Products
CentsCity, GetFitCity, Citizen’s Square…
Our flagship product is CentsCity – an online world packed with games that teach tweens financial skills as they earn rewards in the real world. We expect to develop additional products applying Skill-Life’s platform, which incorporates casual games, interactive videos and quizzes, administrative tools for adults, and a customizable rewards system. Future applications may focus on nutrition, citizenship, and other life skills.
Why CentsCity from the start?
As the United States faces the current economic crisis, the need for financial education has never been clearer. High school seniors correctly answered fewer than half of the questions on a 2008 test of basic financial knowledge by the Jump$tart Coalition. Teens surveyed by Teenage Research Unlimited reported spending 97% of their money instead of saving it! Sallie Mae found that more than half of college students accumulated more than $5,000 in credit card debt while in school. Meanwhile, total US consumer debt reached $2.5 trillion in December 2008, up from $2.191 trillion at the end of 2004 (The Federal Reserve). 93% of people ages 18-39 do not feel financially secure (The American Savings Education Council).
The Urban Institute’s Opportunity and Ownership Project suggests that financial literacy in this nation is so low that “the returns to a well-designed financial education program might be quite high.” This is where CentsCity fills a widening gap. The product empowers its customers with financial skills through interactive games, instructional animation, and assessment tools within a virtual world. It finds families where they are and takes them further through fun and relevant content. Youth and adults can access the educational content at their own pace while also earning real-world rewards.
A Growing Market
Market research conducted by Newry Corporation reveals that CentsCity is well-positioned for consumer preferences and needs. Tweens are significant users of internet-based games with 81% of tweens using online games and/or virtual worlds for entertainment (e.g., addictinggames.com, webkinz.com, club penguin.com). Parents are interested in teaching their kids about financial responsibility. 87% of parents with tween-aged children have attempted to teach their kids about financial responsibility, with mixed levels of perceived success. 75% of these parents are interested in a website that could help teach their children the necessary skills to be more financially responsible
When Newry Corporation asked specifically about CentsCity and provided screenshots of the product, 75% of parents with tweens have a positive impression. Female and younger parents (under 35) respond even more positively to the product, with 70% interested in CentsCity for use in their household. Focusing on mothers of tweens as target customers, market research suggests that CentsCity has an addressable market of 10.3 million adopters.
Though not its primary market, Skill-Life also expects its CentsCity product to appeal to homeschoolers, after-school and summer programs, and school districts. 44 states now have personal finance education standards, doubling from 21 in 1998. A 2007 study of K-12 teachers by the Networks Financial Institute revealed that 8 in 10 teachers think it is important to teach financial literacy in U.S. classrooms, while 91% of parents say they support requiring financial education be taught in every high school in the country.