Idea Napkin No. 1
Me
My name is John Philip West, and I am a freshman at the University of Florida transitioning from studying microbiology and cell science to finance. I have always loved learning about finance and wealth management, as I consider those skills the most influential in determining the path of your life. I've taken numerous financial literacy courses and have read a multitude of books on the subject, and recently I've opened a long-term investment portfolio funded by lifelong savings and scholarship excess. I've always had a desire to be a entrepreneur, mainly because the idea that my success is self-driven is very appealing to me. When I was younger, I started a small lawn care business and hired friends from my neighborhood to work for me. I was able to make a small profit donated it to a charity for underprivileged children in Kerala, India. I aspire to have a job where I use my talents to solve people's problems and improve their lives, likely in the field of finance as that is my main interest. I also want whatever career path I take to be viable to support myself and eventually a family, and I will shape my career choices to achieve this goal. I see this business venture as an opportunity to connect my knowledge of basic financial literacy with the people who need it most, and who have been historically under-served due to high cost barriers from traditional sources of information and guidance, specifically wealth management firms.
What am I offering to customers?
What I am offering to customers is a way to self-educate about the basics of money management, through an automated, interactive online course that combines information about different subjects, like monthly budgeting, saving for emergencies and large purchasing goals, insurance necessities, and investment for retirement or other long-term goals. The difference between this product and others is that each topic segment of the course will be immediately followed by a tool that provides personalized money tracking concerning that topic. For instance, the budgeting segment will be followed by a guided budgeting software that allows the user to input their current financial situation, including income, assets, and liabilities, and will offer different budgeting plans based on this information to satisfy the aggressiveness of the user's saving desires (e.g. 10 percent of income saved, 20 percent of income saved, etc.). This plan will be the basis for other tools, such as the one following the saving goals topic, where the user can identify personal savings goals in addition to emergency saving, input an amount to save or have that amount recommended by the software, and receive a saving timeline based on the preformed budget that shows how much to save each pay cycle and how long it will take to save. All of these tools will not simply be used once, but rather are malleable to reflect the current financial situation of the user, where things like pay increases and emergency fund depletion will be easily inputted.
Who am I offering it to?
I am offering this product to middle to lower income individuals who are middle-aged or younger, excluding those who are too young to be financially independent. I believe a market gap exists in that these individuals have the desire to manage their money properly and build long-term wealth, but do not have large enough assets to justify hiring a finance management firm to fill this need. Often these companies have a minimum buy-in amount for portfolios when considering new clients, as these companies are paid a percentage of the client's overall managed assets for their profit. Thus, non-wealthy customers are often unable to receive these services due to the companies desire to reduce total client volume and but have higher profit from each one. My solution steps into this need by offering a self-guided course with no direct adviser interaction necessary, though video calling services with a CFP could be made available for a higher price. With this automated system in place, my company can offer similar financial care to the larger firms, while operating at a much higher customer volume to expand into the lower income market. In addition to income level, my customers should also be younger enough to be receptive to a web-format for money management, which I estimate to roughly be between 20 and 50 years old, though I am sure exceptions to this rule are abundant.
Why do they care?
I believe customers will be willing to pay a small one time fee for this service, because it will be a chance to minimize the stress of long-term anxiety about their finances and have an easy system to learn about a topic that has an intense controlling factor on their lives, but is largely untaught through traditional schooling. This product will give customers who are of middle to lower income levels the opportunity to self-manage their money, but not feel totally in the dark about the topic without a personal financial adviser available to them. In addition to this one time purchase, customers who desire consistent adviser interaction will be given the option to have a scheduled monthly call for a financial check-up, and may pay a subscription service to receive this feature. This allows the customer to attune their finance management experience to their personal desires, while not removing any software features for those who purchase the basic service.
What are my core competencies?
I think what sets me a part from everyone else is that I have access to a financial firm through familial connections, and I have discussed with these family members about how lower income clients have been traditionally under served by wealth management companies as they are not as economically viable for a direct management service, leading me to believe a gap exists. I also have personally seen the devastation of the 2008 recession, where many families had one or more income earners lose their jobs and financial insecurity was rampant. Having been a part of that period of turmoil, I think I can tailor the marketing and set up of my system sell to individuals who want more than anything to be better prepared for another financial crisis and to eventually have enough saved wealth to have the freedom to choose to work or not.
Evaluation
I believe my plan is solid enough that I could develop a basic system right now that could function at limited capacity. I think where my plan lacks some desired traits is in the credibility department, as I have been informally trained on matters of personal finance. I think if I were wanting to create a polished product right now, I would want to partner with an existing financial firm to lend credibility to my business and offer the company a chance to expand into a lower-income market with few liabilities to their company. I could additionally benefit the company by referring customers who meet the portfolio minimum to the company to be actively managed if they so choose. Other than that, I think the courses I will take during my time at UF will add to my knowledge of basic finance and allow me to add more essential competency areas to my system.
My name is John Philip West, and I am a freshman at the University of Florida transitioning from studying microbiology and cell science to finance. I have always loved learning about finance and wealth management, as I consider those skills the most influential in determining the path of your life. I've taken numerous financial literacy courses and have read a multitude of books on the subject, and recently I've opened a long-term investment portfolio funded by lifelong savings and scholarship excess. I've always had a desire to be a entrepreneur, mainly because the idea that my success is self-driven is very appealing to me. When I was younger, I started a small lawn care business and hired friends from my neighborhood to work for me. I was able to make a small profit donated it to a charity for underprivileged children in Kerala, India. I aspire to have a job where I use my talents to solve people's problems and improve their lives, likely in the field of finance as that is my main interest. I also want whatever career path I take to be viable to support myself and eventually a family, and I will shape my career choices to achieve this goal. I see this business venture as an opportunity to connect my knowledge of basic financial literacy with the people who need it most, and who have been historically under-served due to high cost barriers from traditional sources of information and guidance, specifically wealth management firms.
What am I offering to customers?
What I am offering to customers is a way to self-educate about the basics of money management, through an automated, interactive online course that combines information about different subjects, like monthly budgeting, saving for emergencies and large purchasing goals, insurance necessities, and investment for retirement or other long-term goals. The difference between this product and others is that each topic segment of the course will be immediately followed by a tool that provides personalized money tracking concerning that topic. For instance, the budgeting segment will be followed by a guided budgeting software that allows the user to input their current financial situation, including income, assets, and liabilities, and will offer different budgeting plans based on this information to satisfy the aggressiveness of the user's saving desires (e.g. 10 percent of income saved, 20 percent of income saved, etc.). This plan will be the basis for other tools, such as the one following the saving goals topic, where the user can identify personal savings goals in addition to emergency saving, input an amount to save or have that amount recommended by the software, and receive a saving timeline based on the preformed budget that shows how much to save each pay cycle and how long it will take to save. All of these tools will not simply be used once, but rather are malleable to reflect the current financial situation of the user, where things like pay increases and emergency fund depletion will be easily inputted.
Who am I offering it to?
I am offering this product to middle to lower income individuals who are middle-aged or younger, excluding those who are too young to be financially independent. I believe a market gap exists in that these individuals have the desire to manage their money properly and build long-term wealth, but do not have large enough assets to justify hiring a finance management firm to fill this need. Often these companies have a minimum buy-in amount for portfolios when considering new clients, as these companies are paid a percentage of the client's overall managed assets for their profit. Thus, non-wealthy customers are often unable to receive these services due to the companies desire to reduce total client volume and but have higher profit from each one. My solution steps into this need by offering a self-guided course with no direct adviser interaction necessary, though video calling services with a CFP could be made available for a higher price. With this automated system in place, my company can offer similar financial care to the larger firms, while operating at a much higher customer volume to expand into the lower income market. In addition to income level, my customers should also be younger enough to be receptive to a web-format for money management, which I estimate to roughly be between 20 and 50 years old, though I am sure exceptions to this rule are abundant.
Why do they care?
I believe customers will be willing to pay a small one time fee for this service, because it will be a chance to minimize the stress of long-term anxiety about their finances and have an easy system to learn about a topic that has an intense controlling factor on their lives, but is largely untaught through traditional schooling. This product will give customers who are of middle to lower income levels the opportunity to self-manage their money, but not feel totally in the dark about the topic without a personal financial adviser available to them. In addition to this one time purchase, customers who desire consistent adviser interaction will be given the option to have a scheduled monthly call for a financial check-up, and may pay a subscription service to receive this feature. This allows the customer to attune their finance management experience to their personal desires, while not removing any software features for those who purchase the basic service.
What are my core competencies?
I think what sets me a part from everyone else is that I have access to a financial firm through familial connections, and I have discussed with these family members about how lower income clients have been traditionally under served by wealth management companies as they are not as economically viable for a direct management service, leading me to believe a gap exists. I also have personally seen the devastation of the 2008 recession, where many families had one or more income earners lose their jobs and financial insecurity was rampant. Having been a part of that period of turmoil, I think I can tailor the marketing and set up of my system sell to individuals who want more than anything to be better prepared for another financial crisis and to eventually have enough saved wealth to have the freedom to choose to work or not.
Evaluation
I believe my plan is solid enough that I could develop a basic system right now that could function at limited capacity. I think where my plan lacks some desired traits is in the credibility department, as I have been informally trained on matters of personal finance. I think if I were wanting to create a polished product right now, I would want to partner with an existing financial firm to lend credibility to my business and offer the company a chance to expand into a lower-income market with few liabilities to their company. I could additionally benefit the company by referring customers who meet the portfolio minimum to the company to be actively managed if they so choose. Other than that, I think the courses I will take during my time at UF will add to my knowledge of basic finance and allow me to add more essential competency areas to my system.
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