In brief
Mellow is a parent-child money management app built by two post-90s founders. It has a points-saving mode with no real money for younger children, and a Global Cash prepaid card mode for older children, which lets parents transfer pocket money and view spending records instantly.
Spending money is easy, but saving it is hard. Many people lack a healthy attitude toward money management and live by "spend whatever you have," ending up as "moonlight clan" members who run out of money by the end of every month. It seems that Hong Kong lacks financial awareness cultivated from an early age. Two post-90s young people recognised this problem and developed a mobile app designed specifically for parent-child financial education, "Mellow", and partnered with Global Cash to launch a prepaid card, putting the digitisation of pocket money into practice. Parents can transfer pocket money to their child's prepaid card and keep track of their child's spending through the app, thereby instilling the right concept of using money. The founders believe that school education and many of the money management classes available in the community stay at the level of concepts and lack practice. Children learn money management best by "handling real money, with a sum given to them to manage on their own," and they suggest that parents start letting go with this year's lai see money.
The app has two main parts. The first part is saving points, which involves no money and is suitable for helping younger children build a concept of money management. Parents can first agree on rewards with their children, such as a trip to Disneyland or a new toy, and then use the app to set tasks for them, such as helping with cleaning or scoring 100 in a dictation test. After completing a task, the child earns some points, which add up bit by bit. Once the points reach a certain number, they can be exchanged for the reward.
One of the founders, Teresa Chan (Teresa), said the concept was inspired by the practice of parents overseas: "Many parents overseas let their children earn pocket money by doing household chores, but we worried that Hong Kong parents would find this too utilitarian, so we changed pocket money into actual rewards." In this way, children learn from a young age that nothing in the world is gained without effort and that rewards come only from putting in the work; at the same time, parents can interact with their children through the process and strengthen their parent-child bond.
Mellow partners with Global Cash
Older children, or those who have already developed a certain concept of money management, can have a prepaid card applied for by their parents and move on to the stage of handling real money. Parents can transfer pocket money to the prepaid card through FPS (Faster Payment System). The card can be used worldwide at merchants that accept Mastercard, and also for online shopping. Both sides can view the spending records instantly through the app. The founders suggest that parents use these records to check whether their children are spending their money wisely and guide them on how to use money properly.
Digitising pocket money is a very new concept in Hong Kong, and Chinese people often feel that money is only real when they can hold the cash in their hands. However, another founder, Chester Sin (Chester), pointed out that electronic payment has become the global trend, and that because parents can track their children's spending through the app, it is actually more tangible: "Many parents say it is hard to keep track of how much their children spent and where they spent it when using cash, but with electronic payment it can be tracked." He added that if a child loses the prepaid card, parents can freeze the funds immediately through the app.
"Mellow" has received many positive reviews and last year even won TechCrunch Top Picks, giving it the chance to showcase the app in Silicon Valley. The app has currently been downloaded more than 3,000 times. Many parents said that after using it they have a better grasp of their children's spending, and their children have saved more money as a result. The founders plan to possibly work with schools in the future to bring healthy money management concepts into campuses.
Original article: https://bit.ly/2KS76V5