FinDi
Approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population is unbanked or underbanked and seventy percent of Americans don't have $1,000 in savings. Unfortunately reasons for this are not due to choice as a sizable number of Americans have limited access to traditional financial services and subsequently use alternative financial services markets. Recent surveys indicate one of the most frequent reasons for this is due to insufficient funds to maintain a minimum balance.
Saving large sums of money takes a great deal of time, support, willpower, and other financial literacy skills which causes many people to fall short of their goals. Most people struggle to save “nest eggs” for purchases such as homes or education and even for purchases such as weddings, cars, vacations, or laptops. Most importantly, many don't have an emergency savings stash for the unexpected such as medical expenses, car repairs, etc.
When considering income, moderate to low income households are often those most likely to be under or completely unbanked. When considering race, approximately 70 percent of black families’ financial portfolios are in illiquid assets compared to 54 percent for white families; this translates to the average white family having 31 days of liquid savings on hand and black families only having 5 days.
These alarming disparities lead to the most vulnerable seeking alternative financial service market options which offer high cost products and in general predatory pricing. That is not to say traditional financial services do not have a history of predatory and exclusive practices including exorbitant overdraft fees and penalties.
Findi is an online platform and mobile application which makes it easy, fun, and profitable for people to save large sums of money. This is done by utilizing automatic payments and behavioral nudges to make it easier to avoid spending and competition and create incentives to keep users engaged.
The platform asks users to pledge to a specific savings goal(s) and then breaks the larger task of saving into small monthly, weekly, or semi-weekly withdrawals from the user’s account.
Also, it ensures that you stick to these pledges by letting you choose one or two Goalkeepers (GKs) who will also be made aware of your pledge. The GK functions as a deterrent to withdrawing money from the FinDi account before it reaches its predetermined goal commitment.
If users try to withdraw the funds early, the GK will be required to give permission for early withdrawals.
This encourages users not to break their pledges. Once the account has reached maturity, the Vault opens and users have uninhibited access to the funds; no GK necessary.
Future iterations of the FinDi app will include additional features including:
- in app purchase relevant to savings goal (e.g.: individual saving for a down payment on a house will be connected with mortgage lender),
- group saving goals,
- FinDi card features that unifies all existing payment cards into one.
- AI budget planner which uses previous aggregate spending data
- Financial literacy library of content
- Findi Box - digital card safe for temporary spending abstinence
Product Demo can be found here.
Our target population is marginalized Millennial and Gen Z Americans, especially persons of color representing 25 million people in America where there is a more urgent need for financial support. For example, the net wealth of a typical black family is 1/10th that of a typical white family. Millennials are conscious of the stark difference in financial outcomes between them and their predecessors (e.g.: Student loan and credit card debt). Gen Z has shown more proficiency for being money-savvy and planning for the future, however, due to history of inequity and disparate financial conditions, outcomes, and access, may not trust traditional institutions to guide them in their financial planning.
This will eventually grow into anyone who feels that they need to do a better job holding themselves accountable to their financial goals. Any person who has failed at their goals in the past and is looking to do better with their life (which is almost everyone) can benefit from FinDi.
Our team has known each other for 10+ years. We mostly met in high school or college and work together very well. We're special because we are all highly trained professionals who are also passionate about the problem at hand.
Between us, we have decades of experience in the fields of business, software development, marketing and public health. We have intimately grappled with meeting financial goals and overspending in the wrong places when we first started having large streams of income.
We are able to relate to our target population as we are all Gen Z and Millennial people of color who are engaged leaders in this demographic.
Here are some specifics about our background.
- Our head of marketing is the CEO of Moonman Studios with 10+ years experience in the marketing industry building partnerships with major corporations.
- Our CEO has 10+ years leading organizations in Fortune 100 companies and startups.
- Our development lead is a project leader of software consultants for the largest consultancy in the world.
- Our operations lead brings 10+ years of experience in public health and community health education research.
- Make it easier and more affordable for individuals and MSMEs to make investments and transfer payments, across geographies and across different types of platforms
- United States
- Pilot: An organization testing a product, service, or business model with a small number of users
We currently have 1000 people who have downloaded the app. Of these downloads, 150 have started goals at some point whether in the past or currently, and about 25 are active savers.
Though our team comprises quality talent, we are a small group. We would like the support to partner with nonprofits, navigate regulation, build relationships with institutions such as banks, and market-making. We would like to join a network such as Solve to build our capacity to create an app that can help level the financial playing field of our target demographic.
- Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
- Human Capital (e.g. sourcing talent, board development)
- Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
- Product / Service Distribution (e.g. delivery, logistics, expanding client base)