Ideate Labs Capstone

During the four-month end-to-end UX design bootcamp, I developed Pocket Peeg — a habit-building app offering “financial baby steps for grown-ups”.

Problem

Overwhelmed, financially avoidant young adults are leaving money on the table.

Financially ignorant and avoidant adults are unwilling to engage with traditional institutions and therefore present an untapped opportunity. The existing financial services industry makes $4.85 trillion each year.

Of ~209,128,000 U.S. adults, 59% want advice, but don’t know where to get it.

43% of American adults are not financially literate = ~89,925,080
35% report feeling stressed or overwhelmed by their finances, blame themselves for “not doing enough,” and avoid looking at or paying their bills. = ~ 73M
85% of Americans own smartphones and would be eligible for our app —> 62M eligible
.001% = 62,000 x $36 ($3/mo x 12 mo)= $2,232,000 / year on the app alone

Competition

Existing solutions are overwhelming

Niche lenses—ex. ADHD, money trauma require perfect alignment to find

Led by financial organizations— ex. Fidelity Bloom, Better Money Habits from Bank of America —> lingo-heavy & clear ulterior motives
Explicitly outcome-oriented— “savings,” “budgeting,” etc. —> immediate pressure

Solution

“Baby steps for grown-ups”

Pocket Peeg’s casual, humorous tone and whimsical design creates a safe space meant to shift the user’s emotional reactions to the subject matter.

Segmented into bite-sized actions and articles, driven by personal choice, driving a sense of empowerment and autonomy.
Reduces overwhelm by shielding the user from trying to grasp the full journey ahead at one time.

Opportunity

Development

Phase 2: Designer

Create the option for Peeg to evolve with enough points (like a Pokémon) —with endless accessorizing options

Phase 3: Financial Expert

Develop more learning modules, using a “choose your adventure” presentation (ex.”Do you want to learn X or Y today?”)

Phase 4: Development Expert

Give Peeg the ability to suggest more sophisticated and long-term goal oriented tasks and articles/resources, (based on the level of complexity and level of comfort reported by user)
Allow users to test out financial actions (i.e. investing in the stock market, putting some points in a low yield savings account) using points

Monetization

Financial institutions— any org losing potential customers to poor financial planning among adults, esp. those already positioning themselves as non-threatening; Bank of America, Santander, Truist

Existing apps—pitch as add-on or expansion; Finch = existing wellness support/accountability brand, DuoLingo = existing literacy app,
Freemium model — 1 goal at a time before upgrade