Week 7

After the design sketch poster I wrote a quick reflection on how it went.

There is a lot of information out there so doing any primary research myself if a bit of a waste of time as it is not going to tell me anything surprising as there is already a lot of researchers who have surveyed people about financial literacy. The two audiences I was deciding between was high school students and creating a tool for schools to add in to the curriculum or parents to teach their kids at home since the school curriculum is so jam-packed. I identified school teachers and parents being the most common source of financial education and biggest role models for this. I thought high school students were the ones who need this education the most because it is just before their transition into being financially independent from their parents. However, during my feedback, a third option arose that could be first-year uni students which would target them right in the middle and starting point of this transition. They know little more than high schoolers but have so much more financial freedom and are being thrown in the deep end to pay for bills etc for the first time and are potentially the ones most in need of this information and the real need to use money wisely kicks in. By targeting them this could solve the full curriculum issue and keep home life separate from a learning environment. I also need to explore if financial education can be effective in a group setting rather than only in a very small one on one intimate setting.

Things I need to consider are:

• making it real world and relatable no matter which audience I choose. 
• Different age groups view the value of money different and have different perceptions of good and bad money habits. 
• Instilling good values and habits, teaching skills and decision making as well as educating people on concepts and how the economy works needs to be addressed in my project. 
• I need to research some case studies and model out the different possible scenarios and pathways each one could go down.

I started to break down each audience and compare and contrast what each could be and which direction I should head in 

High school students:

I am looking at year 12-13 high school students as my audience. I have been looking into the NZCER reports and PISA assessments of financial literacy in NZ schools. It has become clear that a major problem with financial education is that the school curriculum is incredibly full especially at higher levels, the time for teaching it is scarce. Lack of resources and teacher knowledge of the subject is also limited. It would be great to design a tool that could be an ongoing resource included in the classroom environment that teaches financial concepts and skills. It would also need to provide real-world relatable scenarios that give students strategies on better money management potentially through the use of transformative learning theory to change attitudes towards money and create behavioural changes in students.

Uni students

I am looking at first year uni students as my audience. I have been looking into the NZCER reports and PISA assessments of financial literacy in NZ schools. It has become clear that a major problem with financial education is that the school curriculum is incredibly full especially at higher levels, the time for teaching it is scarce. Lack of resources, relevance and teacher knowledge of the subject is also limited. It is also clear that parents are big role models for financial knowledge however they themselves don’t have much knowledge only personal experience.  

It has become apparent that integrating financial education into the school curriculum would be a long and hard process that potentially may never come into action with barriers such as students choosing different subjects which then leads the responsibility to fall onto parents. To keep the emotional home life separate from the learning environment my solution is to integrate it into tertiary study. it would be a good idea to design a tool that could be an ongoing resource included in uni halls or integrated into the tertiary learning environment in some way.

By addressing the lack of financial literacy right in the middle of the transition to independence, young adults can learn as they come across problems and learn as the topics become relevant. This is likely to have the most impact as it is like a fairy godmother swooping to save their stress and provide the right advice at the right time in context. 

The tools would need to teach financial concepts and skills as well as provide real-world relatable scenarios that give students strategies on better money management. Using transformative learning theory to change attitudes towards money and create behavioral changes in students will have a lasting impact on young adults and they will carry this knowledge into their later adult life.

some questions started to arise concerning both these areas but I guess you can't target everyone and hopefully whatever tool I make will be useful for everyone else.

• What about the people who don’t go to uni?
• Or those who drop out earlier than year 11

I have also started researching some case studies of successful financial literacy education tools that already exist.

The financial diet

The Financial Diet now publishes hundreds of voices on our website, and has the largest female-focused personal finance channel on YouTube. Our mission is to get more women talking openly and honestly about money, and to give you the confidence to build a fulfilling life on any budget.

Here on our website, we publish new stories every day about everything from creative ways to grow your income, to affordable ideas for meal prep and home decor, to honest, emotional accounts of how money affects people’s lives.

I’m a recent devotee of popular US website The Financial Diet – an online destination that offers millennials savvy savings advice, covering everything from where to splurge and where to save, to the importance of prioritising a pension and how to budget by being boring. While in my youth I would have been more inclined to visit the Daily Mail’s side bar of shame, I find myself these days much more interested in money than celebrities, and also have something of a penchant for Refinery 29’s weekly Money Diaries series, where everyday women record exactly how much they spend and on what for a seven day period.

The Financial Diet is the personal finance book for people who don’t care about personal finance. Whether you’re in need of an overspending detox, buried under student debt, or just trying to figure out how to live on an entry-level salary, The Financial Diet gives you tools to make a budget, understand investments, and deal with your credit. Chelsea Fagan has tapped a range of experts to help you make the best choices for you, but she also knows that being smarter with money isn’t just about what you put in the bank. It’s about everything―from the clothes you put in your closet, to your financial relationship habits, to the food you put in your kitchen (instead of ordering in again). So The Financial Diet gives you the tools to negotiate a raise and the perfect cocktail recipe to celebrate your new salary.

For while the book is jam-packed with useful tools and information for getting your finances on track, its real value is something less tangible. The Financial Diet succeeds at making money management as accessible as it is enjoyable, as welcoming as it is forgiving. This is not the dry and judgmental screed of a career financier raining condescension and shame down upon the novice who has made a few stumbles along the way.

Instead, The Financial Diet is your best girlfriend, sitting you down over ice cream and surprisingly delicious box wine to say “We’ve all been there. And it’s not too late to make a change.”

The breezy lifestyle-magazine-like writing style and easy-to-digest layout make this guide a useful and readable resource.

Banqer

Students from years 2 to 8 will explore income, expenses and budgeting as they manage their fictitious incomes to cover expenses, such as renting desks.

Motivate and manage students through one-off payments to students for completing tasks and contributing positively to the class.

Introduce saving, interest, KiwiSaver, tax, real estate, and insurance by enabling Banqer’s various modules as your economy grows.

There’s no need to try and squeeze 'financial capabilities' into your day as a separate subject. Using Banqer alongside existing subjects gives classroom learnings context; where students write company applications, observe interest and tax, set up automatic payments, and much more.

I found the setup simple and was easily able to begin simulating authentic experiences for my students by enabling the various modules and introducing new financial concepts to the class. My students find modelling our classroom life on “real-world” systems exciting - it engaged them immediately, and functions as a motivation tool as well as a learning tool.

In terms of financial learning, my students have had to earn their income through employment in classroom jobs, and have enjoyed creating resumes and applying for jobs on the market. We’ve discussed the responsibilities of having a job, and these are reinforced with financial consequences when jobs are not completed in accordance with the terms agreed upon.

Most of my students enjoy the aspect of spending money, but they also love to save! They are very engaged and often talk to each other about the financial decisions they’re making. Top savers and those with high net wealth are often asked to explain how they raised their money. The enabling of the interest module lead to lengthy discussions on the positive and negative effects of interest.

Students also love purchasing properties as they learn the ins and outs of property acquisition. Those that don’t insure the properties they purchase learn the hard way when I trigger a natural disaster! This really helps to reinforce the pros and cons of owning a house.

The idea of a financial consequence for inappropriate behaviour, or when they make an error performing online transactions is valuable learning, and we often use these instances for discussion/deliberation.

Banqer, the online financial literacy platform that sees New Zealand primary school students paying tax, saving for retirement and buying property, is set for another boost.

Kiwibank, which is in its third year of partnering with Banqer, has committed to funding the digital teaching tool so that 3,300 Kiwi classrooms can access the platform for free in 2019, up from 2,100 classrooms that were funded in 2018.

Banqer transforms classrooms into a virtual economy. Teachers set up a currency and facilitate real-life situations over the course of the school year to enable students to learn about growing money, debt, interest, tax, KiwiSaver and insurance. The programme is aligned with the New Zealand curriculum and designed by teachers for teachers and students.

Kiwibank’s Group Manager Marketing Mark Wilkshire said: “Financial literacy is a huge issue in New Zealand. There is a generation of Kiwi school leavers telling us they feel they have missed out on exactly this sort of real-life financial learning. There is nothing else that measures up to the impact Banqer has for Kiwi kid’s improved understanding of money.

“Analysis shows us there is a marked difference in student’s money behaviours from the start of the programme to once completed. These attitudes and positive money behaviours will benefit students for the rest of their lives,” Mr Wilkshire said.

Pocket smith

Pocket Smith is probably one of the best budgeting apps out at the moment as its comprehensive set of features provides you with a wide range of tools to help grow your money. Load your transactions in and have them automatically categorised for you, track your expenditure and develop flexible budgets for yourself. Receive informative reports and forecast the savings you could make with what-if scenarios that allow you to see how tiny adjustments can alter your savings. Pocket Smith also features many security features and sharing options as you can grant others such as family members or advisors, assess to help manage your accounts. Pocket Smith’s comprehensive reporting even gives you a fully customizable dashboard so you can track what you want and also keep tabs on your total net worth! Available with the pricing options of; free, standard and premium, we recommend getting hold of this app and give it a go.

firstly, I connected my bank with PocketSmith. My biggest concern and the reason why I resisted signing up when I heard about them years ago was the security of the site. But they explained they use a third party service called Yodlee to provide bank feeds within PocketSmith, this allows them to connect with over 12,000 banks and institutions worldwide. The likes of Xero also use Yodlee. Connected bank feeds are read-only so it’s just “not possible for PocketSmith to transfer, move, or do anything else with your bank accounts aside from gathering your transactions and displaying them in your PocketSmith account”. I advise you to go and read their user guide on their site Learn Centre where they explain Yodlee and the security of bank feeds. BUT if you still don’t want to use bank feeds they do offer an alternative where you can upload bank files instead but I didn’t go down this path. Let me know if you do!

Pros

• Flexibility — Create a budget at any time for any amount of time: daily, weekly or monthly.
• Track One-Time Events — PocketSmith allows you to track one-time events such as quarterly taxes or freelance income.
• Create Your Own Categories — PocketSmith lets you create your own budgeting categories, in addition to standard categories.
• Google-Like Calendar System — You can set up a calendar to see your current account balances alongside future forecasts. This syncs up with your accounts and budget categories and is a real selling point for the app.
• Compatible With Mint.com — You can use PocketSmith to enhance your Mint.com experience.
• Smooth Signup Process — It's easy and quick to sign up and get started (honestly, it took us seconds).

Cons

• You Won't Master It in a Day — We found that it takes a while to learn how to use all of the app's functions.
• Free Version Is Limited — If you're serious about using PocketSmith's functions, you're going to have to purchase a subscription.
• Does not offer investment monitoring
• It doesn’t offer a bill paying feature
• Doesn’t provide tax reporting

Mint

Mint lets you know when bills are due, what you owe and what you can afford to pay (based on your available funds). The app can also send you payment reminders or warn you if you're approaching budget limits. Based on your habits, Mint even gives you specific advice to gain more control over your spending. The free credit score is a nice bonus, too.

Special features: Shows your real-time credit score.

Pros

• Weekly Summaries via Email — Find out what's happened in the past week with your finances.
• Alerts via Email or SMS — Mint will alert on pending bills, and ways to save money on transaction fees.
• Budgeting and Goal Setting — Know exactly where you are spending your money in an easy to understand graphical format.
• Automatic Downloaded Transactions — Automatically syncs your financial data into Mint (when it works properly).
• Credit Score Tracking — View and monitor your credit score, account usage, payment history and errors at a glance.
• Two-Factor Authentication — Validate your use before logging in by either your email message or cell phone SMS message.
• Flexible budgeting tools allow for experimenting with different scenarios

cons

• Lack of Investing Features — Their investing section is OK at best. Personal Capital is a possible alternative that offers better investment tools.
• Synchronization Issues — This is a sore point with many users of Mint. At times syncing with your bank breaks, and can take a long time to get resolved. At the moment I have accounts syncing up with Mint, but are no longer showing in my accounts area to modify.
• Lack of Report Generation — The only way to generate a report is exporting a CSV file to a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel.
• No Reconciliation — You cannot reconcile against your monthly bank statements. Mint assumes the data downloaded is always correct.
• No Import Option From Quicken — You cannot import your data from Quicken into Mint.
• No Bill Pay — Mint.com cancelled its Bill Pay feature, which makes the service less attractive to us.

You Need a Budget

You Need a Budget (YNAB to enthusiasts) is unlike any other budgeting app you've used before. YNAB helps you stop living paycheck to paycheck, pay down debt and "roll with the punches" if something unexpected comes up. It's built around a fairly simple principle – every dollar has a "job" in your personal budget, be it for investment, for debt repayment or to cover living expenses.

You Need a Budget doesn't let you create budgets around money you don't have – it forces you to live within your actual income. If you get off track (and who doesn't occasionally?), YNAB helps you see what you need to do differently to balance your budget. The built-in "accountability partner" keeps you on your toes. Although users pay a monthly or annual fee for YNAB, many feel the service and support are worth it: Online classes with a live instructor for Q&A to help you learn budgeting basics are included. In fact, YNAB is so effective that the average user pays off $500 in debt the first month. If nothing else, the financial commitment encourages you to actually use the app.

Special features: Not only can you set up weekly/monthly budgets (all personal finance apps do that!) but you can also set up budgets or individual projects, like "Christmas gifts."

This app is for you if: Every other attempt you've made to get your budget in check has left you frustrated and hopeless.

What really makes You Need A Budget different is that we can teach you how to manage your money and get ahead—for good. What if your bills rolled in and instead of piling up, you just paid them? No sweat. What if you didn’t even realize it was payday because you had money in the bank and weren’t desperate for that check to arrive? Forget everything you think you know about budgeting and prepare to experience total control.

We won’t promise you it will be effortless. We aren’t interested in helping you “trick” yourself into saving. We will never try to dictate how or where you should spend your money.

Instead, YNAB will teach you how to prioritize and plan, so you have money for the things that are most important to you—whatever they are.

If you set up all your accounts, and get an email at the end of the month full of pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants—you still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants. That money is long gone. This is why you’ve never heard anyone say that Mint changed their lives.

Unless you are intentional about making a plan and sticking to it, (we’re no fortune tellers, but…) there’s a very good chance the same thing will happen next month.

Looking backward (we’re looking at you, pie charts!) is certainly better than not looking at all, but it isn’t going to change your behavior.

With YNAB, we’re focused on what is in front of you, what you still have the ability to influence. Before you spend a single dollar, we’ll help you think through your priorities—immediate, short-term, and long-term—and allocate your money accordingly. Better yet, we will teach you how to use your budget to make spending decisions and how easy it is to adjust your budget throughout the month, because life.

Rule One

Give Every Dollar a Job

Confidently spend your money. You’re the boss. The drill Sergeant. The maestro. When you earn money, you prioritize how you’ll use it, and then simply follow your plan.

Rule Two

Embrace Your True Expenses

Make your money boring. Did the car break down? No big deal. Are the holidays coming? You’ve got a Santa-sized pile of money stashed away. No credit card required. Imagine never (ever) dreading the arrival of a big bill.

Rule Three

Roll With The Punches

In boxing, you move your body in the same direction as your opponent’s punch to lessen the blow. Same rules apply to budgeting. Be flexible and address overspending as it happens.

Rule Four

Age Your Money

When you are spending money you earned last month, you will have nothing to stress about money-wise. The goal is to be spending money that is at least 30 days old. It might not happen overnight, but stick with it—it’s a game-changer!

YNAB the app? It doesn’t work because it’s pretty (although, it is) or because it has amazing tech wrapped deep inside (and it does). It works because it is built around these Rules, because they work together.

And because they work together with you, building habits, reaching goals, and just generally being a financial wizard. Magic!

Now, Laura’s attitude about budgeting is completely transformed. She sees the budget as a tool for getting more of what she wants, not an exercise in deprivation. She said, “It’s been easy to stick with YNAB … We’re finally able to do all the responsible things we know we should do and the fun things we want to do.”

Pros

• YNAB Is All About Budgeting — Have you ever heard the term "jack of all trades, master of none"? That usually applies to people, but the same can be said of services too. Some try to do too many things and end up doing none of them well. YNAB is only about budgeting, and they do it extremely well.
• Goes Beyond the Mechanics of Budgeting — In addition to winning apps and features, the site is rich in helpful advice and strategy, as well as support. That will help you to stay on the budget path you've set yourself on.
• Low Cost — $6.99 per month really is low when you consider all that YNAB can do for your budget. Plus, there's the 34-day free trial to make sure it works for you.
• YNAB Continues to Evolve — This is not a static web platform. They've already had YNAB 1 through 4, and now the new YNAB, as well as promises of continued improvement. This is a promising path, indicating better things to come.

Cons

• No Phone or Email Contact — Live chat is fine, but sometimes you want a live person to speak with, particularly when trying to solve a personal financial issue. And having the email address of said human being is always a positive. You'll have neither with YNAB.
• Not a One-Stop Shop for All Things Financial — Personally, I think this is a positive since it enables YNAB to focus on what they do best. But if you like investment features or credit card deals, Personal Capital or Mint.com might be a better service for you.
• Lacks Two-Factor Authentication — YNAB lacks the extra layer of protection to keep your account secure from prying eyes.