What Is GoHenry?
GoHenry is a financial education company with over two million members that offers online money management lessons, a debit card, and an intuitive app to individuals aged 6 to 18 years old. Its mission is to help children and teens to learn about money, saving, and investing, to develop budgeting skills, and to learn to spend responsibly.
GoHenry also provides parents with tools to help their children develop solid money habits.
GoHenry was established in 2012 and is headquartered in London. In 2023, it was acquired by Acorns, a private U.S. fintech company that facilitates micro-investing and investment education. GoHenry by Acorns plans to grow its offerings to help adults better understand and manage their finances, as well.
Key Takeaways
- GoHenry offers money lessons, an online app, and a prepaid debit card.
- Parents can monitor their children’s spending using the app.
- Parental controls restrict the places where children may use their debit cards.
- In 2023, the U.S. company Acorns acquired GoHenry.
- GoHenry is available to consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How the GoHenry App Makes Money
GoHenry generates revenue by charging a $4.99 monthly fee for every child, after the first month, which is free. It also charges $4.99 to upgrade to a custom debit card.
It plans to develop additional products, such as a youth banking segment and the aforementioned products for adults.
Through 2022 and before being acquired, the company had raised $125 million in funding.
How the App Works
The GoHenry app is used by children and parents. Its success is tied to parents’ desire to monitor children’s spending habits.
Parents can log into their GoHenry account through the app or the company’s website to set up weekly allowance transfers or initiate instant transfers. They can observe the transactions of the linked prepaid Visa debit cards given to each child. Since only the money that’s been loaded on the cards can be spent, there’s no risk that a child will incur debt or trigger overdraft fees.
The GoHenry app also lets parents customize the spending parameters for each child by establishing weekly spending limits, restricting where the card can be used, and locking and unlocking the cards at will.
For kids, the app provides missions, money lessons, and skill building. The built-in budgeting tool lets children view their finances in graph formats. They can also earn extra cash by finishing a pre-determined list of household chores.
History and Leadership
GoHenry was founded by parents who needed an efficient and effective way to provide their children with their allowances and other money, as well as to teach them how to spend money wisely. The GoHenry app was the practical result.
GoHenry’s CEO is co-founder Louise Hill. Before she assumed the position in 2023, she served as chief operations officer for 10 years. Hill advocates for financial education and is a trustee of The Centre for Financial Capability and chair of MyBnk’s Financial Freedom Campaign.
Consumer Criticism
On Trustpilot, GoHenry’s average consumer rating is 4.3 stars (as of June 2024). But the company is not without critics. Out of 3,252 reviews, 13% of customers rated GoHenry’s services as one star. Among the chief complaints were bad customer service and ineffective responses to issues, trouble getting refunds, a malfunctioning app, and overcomplicated technology for children.
Is GoHenry Profitable?
That’s unknown because the financial statements for GoHenry aren’t available to the public as it is owned by the micro-investing company, Acorns, which is a private company.
How Does GoHenry Make Money?
The company makes money by charging a monthly fee for memberships as well as ancillary fees, such as $4.99 for a custom design debit card for a child or teen.
Can a Five-Year Old Have GoHenry?
No, at this time, the GoHenry app and associated products and services are available to those six years old and on up to 18.
The Bottom Line
GoHenry is a U.K. company that supports the financial education and money skills development of children and teens. It was acquired by the U.S. company Acorns in 2023.
GoHenry’s app is used by both parents and children and benefits them both by providing an efficient, online way to facilitate and monitor responsible spending, as well as to learn valuable money lessons.
Read the original article on Investopedia.