Patent Publication Number: US-2019183216-A1

Title: Educational saving system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation application claiming the benefit of priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/245,613, filed on Aug. 24, 2016, and titled “Educational Saving System,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an educational bank for children. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an educational bank to encourage children to budget and save money, and to familiarize these children with the procedures of financial institutions. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE ART 
     More than half of the households in the United States currently have less than one month of income available in accessible savings to use in case of an emergency. Many financial advisors recommend that families should have three to six month&#39;s income in readily accessible savings. Regardless of the exact standard, it is clear that most Americans lack sufficient savings. One avenue to encourage more savings in the United States is to educate children regarding the importance of saving. 
     Over the years several products have attempted to encourage children to save the money they receive (e.g., “piggy bank”), but it is obvious, given the state of savings in the United States, that those methods of education have failed. While prior toy banks or other savings devices have appealed esthetically to children, such designs have failed to instill the importance of savings in children. Furthermore, there has not been any accompanying instruction or education on the importance of savings to encourage a level of responsibility in the children. 
     Additionally, there seems to be very little financial institution involvement with the products currently designed for children. This lack of involvement almost ensures that the first interaction children have with banks or other financial institutions will not occur until they are adults. The current offerings to children also fail to provide incentives for the children to begin saving. 
     Accordingly, there is a need for a bank and system directed to children to encourage children to save money in an educational and fun way, while providing incentives rewarding the children for saving. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIVE CONCEPT 
     The inventive method was developed to establish beneficial financial habits in children. Currently there is a lack of effort on the part of financial institutions and education at large to begin responsible finance management from an early age. This inventive method recognizes that interactions with a financial institution at a young age are difficult and the inventive method endeavors to make this interaction more enjoyable for the child. 
     To accomplish this, the method provides an individual toy bank be issued to a child. The toy bank includes a number of chambers that correspond to different aspects of responsible financial management, including spending, charity, and savings. The toy bank consists of a base portion and an interchangeable top portion. The interchangeable top portion may have the appearance of a car, boat, plane, or other form resembling a toy. This allows the child to have a level of familiarity and comfort with the toy bank. 
     To encourage savings and to provide for positive interaction between the financial institution and the child, the savings chamber in the toy bank will be locked preventing the money from being removed. To establish positive interactions with the financial institution, the key to the lock on the savings chamber will be kept at the financial institution. Accordingly, the child will have to visit the financial institution in order to access the money kept in the savings chamber. 
     To further reinforce this positive financial behavior the method also incorporates educational material in a form pleasing to children, such as comics or other similar material. These materials include a representation of the toy bank in their possession. In this way the child can make a connection between the toy bank and the stories encouraging good financial practices in the provided material. 
     To further encourage these good financial habits, the money the child saves may be tracked. The method may include savings thresholds, where upon achieving the child may be presented with awards, this providing positive feedback to the child. The awards may take a variety of form, such as new interchangeable top portions for the toy bank, decorations for the toy bank, or other similar decorative or ornamental awards. In this way the child may be able to customize their toy bank through reaching saving goals. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The advantages and other characteristics of the disclosed embodiments will be better understood when attention is directed to the accompanying drawings, wherein identical elements are identified with identical reference numerals and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive bank in accordance with the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 2  is a top perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive bank in accordance with the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive bank in accordance with the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 4  is a partial exploded view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive bank in accordance with the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 5  is an inside bottom view of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive bank in accordance with the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the interior of the interchangeable top portion of the bank according to the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 7  is a top perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of another interchangeable top portion of the bank according to the inventive concept; 
         FIG. 8  is a top perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of another interchangeable top portion of the bank according to the inventive concept; and 
         FIG. 9  is a top perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of another interchangeable top portion of the bank according to the inventive concept. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in greater detail. It should be recognized that the present invention can be practiced in a wide range of other embodiments besides those explicitly described, and the scope of the exemplary embodiments described are expressly not limited. 
     As shown in the Figures, the present invention provides a bank  5  designed to appeal to children. The bank  5  includes an interchangeable top portion  10  and a base portion  15 . The base  15  may be constructed from wood, plastic, or other suitable structural material that would pose no health hazard to the child and is sufficient to support the top portion  10 . The purpose of the base  15  is to provide a platform to attach the interchangeable top portions  10 . 
     Now directing attention to  FIG. 1  a bank  5  is illustrated. The bank  5  is shown having a top portion  10  in the style of a car, although other styles may be provided (See  FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 ). The top portion  10  may have areas on which a child may place stickers to decorate and customize the bank  5 . For example the stickers could depict a wind glass, doors, hood, bumpers, or stickers depicting the name of the associated bank or financial institution. A collection of stickers may be provided to the child or the child may purchase stickers to customize the bank  5 . 
     The bank  5  also includes a base  15  and a top portion  10 . The top portion  10  sits atop and is attached to the base  15  so as to be supported. The base  15  is designed to be affixed to the top portion  10  with portions of each interlocking to form the bank  5 . The exposed portion of the base  15  includes wheels  20  designed to finish out the motif of the car present in the top portion  10 . Plugs  30  are disposed within the base  15  to retain currency in chambers  100 ,  102 ,  104  (shown in  FIG. 6 ). 
     Turning attention to  FIG. 2  a top perspective view of the bank  5  is provided. The top portion includes slots  25  for receipt of coins and/or bills. The slots  25  are coupled to (e.g., positioned over) chambers  100 ,  102 ,  104 , within the bank  5  as illustrated in  FIG. 6 . When the coin or bill is inserted into one of the slots  25 , it will drop into a coupled chamber  100 ,  102 ,  104  and accumulate there. To effectuate the educational purpose of the bank  5  the slots  25  are labeled with the phrases “SAVINGS,” “GIVING,” and “SPENDING.” Having each slot  25  and corresponding chamber  100 ,  102 ,  104  labeled allows the child to allocate any money they have between the various groups and encourages both saving and charity. 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  show the inventive bank  5 , illustrating how the chambers  100 ,  102 ,  104  are accessed to remove the currency contained therein. As provided, the top portion  10  is affixed to the base  15 . At least two openings  35  are defined by the base  15  and relate to two of the chambers  100 ,  102  created by the top portion  10  and the base  15 . The openings  35  are sufficiently sized to allow both bills and coins to be easily removed from the chambers  100 ,  102 . Furthermore, the openings  35  correspond to the chambers  100 ,  102  labeled “GIVING” and “SPENDING” respectively, this feature is important to the educational purpose of this bank  5  and the system. To prevent the bills and coins from falling out of the corresponding chambers  100 ,  102 , plugs  30  are provided and retained in the openings  35 . Although the openings  35  are shown as circular the shape of the openings  35  could be any shape sufficient to allow the removal of the currency. 
     On the opposite end of the base  15 , a door  40  is provided for retrieving the currency from the chamber  104  labeled “SAVINGS.” To prevent access to the saving chamber  104  the door  40  includes a lock  45 . The door  40  fits into the access port  50  found in chamber  104 . 
     The interior of the base  15  is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The openings  35  and the access port  50  are easily visible and provide for the removal of the currency retained in the bank  5 . The interior of the base  15  also includes first and second partitions  60 ,  65 . The first partition  60  runs between the side edges  70  of the base  15 . The second partition  65  runs from a front edge  75  of the base  15  and terminates at the first partition  60  creating three separate sections in the interior of the base  15 . 
     The interior of the top portion  10  also includes partitions  80 ,  85 . A third partition  80  runs between the side edges  90  of the top portion  10 . The fourth partition  85  begins at the front edge  95  of the top portion  10  and terminates at the third partition  80 . Once the top portion  10  and the base  15  are affixed to one another the first partition  60  and the third partition  80  come into complimentary engagement with each other, and at the same time the second partition  65  comes into complimentary engagement with the fourth partition  85 . Once the partitions  60 ,  65 ,  80 ,  85  are in complimentary engagement, the partitions  60 ,  65 ,  80 ,  85  and the top portion  10  and the base  15  define three distinct chambers  100 ,  102 ,  104 . 
     The inventive bank  5  as described herein is used as a part of a system used to teach children to be responsible with their money. In this system, a financial institution may provide the bank  5  to a child. Once the child is issued the bank  5  the child may take possession of the bank  5 ; however, the financial institution retains the key to the lock  45 . The educational system also provides instructional material to the child in the form of comics, storybook, or pamphlets about the bank  5 . In this manner, the child has an entertaining and educational aid featuring the bank  5  as a fictitious character named “SAVEHICLE.” 
     Once the bank  5  is in the child&#39;s possession, the child then can allocate their money between the various chambers  100 ,  102 ,  104  in the bank  5 . The plugs  30  in the bank  5  allow the child to remove the money from the chambers  100 ,  102  labeled “SPENDING” and “GIVING.” However, to remove the money placed in the chamber  104  labeled “SAVINGS” the child will have to take the bank  5  back to the financial institution that has retained the key. The financial institution may track the saving progress of the child and provide awards to the child based on the level of savings. The awards might include stickers to individualize the bank  5 . In addition, once significant savings milestones are achieved by the child, the financial institution may allow the child to exchange the top portion  10  for another top portion  10  that represents a different type of vehicle, such as boat, airplane, race car, etc. In this manner, the educational system awards the child for continued savings. As illustrated in  FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 , the toy bank  5  may have awards such as interchangeable plane top portion  200 , interchangeable sports car top portion  300 , and interchangeable truck top portion  400 . These additional top portions  200 ,  300 ,  400  have the same internal features as the top portion  10  described herein. 
     While the embodiments disclosed described the best modes known to the inventor at the time of filing, the scope of the invention is not to be limited to only the embodiments disclosed herein.