FinPlan

Personal finance and money management are crucial to attaining financial stability. Due to mismanagement of wealth, many lower-income individuals find it difficult to sustain their livelihoods and are unable to meet their long term financial goals, especially during the unpredictable times of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

In order to help individuals reach financial stability, we are making an AI driven platform that helps create and assist the execution of a specially curated financial plan, in order to keep people on track to achieve their goals. 

The financial plan will continuously adapt to the individual and their circumstances, providing an ideal course of action over a long period of time. We will also help individuals connect with recommended job portals to gain access to job opportunities.

With this platform, we’ll be able to drastically reduce income inequality and raise the standard of living for countless people if implemented on a global scale.

Creating and executing a successful financial plan can be a challenge, especially for those already struggling to manage their wealth. By aiming to increase financial security, we can help people sustain during times of economic downturn. 

With the current economic recession many countries are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, financial planning poses a critical global issue, especially for the recently unemployed, with global job losses possibly hitting a staggering 195 million. 5.5% of India’s population currently live in extreme poverty, without sufficient financial support or access to applicable information. That number alone amounts to 73 million people. Low-skilled, migrant workers are at the greatest risk of being displaced during the economic recession and will struggle to maintain their current standard of living for a long time. And those attempting to build their wealth by their own means, have difficulty in creating the best plan of action, in terms of personal investing, insurance schemes, avoiding frauds, etc. 

The lack of quality financial education is a major contributing factor to this issue.

We aim to educate about personal finance in order to encourage lower-income individuals to make more well-informed financial decisions through a digital financial advisor. Personalized consultancy on managing wealth, budgeting, saving, and spending will be provided by our AI, based on the user profile. A profile will be created using metrics such as income, education, age, current investments, and others, to generate an appropriate plan for the user.

The financial plan contains various recommendations to ensure the user has a strong, diverse investment plan, covering essential aspects of financial stability like real estate, equity, mutual funds, life insurance, and retirement planning. The information provided will make sure the user avoids fraudulent schemes.

The solution also grows and changes with the user via machine learning technology. At different stages in life, there are varying priorities for the user, as well as basic requirements that should be fulfilled, all of which will be made available to the user. Multiple benchmarks and comparative statistics from our algorithm will be provided to the user to keep track of their progress. 

We will also partner with firms and employers to create a link between unemployed users searching for jobs to execute their financial plans. 

We are targeting the lower and middle-income groups in India by enabling them to make better financial decisions through our AI driven platform. 

We will have several features like custom made financial plans that will be generated to allow people to achieve their specific financial goals such as buying a house, higher education, and sustenance after retirement. 

A majority of the money saved by Indians is in the form of cash. Even post demonetization in the country, cash savings continue to rise. As the value of cash depreciates with time, leading to decreasing value of savings in the form of cash. 

We will suggest these people alternative saving options which will increase their savings with time. Financially unaware individuals are prone to give in to fraudulent schemes and being misguided by shrewd financial agents, which we will help avoid. We also aim to spread awareness about government schemes that they may be eligible to take advantage of, such as unemployment benefits and microfinance. 

Our platform will also provide employment opportunities to people living in remote areas by partnering with various employers and employment portals/recruitment firms, enabling the unemployed to reach their goals. 

The lack of financial understanding poses a problem for any individual aiming for financial stability, especially during times of economic distress. Increasing financial literacy via a well-guided platform will not only prepare individuals for emergencies but also enable consistent monetary growth. With stronger financial profiles, people will be more likely to take entrepreneurial risks and innovate. This allows the job market to expand, encouraging long term economic growth.

Current similar available services are targeted towards the middle and upper class, while the focus of our platform would be low-income groups with no prior knowledge of finance. Seeking out a financial advisor is often an expensive and time-consuming task. Our service is free and easily accessible online. Our databases have greater access to financial data than traditional financial advisors, both on an individual and global level, and will be able to suggest more well-informed decisions. Personal data is encrypted and secured, private, and only accessible to the user. Our service connects workers living in remote areas of the country to employers in cities, also addressing the current migrant worker crisis amidst COVID-19, and eliminating uncertainty in the search for employment.

FinPlan utilizes the power of AI to generate an ideal course of action for the user. Using existing data and advice, the algorithm will be trained to identify the best financial plan based on the person's circumstance. AI will allow our service to adapt and better serve the user. The data will also be analyzed to create benchmarks, such as the average discretionary expense in the area, to guide the user. It will be available online to remain easily accessible to everyone.

Our primary goal is to develop and test a fully functioning, user-friendly, secure platform to execute our concept. Within the next year, we would aim to promote our platform and survey users and take their feedback. 

Another goal is to develop a pan-India outreach with an emphasis on remote areas where access to information is difficult. 

Our next goal would be to ensure that our platform is up-to-date with the government schemes as well as the employment opportunities in cities. This would enable us to establish a presence in rural areas and have a positive impact on the migrant workers displaced and unemployed as a result of the pandemic. 

Our platform would also assist the daily wage workers find more permanent employment. 

Overall, our platform would serve both the unemployed and those already employed in terms of financial advice and job opportunities.

Our first major barrier would be establishing a proficient high-level algorithm that gives a consistent performance in creating a financial plan. This would require constant testing and computing to fine-tune until it is ready to release to the public.

Another barrier is increasing awareness of our platform to expand our outreach. We will be able to maximize the benefit of the platform if it is marketed successfully. Ensuring confidentiality of user information would require a strict implementation of a non-disclosure policy.

In order to develop a successful platform, constant testing, data collection, and customer feedback will be required to make improvements. 

We will start with small test groups at a local scale and take user feedback. We will continue to expand testing groups and improve the solution, before releasing it to the public.

We plan on partnering with NGOs to gain access to potential users and deploy our platform. NGOs can introduce this platform to individuals through programs on financial planning. Positive customer response will also help in promotion and building trust with our consumer base. 

We aren't directly registered as an organisation but we partnered with multiple organisations in developing the solution and in its current testing. 

5 - full time staff

10 - volunteers

We have partnered with multiple organisations that would enable us to have a pan-India outreach to even remote places. We also have a dedicated team that will consistently work towards enhancing this project. 

1. My Creativity My Power (https://www.mycreativitymypower.org/) - A Raipur based non-profit that works for the betterment of specially-abled and provides vocational training to young people living in rural and peri-urban.

2. Sambhav foundation - A CSR initiative by Sambhav Group, a Raipur-based textile conglomerate that works towards providing quality education at public schools that have very limited facilities.

3. Vidyavati Lalman Charitable trust - This trust provides resources to public schools in the southern remote areas of Gujarat and works towards improving access to drinking water in areas experiencing droughts.

4. Aadarsh Amdavad - This ngo works towards training young girls and women in sewing and stitching, enabling them to earn their livelihood.  

5. Q-bridge (https://www.qbridge.org) - It works towards spreading awareness amongst young people.

6. Singapore International School, Mumbai - It is an IB school in mumbai that takes several philanthropic initiatives. The team leader is also the director of the school.