Zogo Review: An App That Pays You to Learn About Personal Finance?
Saving money on zogo review app that does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.
Key Takeaways
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- Zogo pays virtual currency (redeemable for gift cards) to users for completing lesson modules about basic personal finance topics like budge...
Zogo pays virtual currency (redeemable for gift cards) to users for completing lesson modules about basic personal finance topics like budgeting, saving, home ownership and insurance.
This Zogo review focuses on how the app works and explains how much you can realistically expect to earn by taking part in the lessons.
Additionally, we’ll touch on a few practical and ethical concerns that are worth considering before you decide to sign up.
Table of Contents
ToggleZogo App Basics
Zogo is designed to be an educational platform that teaches people about personal finance in a simple and engaging way. The company says it is dedicated to improving the financial future for people of all ages, but numerous of the blog articles and case studies it cites specifically call out the need to reach Gen Z through an app format, and the gamified user interface suggests the app is primarily aimed at this demographic.
Zogo indicates in one of its early lesson modules that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and that only one in six high school students completes a personal finance course. Assuming those facts are accurate, Zogo’s stated mission to help people take control of their financial destiny is a worthwhile endeavor. However, as we’ll touch on later, there are some potential problems with the company’s approach.
How Zogo Works
Zogo offers lessons in nine skill areas, with each area containing between one and 12 subsections. Each subsection offers numerous modules, for a total of over 700.
A module takes between one and four minutes to complete, which involves reading the content and answering a handful of related questions.
The modules build upon each other, and users must complete them in order within each subsection. Finish an entire subsection and you’ll earn a badge.
To incentivize people to continue through the modules, the app is gamified so that users earn in-app currency , called Pineapples , as they progress. This currency can eventually be cashed in for gift cards.
Answer questions correctly and you (typically) earn XP and Pineapples. Once you answer the questions and earn your reward, you can go back and review the content again, but you won’t earn any additional Pineapples the second time through.
Note: XP earned by completing lessons and correctly answering questions lets you unlock new account levels. However, unlocking a new level doesn’t offer any tangible benefits.
Zogo works much like the popular language app Duolingo: you begin each session with five hearts. For every incorrect answer, you lose a heart. When you run out of hearts, you can’t complete lessons (or earn Pineapples) until they regenerate , which takes four hours. If you’d rather not wait, you can cash in 500 Pineapples (worth about 50 cents) to purchase more.
The screenshots below show the striking similarity between Zogo (left) and Duolingo (right):
The Zogo Finance user interface. The Duolingo user interface.What You Learn Completing Modules
Each of Zogo’s skill areas is related to financial wellness, although some more loosely than others.
While testing the app, I completed a number of modules across various topics. I tried modules related to government programs as well as poker-related modules that were specifically (and strangely, in my opinion) targeted at women. I sampled a number of lessons on saving, investing, debt, taxes, fraud, job interviews, education, health insurance, housing, car loans, information security, shopping smartly and entrepreneurship.
Some lessons , such as saving and shopping , were extremely basic and seemed perfect for an elementary school student.
I did also learn about programs for low-income Americans that I wasn’t previously aware of, and gained a better understanding of how to play Texas Hold’em , though I’m still not sure exactly how this relates to personal finance.
All subjects were simple to follow, seemed to align with conventional wisdom on the various topics, and offered a glitch-free experience.
List of Skills
The list below contains the top-level skills that were available when I tested the app. However, Zogo adds content monthly, so what you have access to may be slightly different.
Within each of these topics is a number of subsections, which each contain their own modules. For example, the “Government and Taxes” section has subsections titled “Do Your Taxes” and “Utilize Government Assistance.”
- Education and Careers
- Entrepreneurship
- Government and Taxes
- Housing and Transportation
- Information Security
- Investing and Retirement
- Poker
- Risk and Insurance
- Savings and Spending
You do not have to take lessons in any specific order, and you can work on multiple topics at the same time.
Additional Features
In addition to financial literacy content, Zogo offers a toolkit that includes a few basic calculators along with special offers from Zogo’s partners.
The calculators help simplify the math behind determining the impact of loans, investments, and how to budget income.
The current options include:
- Car loan calculator: Add your loan amount, interest rate and loan term to the app to see what the total cost of any given loan will be.
- Investing calculator: Enter your initial investment amount, monthly contribution, number of years, and expected annual rate of return and Zogo will provide an investment value that you can expect at the end of the period.
- Budget calculator: Assuming you want to break down your monthly after-tax income according to the popular 50/30/20 budget (50% for necessities, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and debt)
Final Thoughts
Before you check out, double-check zogo review app that against current offers and any coupons you can stack. Small habits like this add up to real savings over a year.
Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.
Vanessa Zeigler
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