WO2009024958A2

WO2009024958A2 - Method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility

Info

Publication number: WO2009024958A2
Application number: PCT/IL2007/001035
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoram Chertok
Original assignee: VBC Ltd
Current assignee: VBC Ltd
Priority date: 2007-08-20
Filing date: 2007-08-20
Publication date: 2009-02-26
Anticipated expiration: 2010-02-20
Also published as: WO2009024958A3

Abstract

Method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, according to which a service provider website is adapted for interaction by child users. The website allows selective access to web pages of predetermined child-oriented content and provides a plurality of parent deposited and child accessible accounts. A desired website, linked with service provider's website is then loaded and a commodity or service of interest, available from that loaded website is ordered, when a corresponding child accessible has a sufficient remaining sum.

Description

METHOD FOR EDUCATING CHILDREN TO ACQUIRE FINANCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of money management. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility.

Background of the Invention Children of various ages are desirous of acquiring many different commercial items, such as candy, games, toys, clothing, and admission tickets to movies and sporting events. Indeed, a survey recently published in The Marker, March, 2005, reveals that 50% of parents feel that the needs of children are responsible for the majority of the total family expenses. Since many children are financially irresponsible, parents prefer to supervise the ways that their children utilize their spending money, and encourage their children to purchase items that facilitate their intellectual and emotional growth. Parents typically limit the amount of spending money that is given to each child. However, excessive parental supervision often suppresses creativity and happiness, and is therefore detrimental to the child's development.

One known method for providing child with purchasing independence while remaining under parental supervision is the use of prepayment cards, by which a parent pays a predetermined sum to a selected store so that the child may purchase commodities from the selected store that cost less than the predetermined sum. The remaining sum may be applied to another purchase. A prepayment card suffers from the drawback that the remaining sum is usually never completely utilized, and many times the prepayment card is discarded when the remaining sum is considerable, often as much as 10 percent of the original predetermined sum that was paid by the parent.

E-commerce whereby Internet users can purchase desired commodities by means of a personal computer, and usually at the comfort of one's home, has heretofore not been suitable for child users. Firstly, child users are usually not granted permission to use the credit card of their parents since children are generally unaware of an excessively high price which is being offered for a desired commodity. Secondly, child users lack the experience and sensitivity to discern whether a loaded website is sufficiently secure to allow a credit card number to be entered prior to purchasing a desired commodity without risking exposure to malicious people who access said website in order to reveal the entered credit card number and to illegally charge the credit card account. Also, child users may inadvertently load a web page that is inappropriate for children.

There is therefore a need for a method which is suitable for executing child initiated e-commerce while being under parental supervision.

it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method which affords children with purchasing independence. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method that allows a child to independently purchase commodities by means of e-commerce in accordance with limitations set by a parent.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method that allows a child to independently purchase commodities by means of e-commerce at a relatively insecure website without exposing a credit card number to malicious people.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Summary of the invention The present invention provides a method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, comprising providing a service provider website adapted for interaction by child users, e.g. until the age of approximately 15 years, that allows selective access to web pages of predetermined child-oriented content and provides a plurality of parent deposited and child accessible accounts; loading a desired website linked with said service provider website; and ordering a commodity or service of interest available from said loaded website when a corresponding child accessible account has a sufficient remaining sum.

The method preferably comprises the following steps: establishing an account authorized by a parent for exclusive use by a specified child; depositing a predetermined sum to said account by said parent; wherein said child performs the steps of receiving authorized access to said website; loading a selected web page of predetermined child-oriented content; selecting a commodity or service of interest to be ordered; reviewing balance of said account and determining whether the remaining sum of said account is sufficient to order said selected commodity or service; submitting a request to complete a transaction from said account to the provider of said selected commodity or service; receiving a confirmation of transaction if the remaining sum of said account is sufficient to pay for said selected commodity or service and receiving a denial of transaction if the remaining sum of said account is not sufficient to pay for said selected commodity or service; and receiving said selected commodity or service at the home address of said child following confirmation of transaction.

In one aspect, the predetermined sum deposited by the parent is a one-time sum.

in one aspect, the predetermined sum deposited by the parent is a sum to be deposited on a regular basis.

In one aspect, the parent is automatically notified by the service provider when his child places an order for a commodity/service that costs more than a predetermined ordering sum.

In one aspect, child users recommend to other child users of commodities/services that are worthy to be ordered.

Brief Description of the Drawings In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing of an exemplary service provider web page, in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic drawing of an exemplary orderable loaded object web page; - Fig. 3 is an exemplary confirmation notice that is displayed after an order is placed by means of the web page of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

The present invention is a novel method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility. While prior art ■ methods may educate a child by explaining the fundamentals of money and banking or by providing a child with limited purchasing independence by being dependent on parental supervision and/or budget in order to purchase an item of interest, none of the prior art methods allow a child to independently purchase an item of interest via the Internet since a credit card number by which the item of interest is purchased is liable to be exposed to malicious people. The method of the present invention, in contrast, allows a child to independently purchase commodities by means of e-commerce in accordance with limitations set by a parent without exposing a credit card number to malicious people. A child is granted a parent-funded prepaid account, and this fund is debited when the child orders an item of interest.

Fig. 1 illustrates a typical service provider web page 10 that provides selective access to web pages of predetermined child-oriented content linked to service provider web page 10. Service provider web page 10 has fields for logon 15, account review 25, commodity/service type entry 30, search button 35, forums list 40, and e- maii button 42. Following logon, a child user becomes authorized to access account review 25, commodity/service type entry 30, search button 35, forums list 40, and e- mail button 42.

Service provider web page 1Q serves as a portal whereby a list of web pages restricted to predetermined child-oriented content is displayable after a commodity/service type is entered in field 30 and search button 35 is depressed. After a desired web page is selected and loaded, the child user can freely interact with the loaded web page. If the child user notices an advertisement for a commodity/service corresponding to the entered commodity/service type, the advertisement object may be clicked, causing an orderable loaded object web page to be displayed. ^• It will be appreciated that the child user has purchasing independence only when the desired web page is accessed by means of the portal. If the desired web page is loaded directly, i.e. not though the portal provided by the service provider web page, the child user will be unable to order the desired commodity/service since the entry of a credit card number is needed prior to the submission of an order, and a child user generally does not have authorization to use the parent's credit card.

A typical orderable loaded object web page is shown in Fig. 2. Orderable loaded object web page 50 displays loaded object 55, which represents the commodity/service that the child user desires to order, account review field 25, account number field 60, usemame field 62, and submit number 65. When a child user is desirous of ordering a commodity/service, his account number and usemame are entered in fields 60 and 62, respectively, and then submit button 65 is depressed. If the remaining sum of the child account is sufficient to pay for the selected commodity/service, a web page 70 indicating confirmation notice 74 and order number 72 is displayed, as shown in Fig. 3. However, if the remaining sum of the child account is not sufficient to pay for the selected commodity/service, a denial notice 75 will be displayed.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of the method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, according to one embodiment of the invention. The parent first establishes an account in step 82 for exclusive use by a specified child. This child accessible account is generally established personally at the office of the service provider. The parent provides his credit card number, or any other suitable means of payment, to the service provider, and indicates the predetermined sum to be deposited to the account in step 84. The predetermined sum may be a one-time sum or a sum to be deposited on a regular basis, e.g. on a weekly or monthly basis. The parent receives a password, and may change the predetermined sum to be deposited after accessing the service provider database by telephone or by the service provider web page with this password. After the child accessible account is established, an account number and child username are assigned. The parent receives a statement on a regular basis, to document the sums that have been deposited to the account, as well as the account debiting transactions that have been initiated by the child. Child initiated account debiting transactions are restricted to the payment of a commodity/service ordered by the child, and not to a bank transaction such as the withdrawal of money.

After a child receives authorized access to the service provider web page in step 86 by entering his assigned account number and username, a selected desired web page of predetermined child-oriented content is loaded in step 88. If the child has selected a web page that is inappropriate to child users, a suitable indication will be displayed, or alternatively, the connection with the service provider will be terminated. As the child is interacting with the loaded web page, a commodity or service of interest to be ordered is selected in step 90. The child user is then expected to review the balance of his account in step 92. A child inexperienced in ordering a commodity or service by means of the service provider is generally financially irresponsible, and usually does not refer to the account balance prior to placing an order. Consequently, a child user tends to order a commodity or service of interest immediately after learning from his parent that he has awarded commodity/service ordering privileges. Even though the parent invariably explains to the child that a commodity/service should be ordered only after the account balance is reviewed, an inexperienced child user generally does appreciate the ramifications of account balance review, and usually orders the commodity/service of interest without serious consideration of the available account balance. Accordingly, after the inexperienced child user submits a request to complete the desired transaction in step 98, a notice of transaction denial is displayed in step 105 if the remaining sum of the account is not sufficient to pay for the selected commodity or service. An experienced child user, in contrast, determines in step 96 whether the remaining account balance is sufficient to order the selected commodity or service. After submitting the request in step 98 to complete a transaction from the child account to the provider of the selected commodity or service, a notice of transaction confirmation is displayed in step 107 if the remaining sum of said account is sufficient to pay for the selected commodity or service. After receiving transaction confirmation, the service provider dispatches, e.g. by mail or personally, in step 109 the ordered commodity/service to the home address of the child. As can be appreciated, there is a transitional period during which an inexperienced child user becomes accustomed to interacting with the service provider web page. If the child user does not fastidiously review his account balance and compare the account balance with the cost of the commodity/service of interest, he will soon realize that he will not always be able to order the commodity/service of interest. Over the course of time, the child user learns to display financial restraint by not placing an order immediately after the predetermined sum is deposited by the parent. After noticing that his account balance increases, the child user is then able to order a more expensive, and therefore more desirable, commodity/service.

During this transitional period, the parent can request than he be automatically notified by the service provider, e.g. by an SMS or e-mail message, when his child places an order for a commodity/service that costs more than a predetermined ordering sum. When the parent is notified that his child has exceeded a predetermined ordering sum, he explains to the child that he soon will not be able to order another commodity/service of interest due to the low remaining sum in the account. In this fashion, through trial and error and also by parental intervention, the child gradually acquires financial responsibility by managing his personal account, yet has considerable financial independence to order any commodity/service of interest insofar that it is of a predetermined child-oriented content.

The child account generally does not suffer a risk of being accessed by malicious people. Since money cannot be withdrawn from the account or transferred to another account, the child account does not capture the interest of malicious people as a target of illegal activity. For added security, if so desired, each child user may communicate with the service provider via a virtual private network (VPN) through security procedures and tunneling protocols, as well known to those skilled in the art.

When the forums list button 40 (Fig. 1) is depressed and a desired forum is selected, child users can recommend to other child users of commodities/services that are worthy to be ordered, such as a new bicycle model or tickets to an amusement park.

Similarly, one child user can share his experience with other child users as how he was able to save the money within his account and order a relatively costly commodity/service. Child users can also communicate with others by means of e- mail button 42. Thus communication with other child users is another means of learning financial responsibility.

While some embodiments of the invention have been described by way of illustration, it will be apparent that the invention can be carried into practice with many modifications, variations and adaptations, and with the use of numerous equivalents or alternative solutions that are within the scope of persons skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, comprising providing a service provider website adapted for interaction by child users that allows selective access to web pages of predetermined child-oriented content and provides a plurality of parent deposited and child accessible accounts; loading a desired website linked with said service provider website; and ordering a commodity or service of interest available from said loaded website when a corresponding child accessible account has a sufficient remaining sum.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising the following steps: a) establishing an account authorized by a parent for exclusive use by a specified child; b) depositing a predetermined sum to said account by said parent; wherein said specified child performs the steps of: c) receiving authorized access to said website; d) loading a selected web page of predetermined child-oriented content; e) selecting a commodity or service of interest to be ordered; f) reviewing balance of said account and determining whether the remaining sum of said account is sufficient to order said selected commodity or service; g) submitting a request to complete a transaction from said account to the provider of said selected commodity or service; h) receiving a confirmation of transaction if the remaining sum of said account is sufficient to pay for said selected commodity or service and receiving a denial of transaction if the remaining sum of said account is not sufficient to pay for said selected commodity or service; and i) receiving said selected commodity or service at the home address of said child following confirmation of transaction.

3. The method according to clam 1 , wherein the predetermined sum deposited by the parent is a one-time sum.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined sum deposited by the parent is a sum to be deposited on a regular basis.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the parent is automatically notified by the service provider when his child places an order for a commodity/service that costs more than a predetermined ordering sum.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein child users recommend to other child users of commodities/services that are worthy to be ordered.

7. A method for educating children to acquire financial responsibility, substantially as described and illustrated.

8. A system for managing purchases comprising a server which is operable to receive and store information relating to a child accessible account, to parent deposits in such an account, and which is operable to provide child-oriented content to child user via selective access to web pages, and which is operable to enable commodity or service ordering when the child accessible account information indicates that sufficient remaining sums are held in the account.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, operable in accordance with a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7.