Trove
Trove

The hobby teaches the lesson.

Trove turns Pokémon collecting into a real ledger. Every pull, every trade, every hour worked to earn a card — money, work, and investing internalized the way only a passion can teach them.

Trove is closed-loop — ask Brenan or Shannon for an invite.

Sample Trainer 27/120
Earned
4 hours sorting bulk at $10/hr · added to the family bank · earned via the Earn Tracker
Cost
$40
Now
$58
Gain
+$18

Illustrative — every card the family holds shows this same math.

Why we built this

Pokémon is the passion. Trove turns the passion into a real financial education — without ever making the kids feel like they’re using a financial app.

  • Kids learn investing.

    Every card becomes a real ledger entry — what it cost, what it’s worth today, what it gained or lost. The math is the lesson.

  • Each member, their own dashboard.

    Five Volpes, five themes, five sets of goals. Each kid runs their own portfolio inside the family’s collection.

  • Closed-loop.

    Trove isn’t a product. It’s a family app — built for the friends, cousins, and neighbors who collect alongside us. Never public.

  • Real dollars, every day.

    Live market prices anchor every number — what a card cost, what it’s worth, how it’s done since. No guessing, no MSRP fiction.

What Trove does

Five modules. Five letters. One collection — your T·R·O·V·E.

  • Trade

    Every swap recorded — friend trades, family trades. What each kid gave up, what each got, whether it was fair.

  • Rip

    Where sealed product turns into pulls. Log the hits, see which box beat the math, and watch Hunt feed straight into Rip.

  • Organize

    Every card has a home. Storage boxes, binders, master sets — the catalog that ties it all together.

  • Value

    What is a card worth today? What did we pay? Did our "$1 → $20" thesis hold up? Every line item, every day.

  • Earn

    Kids work, kids earn. Hours go in, Card Credit comes out. The labor cost on every earned card makes the investing lesson visible.

Rip includes Hunt — finding sealed at the store, logging visits, tracking which packs are out there.

Who’s behind it

Trove was designed by all five of us around the kitchen table. Each family member owns a module of the platform — and runs their own portfolio inside it.

  • Brenan
    Architect
  • Shannon
    Memory keeper
  • Tali
    Rip Sessions
  • Kasen
    Trade & Gains
  • Kalene
    Up-and-coming

Friends, cousins, neighbors.

Trove is built for the kids who already collect alongside us — Shane, Henry, Eli, and the cousins we trade with on weekends. Friends get their own tracked profile: every pack they rip with us, every card they trade in or out, every hour they earn sorting boxes. Closed-loop by design, never public.

The proof

Trove is real — already running, already teaching. Here’s a sample of the lessons it makes visible, two stories from the family, and what ships next.

A. Real numbers, real lessons

Illustrative examples — the numbers are made up; the math is the math.

  • Cost basis, every card.

    Buy a pack for $4. Pull a card. Three weeks later the market says it’s worth $14. Trove shows the math on every line item, every day.

    Cost
    $4
    Now
    $14
    Gain
    +$10

  • Card credit beats cash.

    A kid earns $10/hr toward a card — but only $8/hr in cash. Same work, two payout rates. Trove makes the long-game choice visible at the moment the kid picks.

  • The thesis test.

    Tag a $1 card with your bet — "this is a sleeper, $20 by 2027." Trove tracks the price over years. When the bet pays off (or doesn’t), the kid sees it.

  • The whole chain.

    Find sealed at a store, open it Saturday, pull a hit, decide who keeps it. Trove threads the visit, the pack, the pull, and the disposition — one connected story.

B. Stories from the family

  • Three boys, two hours, one ratchet.

    Kasen and his friends Henry and Shane spent two hours sorting bulk into storage boxes. All three chose card payout over cash. That’s the higher-rate ratchet at work — Trove turns "I’d rather wait for a card" into a measurable habit. Next time they’re over, they pick from the family bank and claim the card with their earned credit.

  • Tali counted every pack.

    When the family decided to track which sets we’ve opened the most, Tali volunteered to count. Nearly two thousand packs across thirty sets, by hand. Her work shipped the "Top Sets Opened" module on her dashboard. The lesson: data has to come from somewhere — and the kid who does the counting gets to ship the feature.

More stories land here as the kids ship them.

C. What ships next

Trove isn’t done — that’s the point. Here’s the queue.

  • R20

    Rip V2 + Hit Disposition

    Pull a card and decide where it goes — kid keeps it (earn-credit, cash, trade), family bank (master set, vault), or gift. Every choice stamped with the math behind it.

  • R21

    Earn Tracker

    Kids and friends self-log work sessions. Choose card or cash payout. The labor-cost-basis on every earned card makes the investing lesson visible.

  • R22

    Investment Dashboard

    Charts. Top movers. Sleeper picks. The full "how is my portfolio doing this year?" view — one tab per family member.

  • R23

    Hunt + Sealed Inventory

    Find sealed at the store, track it from the visit through the rip. Hunt Gain math at acquisition — was it worth what we paid?

  • R24

    Trade Module

    Friend trades. Family trades. Fairness lookback. Atomic settlement so a swap is either fully done or fully reversed — never half-done.

Made to outlast the cycle.

Pokémon will come and go. The lessons — money, work, patience, the long-game choice — those last for life.

Trove is closed-loop — ask Brenan or Shannon for an invite. If you’re already family, sign in above.

Trove — The hobby teaches the lesson.