App helps Black families save instead of spending money on Black Friday
Goalsetter aims to narrow the wealth gap between Blacks and whites.
Black families could save money on Black Friday by using a Black-owned app called Goalsetter.
Created by Tanya Van Court, Goalsetter.co is a financial literacy app geared for children and aimed at narrowing the wealth gap between Blacks and whites.
The app opens savings accounts for children and teaches them how to save money through game-based quizzes, memes, and GIFs, NBC News reports.
“None of us can ignore the fact that the wealth gap has so many contributing factors to it,” Van Court said.
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Although she made clear to NBC that the app will not “reverse 400 years” of racial inequality, she did, however, note that it “can reverse one component that has absolutely contributed to the wealth gap — the lack of financial education and how to build wealth.”
Van Court was inspired to create the app after having a conversation with her then-9-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, who is now 15.
“I asked Gabrielle what she wanted for her birthday, and she said ‘an investment account and a bike,'” Van Court said. “I said, ‘Perfect.’ She had a kid goal and a grown-up goal — a short-term and a long-term goal.”
“What if every kid understood key financial concepts, learned delayed gratification and practiced it by saving for the things they wanted most? What if we could rescue them from the consumer mentality that we as adults often impose on them before they ever learn about money?,” Van Court continued.
Van Court has a background in children’s entertainment and education, having worked for Nickelodeon and its educational divisions Noggin and Nick Jr. After losing millions of dollars in stock and stock options during the tech bubble bust in 2001, she applied her knowledge and experience to help children avoid making similar financial mistakes like she did as an adult.
READ MORE: Walmart to spread out deals to avoid Black Friday crowds
“You spend your last dime trying to buy self-respect,” Van Court said. “We are trying to undo that. You don’t need red bottom shoes. Instead, you need to save and put money in the stock market.
Goalsetter has been downloaded more than 60,000 times, NBC New reports, and on average, it saves families about $200 per year. One family claims to have saved more than $10,000, according to the reprort.
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