part of the system, parents will be able to view the spending habits of their children and learn how to teach financial principles to their children through the software or a website associated with the system.
A child of the parent downloads the system, such as in the form of a software application, to his or her computerized electronic device 104, such as a smartphone or other portable digital device. The child may then either join the family account or the account established and fully managed by the parent. The financial institution 100, or other issuer, issues a physical financial card 106, such as in the form of a debit card, credit card, or a prepaid card 106 or the like. The child may use the financial card 106 and account to make purchases, based upon the parameters and limitations which the parent has established with respect to use of the account and financial card.
The child may use the financial card 106 or account to make purchases, such as through a merchant 108. Such purchases will involve transaction information relating to the financial card 106 and/or account, which is shared with an acquirer 110, which information passes through a network 112, to the financial institution or issuer 100 so that the authorization request may be cleared and the payment may be made from the issuer 100 to the acquirer 110 and to the merchant 108 for the goods or services purchased by the child using the financial card 106 and/or account. The invention also contemplates the ability to make digital purchases or financial transactions between the child's account, such as through his or her smartphone 104, to another digital account 114 of a third party. The child will benefit from the system of the present invention as they will learn essential financial management skills, which may be augmented through videos, lessons, games and real-world interaction as provided for by the system.
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The parent then establishes parameters associated with the child's use of the account and financial card. This may include creating or establishing a budget for the child 306. One or more budgets may be created by category. These categories may include any category commonly found on a budget, such as food and drink, entertainment, shopping, etc. The child will be required to stay within the budget for these one or more categories. The parent is also allowed to set limits or establish spending restrictions for the account and/or the financial card of the child 308. Such limits can include the locations, items, and time of purchases that can be made. For example, the parent may block a child from spending money at certain stores or outside of a certain geographic location. The parent may block a child from making purchases on specific items or categories, such as gambling, gaming, pornography, etc. The parent may also limit when a child is able to spend money, such as not allowing the child to spend money during school hours or late in the evening. Thus, the parent may establish parameters setting limitations as to where, when or on what items may be purchased by the child using the account or the financial card.
Preferably, in addition to one or more budgets, the parent and/or child may set goals for the account. These goals may be set in three distinct sections of the system known as Perks Marketplace, Piggybank, or other goals 310 for the child to work towards. The system may allow the parent to establish goals for the child as well as the child may be able to establish his or her own goals. The goals set by the parent for the child to work towards may be marked as parental goals so as to distinguish them from the child's own goals. These goals may be tracked over time and report generated by the system to the parent and/or child.
In the Perks Marketplace, a parent may set goals for a child to save towards specific items. The Perks Marketplace may be a feature of the system that lists items from participating vendors, which may be at discounted prices, that the child may select from and save towards. Once the child has saved enough, the system will alert the child and the child may then proceed to purchase the item from the Perks Marketplace.
In the Piggybank feature, a parent may set goals for the child to establish a savings. Alternatively, or additionally, the parent may set a goal for the child to establish as savings of a specific dollar amount within a certain time frame. The Piggybank feature of the present invention tracks the savings and allows the parent and/or child to easily see how the child is progressing in his or her savings over time.
The system of the present invention may also enable the parent and/or child to establish other goals that are not part of the Perks Marketplace or the Piggybank sections. A set list of goals could be provided by the system to the parent and/or child to choose from, such as investing a certain amount of money, donating a certain amount of money, etc. Alternatively, the parent and/or child can establish their own goals within the system. Thus, the parent and/or child may create a custom goal to work towards that is not otherwise listed in the system.
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In accordance with the present invention, a financial literacy curriculum is provided to the child and/or parent. The child is able to view the aspects of the financial literacy curriculum 516, which may comprise interactive lessons, videos, games, questions, review questions, etc. to help the child learn about financial management. These features may be in the software application downloaded by the child and/or may also be part of a website associated with the system. It is contemplated by the present invention that the financial literacy curriculum may provide mandatory lessons that the child must complete before continuing to use the system. For example, certain aspects of the literacy curriculum must be completed in order to begin making purchases, or to make certain types of purchases. In other situations, types of lessons may be required when the child tries to make a purchase outside of the set budget or limitations. A skill financial literacy curriculum in the form of a playlist may be accessed by the child for learning at any other time. For example, it may be accessed at times when required by the parent to teach the child or at times for the enjoyment and the curiosity of the child.
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Besides requesting money from another user associated with the system, a user may also send money to another user even if no request has been made. When a user sends money, the receiving user will be notified by the system of the sent money and may again have the option to accept or reject the sent money. If the money is accepted, the money will be sent and a record will be kept in the system. The sender may also have the option to send an explanation along with the money. For example, the sender may use the explanation feature to notify the receiver that the money is for a gift, to pay for a rendered service, or other explanation. This explanation will be recorded in the transactional history kept by the system so as to allow the parent and child to know exactly what the money was sent or received for. All of the sending and receiving transactions will be recorded in the system and saved as part of a transactional history.
Parents, as managers of the account, can limit the send/receive capabilities 914 of the child and his or her financial card and/or account. This includes the amounts which may be sent or received 916, and the third-party users 918 which can send or receive money to or from the child's account. As mentioned above, a transactional history is created 920 for all such financial transactions and any limitations. Thus the parent, as well as the child, can view what financial transactions have been made in accordance with this aspect of the invention.
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However, if the transaction does not pass the set filters 1004, then the transaction is denied 1010. The child receives notification of the denial 1012. Also, a push notification is received by the parent of the denial 1014. These notifications can be in a variety of forms, such as a graphic interchange format (GIF) notification, text message, email message, or any other appropriate electronic message.
After the denial, the parent may be given the option to place the account and financial card on hold 1016. The system may be set up such that after a denial, the child's card and account are automatically placed on hold to block all future transactions, and the parent will have the ability to keep the card and account on hold, or to forgive the denial. In making this decision, the parent may have the ability to call or to text the child directly from the push notification 1018 in order to determine the child's situation. The system may present the parent tutorials on dealing with the situation based upon an algorithm within the software 1020. The parent may also determine an issue consequence 1022, such as issuing consequences on the child's account, such as adjusting the budget, placing more filters, lowering the allowance received, etc.
When the child's account and financial card is placed on hold 1024, either automatically by the system and/or by the parent, the child must wait for the account and card to be unlocked 1026. As mentioned above, the parent may elect to unlock the account and card. Alternatively, or additionally, the system may provide a lesson from the educational curriculum 1028 that the child must review and complete before the account is unlocked. The algorithm may determine the one or more items from the financial education curriculum based upon the child's purchasing trends, type of denial, etc. Once this is completed, or the parent unlocks the card, the card and account is back online 1030. The financial score is recalculated and updated 1032 to reflect the denied transaction.
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The system performs periodic emotional health checks 1112. These may be provided on a daily basis, or even multiple times a day. The emotional health check may be alterable in frequency by the parent or child. This may be in the form of a thumbs up, thumbs down, one-ten scale, happy face to sad face scale or the like. A video may be displayed based on the socio-emotional score 1014 that the child entered. The system may also suggest one or more advance skills from a playlist 1116. Such videos, articles, etc. from a socio-emotional educational curriculum can assist the child in dealing with various social, emotional and like literacy aspects.
The system may display important reminders, such as on a daily basis 1118. These reminders and check-ins may be based on what is important to the child that day. The system may ask during the day in free-form text prompts 1120 certain important subjects. The system may also reminder the child to plan or schedule the upcoming time period, such as the next day 1122. The system may provide an end-of-the-week recap 1124, to the child and/or the parent.
Thus, the socio-emotional skill-training platform and use of the system allows users, both parent and child, to track their financial and socio-emotional well-being while learning/practicing sound financial literacy and adult daily living skills with real-world curriculum application through an associated prepaid, debit or credit card. Parent users may set limiting filters for interaction with a financial ecosystem. Young users are taught skill-training through in-depth intake process of their personality, socio/emotional/financial needs. Young users plan their days and check-ins on platforms which in turn uses data to suggest learning and practice of adult daily living skills and sound financial literacy for successful launch into adulthood.
Although several embodiments have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited, except as by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/849,600, filed May 17, 2019.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62849600 | May 2019 | US |