Investing can be overwhelming — especially if you’re only in high school.
A group of teenagers in Leesburg, Virginia, is working to help young people understand finance. The Academies of Loudoun students created an app called Minvest.
“Everyone in Gen Z should have access to financial education and the tools to take control of their financial future,” cofounder Arjun Setty said.
The classmates aim to give young people simple lessons they can use.
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“It comes with the one-minute market, where you can learn about a stock in under a minute. It comes with gamified education, just making education more fun,” Minvest cofounder Bi Nguyen said.
The students began working on the app when they considered how little many young people know about how to build wealth.
“I was like, I haven’t even opened up an investing account because I’m just afraid of the risks and I don’t really know what the stock market even means,” cofounder Raaga Kodali said.
The app is in beta testing now. The students work on it at lunch and after school. Last summer, they entered a pitch contest for teens and beat 92 other groups to win first place and take home a $5,000 prize.
Next, they’re hoping to find an investor who can help them fully develop the app and launch it to the public. For now, they said they’re excited to see what lies ahead.
“It just makes me really proud that we have something here that could truly address the needs of a lot of people just like us,” Kodali said.
