Meet two moms whose goal is to empower every child with a strong financial education and help businesses connect and engage with the next generation of customers.

 

Parents today have a wide array of options when it comes to teaching kids basic financial lessons, from podcasts and books to online courses and mobile apps. Mompreneuers Nicolle Hood (CEO) and Annie Shoen (COO) are the Co-Founders of My First Nest Egg- an age-appropriate App which digitizes the bank of mom and dad. 

Armed with law backgrounds, Nicolle is a corporate attorney and Annie is a former state prosecutor, the women know financial education in this country is anemic to non-existent, and when it is taught it is stuck in the past. “That, coupled with the fact that financial habits are set by age 7, is a recipe for disaster for the next generation,” Nicolle says.   

During covid, everything changed for the duo. They wanted to protect their kids from too much isolation and formed a homeschool pod. “We spent a lot of time logging kids into computers, trying to coax our boys in from outside for class, and lamenting the difficulties of motivating our kids who were now home 24/7,” Annie says. “We realized that our kids weren’t motivated by money because they didn’t understand it. They thought everything they wanted and needed magically showed up on the doorstep 24 hours after ordering it!”

As the moms dug deeper, they realized that it wasn’t just a motivational issue – they didn’t know the basic tenants of financial literacy. After spending time looking for an age-appropriate solution they couldn’t find one and My First Nest Egg was born.

Nicolle and Annie know that kids don’t need debit cards – they just need their first experience with banking and virtual currency so they don’t think credit cards are magic. “We paired that with a chore and allowance platform that can teach even little kids how to earn, added a robust financial curriculum, and made it fun and easy for parents and kids to access,” Nicolle says.

Today, My First Nest Egg partners with wealth managers, credit unions, schools and banks to deliver a co-branded version of the award-winning digital financial education platform for kids. The program includes a smart piggy bank, a chore and allowance app, and a kid-friendly financial literacy curriculum that makes learning healthy money habits fun and easy. “While anyone can visit our website for expert content and download our app from the App and Google Play store, we work closely with our B2B partners to provide our program to their customers for free,” Annie shares.

 

Inspired by the phrase: To whom much is given, much will be expected – Annie and Nicolle are of course first and foremost moms – everything they do is analyzed through the lens of how they can help kids, not make money off of them. “We’re not interested in swipe fees, advertising to kids, or addicting them to screens; we’re passionate about seeing all children thrive,” Nicolle shares.

Looking ahead, My First Nest Egg is focused on developing partnerships with brands which are passionate about financial education for the next generation.

In her spare time, you can find Nicolle in her to garden tending to everything from varieties of roses to bunches of kale. When she’s not running an early-stage company, she is the manager of her family band, the Hoodlums. “My husband plays guitar, my son guitar and vocals, my oldest daughter is on keys and our youngest plays drums,” she says.

Annie enjoys being outside and her family has a goal of visiting as many National Parks as possible before her oldest goes to college. “I am also a huge Gonzaga/college basketball fan and am completely unproductive for two weeks in March!” she shares.