I started work on BreadVault for one simple reason: the hope that my kids’ financial responsibility would surpass mine. When Ross pitched his idea, I was immediately convinced that it was worth building.
After a simple matter of raising money, testing, hiring, coding, marketing, and stuff like that, BreadVault is ready. It is hanging out, tapping its fingers, just waiting for you to try it and help that child (and you!) with money.
Here’s the simplest and most compelling use case.
You’re in the line at the grocery store, and your kid sees a $9.99 DVD on the shelf. It’s a movie for kids that you might actually want to watch, too. You hear: “Oooh, can we buy that, Daddy?”
If you’re reading this right now, you likely can easily afford the DVD. But that’s not the issue, is it?
Here’s what I did when this situation arose the other day.
Alice sees The Lorax on the shelf and asks for it. “Yes!”, I say, “You can buy it! We’ll add a goal for it, and when you’ve saved up enough money, it’s yours!”
Her face contorts with confusion and frustration, but the scowl evolves into curiosity as I pull out my iPhone and scan the barcode with the BreadVault app. Immediately the goal is on her list, and she recognizes the goal we just created and her progress so far.
“When that orange bar goes all the way, we’ll get The Lorax!”
The electricity of learning was palatable… she was assimilating delayed gratification (your patience will be rewarded!), basic math (if you get $1/week, in 10 weeks you’ll have $10) and independence (you can do it!), and a hundred other things with almost no effort at all. Instead of asking regularly to buy more stuff, she started asking if she had enough for the movie yet (a most welcome transition).
Since she only gets $1/week towards Save goals, it was going to be a while. That’s when a new deal was born: sell us your Halloween candy for $1/piece and we’ll put it towards your Save goals. Suddenly, it was time to buy the movie! We clicked the “Buy” button and closed the deal. When it arrived in the mail, she beamed with pride. I thought: she earned it. She gets it!
BreadVault does the boring tracking work for you, and helps you establish responsible financial habits.
And this story is just about Save (“stuff”). BreadVault will help you donate to charities and invest, too!
Heart,
-Adam
It’s a bear market. The S&P 500 fell 20% in the last couple months. Many of us hear this news and get depressed. But investors savvy on delayed gratification might do little more than raise an eyebrow before turning back to their morning cup of joe. These patient investors recognize the other edge of this sword.
