At Y-12 Credit Union, we believe it’s never too early to start learning about money. That’s why we’ve partnered with My First Nest Egg to help our youngest members learn how to manage their money.

The App was created by Nicolle and Annie, a couple of moms from Arizona who were frustrated by the lack of early childhood financial literacy solutions. We complained for a hot second and then did what moms do – started working on a solution. We worked with a developer on a no code platform called Bubble to iterate and make the App something that our mom friends love. That’s it. You can read more on the About Us page.

We use puzzles to track earning for a few excellent reasons – all based in behavioral psychology. First, puzzles are fun! Kids need things to be fun if they’re going to keep engaging. Second, puzzles are the perfect way to teach kids the lifelong important skill of delayed gratification. Kids get instant gratification from earning a puzzle piece, and learn to delay their gratification of the overall “prize” until the end. Third, puzzles provide visual stimulus to keep kids motivated. There is nothing more frustrating than staring at an unfinished puzzle.

Very little! The average interaction with the App is less than a minute. The real work is done outside the App. Kids achieve and engage in Acts of Kindness outside the App and then track those accomplishments in the App. Savings can be automatic (life skill!) and the Daily Fun Fact is just that – one fun fact a day to build financial knowledge.