Family Finance Segment Booms Amid Rising Competition To Serve Cash-Free Kids

As a growing number of competitors enter the family finance segment, Brian Dong says this proves that Greenlight was right to move into the space and deliver services to cover a previously unmet need. 

“I think it’s a tremendous validation of the space that we pioneered,” the chief financial officer at Greenlight told PYMNTS. “If we were the only one doing it, you’d start to question whether there really is a market and a need for it.” 

He added that Greenlight’s growth has demonstrated that there’s a strong market for financial tools designed for kids, with features that provide education, security and parental controls. Dong said the company would continue to focus on product innovation and delivering the next thing its subscribers need. 

Building Financial Literacy 

It’s a mission he finds compelling. Dong quips that he was the 8-year-old with a checking account. Other people in his life shared the same educational background and job prospects, but they weren’t raised to have that kind of financial literacy at an early age. They ended up struggling. 

 “My parents and specifically my mom felt very strongly about teaching us about money,” he said when interviewed for PYMNTS’ “Day in the Life of a Digital-First CFO” series. 

Greenlight is a family FinTech company that offers an all-in-one money management platform purpose-built for families and designed to help parents raise kids to be financially smart. It includes a debit card and a companion app. Dong recently joined Greenlight from Goldman Sachs, where he served as a managing director in the investment banking division. 

“The opportunity to be a part of that, to do well by doing good, is kind of a unique opportunity,” Dong said. “I think that the product and the mission of the company is really compelling.” 

All in the Family 

Greenlight provides a digital vehicle for spending so that kids don’t have to carry cash and a platform that helps the next generation of financial consumers learn about spending, saving, and investing at an early age. 

“We want to give the kids who use our products, whether it’s the app or the debit card, a great experience but then also give parents the right tools to bring kids into becoming consumers of financial services or just consumers and purchasers of goods in the right way,” Dong said. “And our intent is to grow with them as they grow.” 

Helping Kids Become Financially Literate 

In addition to bringing out products to help kids of different ages, such as older ones who are starting to go out and spend money with friends, Greenlight offers products for parents. The company has unveiled an investment product for parents. 

“The idea is to bring the whole family along, help them navigate this whole thing that is called parenthood, and then also graduate kids into becoming really savvy, financially literate consumers,” Dong said. 

The Greenlight product has built-in protections that enable parents to allocate funds for spending at specific stores, in specific categories or anywhere. It also provides visibility into how kids are spending the money, including push notifications that tell the parents how much money was spent and where. If a kid loses their card, it is easy to shut off immediately. 

Teaching Them to Make Decisions 

“Having the right guardrails and visibility, especially at an early age, is important,” Dong said. “You’re kind of setting the bird off into flight, and as they continue to grow, you can give them more freedom.” 

The child’s accounts — spending, savings and investments — are presented in a unified view so that each child can see that when they have funds, they must decide which bucket to add them to. 

“It forces them to make those decisions, which are the things that all of us have to evaluate when we think about our own money,” Dong said.