Ep. 169 - Raising a Financially Smarter Generation: Building GoHenry and the Case for Financial Education, with goHenry Founder and CEO Louise Hill

When did you first learn how money works? For most of us it wasn't at school.Children pick up money habits early, yet many still leave school without being taught how to manage it. And the first real lesson often comes on a credit card in their twenties.So how do you teach a nine-year-old to earn, save, spend and give?In this episode of The Payments Shed Podcast, Grant Evans and Justin Hanna are joined by Louise Hill, Founder and CEO of GoHenry, to talk about building the youth fintech category and her campaign for financial education in schools.Louise explains how GoHenry got past the assumption that kids can't have debit cards, why she asks her team to see the exact clause whenever someone says the rules forbid something, and what she learned when her own name kept appearing on the company's list of single points of failure.They discuss:• Launching early ecommerce sites for Next Directory, John Lewis and Debenhams• The personal problem behind founding GoHenry in 2012• Convincing banks, regulators and card schemes that kids' cards were a real market• Raising money through crowdfunding on Crowdcube• Expanding to the US, acquiring Pixpay and merging with Acorns• Moving from COO to CEO• Why so many children still leave school without money skills• The campaign for compulsory financial education in UK primary schools• Making financial education engaging with Money Missions• The role parents play in kids' money habits• Kids' side hustles and the youth economy• What still needs to change for women in fintech leadership• The two money myths Louise puts on the Shelf of ShameLouise also has a simple case for letting kids handle real money early:"Better a £5 mistake aged eight than a £5,000 mistake on the credit card aged 28." ***The Payments Shed Podcast is sponsored by Cyclops. Cyclops helps payments companies offer crypto acceptance, stablecoin settlement and payouts through one unified infrastructure platform. Find out more: ⁠https://cyclops.finance/⁠ The Payments Shed Podcast is sponsored by Salesloft. Salesloft uses agentic AI to turn buyer, conversation, deal and forecast data into clear actions that help revenue teams sell smarter. Find out more: ⁠https://www.salesloft.com⁠ The Payments Shed Podcast is sponsored by Mastercard Open Finance. Mastercard Open Finance enables businesses to use consumer-permissioned financial data to create more connected and personalised financial experiences. Find out more: ⁠https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/business/open-finance.html⁠ The Payments Shed Podcast is partnered with PCN. PCN is a global boutique recruitment agency connecting leading talent and businesses across fintech, cybersecurity, SaaS, e-commerce and Salesforce. Find out more: ⁠https://teampcn.com/⁠ Disclaimer: Views expressed are those of The Payments Shed Podcast hosts and guests, not their respective employers. Nothing discussed constitutes investment, legal, tax or financial advice.