Thoughts from our collaborators Brian Curcio and Myles Gage – Co-Founders of Rapunzl Investments
Although the US Economy is one of the largest in the world, the financial health of millions of Americans remains precarious. 78% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck; and less than 20% of adults are confident in their savings.
The situation becomes more dire looking at younger generations, who opened their first brokerage accounts in record-numbers during the pandemic.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, there is a positive correlation between people who participate in the stock market and those who are active participants in a sociable community, which is why we need to provide schools and students with quality education tools.
The Difficulty Of Investing In The Stock Market
There are 3 barriers that prevent an individual from investing in the stock market: fear, inequitable access, and insufficient funds. Unfortunately, many courses fail to address these barriers, particularly in schools that host students from underserved communities.
Addressing the initial fear component should be the primary focus of any effective stock market education course because and unfortunately, the efficacy of these courses varies dramatically by students’ socioeconomic status. Without exposure to successful investing strategies and individuals who have benefited from the stock market, investing is incredibly frightening.
Despite the rise of commission-free trading platforms, many are still unsure what it means to invest or may feel that they still don’t have enough money to invest. That’s why exposure is critical and it’s imperative that our public education system equips students with an understanding of basic financial principles and provides exposure to the world of investing.
Introducing Rapunzl’s Free Curriculum & Simulator
Rapunzl hopes to solve the other two issues – inequitable access and insufficient funds – by providing a free financial literacy curriculum for high school and college students and scholarship opportunities for top-performing students.
We founded Rapunzl, a free simulated trading platform for iOS and Android, to allow students to explore investing in stocks without ever leaving their smartphones.
Students can also win scholarship prizes, internship opportunities, and gain exposure to key mentors in the financial services industry. In order to incentivize engagement: students may enter their simulated portfolios each week, month, and quarter for prizes. This pay-to-learn model has been adopted in many states, including New York, Texas, Arizona, and California.
The Rapunzl app provides a free curriculum that addresses core personal financial concepts such as credit management, balancing a budget, and understanding capital markets. Our curriculum helps demystify the world of investing by explaining how some financial products are predatory while others can be incredibly beneficial.
It also addresses some of the reasons why it’s important to get involved in the stock market and that investing doesn’t need to be scary. Especially when you’re investing in risk-free, simulated competitions that don’t have any cost to enter.
Rapunzl’s free simulated trading platform has helped address the lack of engaging financial education tools by working with over 30,000 high school and college students across the country, including programs in Chicago’s South Side and Los Angeles’ Compton-area.
We plan to further address these issues by hosting a scholarship competition for students attending Historically Black Colleges & Universities, as well as City and Community Colleges across the country.
The best time to learn about investing was yesterday, but getting started today is the next best option.
For more information on Rapunzl’s free simulated trading platform, please visit our website or search for Rapunzl on the AppStore or Google Play Store and join for free.
Website: www.rapunzlinvestments.com
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rapunzl-invest-compete-win/id1222181232
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rapunzlinvestments.app2
