Financial literacy is as old as finance itself. In 1737 Benjamin Franklin was 31and wrote a column titled “Hints For Those That Would Be Rich.” He signed off with a bit of financial advice: “A penny saved is two pence clear.”
Since then there has been no end to the financial literacy programs being rolled out by governments, schools, banks and others with a purpose of improving the general understanding of how financial products work. Despite these efforts the results aren’t as expected:
- 21% of American workers with an employer-sponsored retirement plan are not contributing to their plan
- Australians are spending $31 billion in savings annually
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Financial troubles cause stress for over 40% of Finnish (Sambla)
Interestingly, detailed knowledge and experience of financial products or services appears to have limited direct influence on financial wellness. Rather, two key behaviours have a much bigger impact
- Active saving – Get ready for tomorrow
- Not borrowing for everyday expenses – Don’t steal from tomorrow
This pattern is very well reflected in physical fitness where it turns out that detailed knowledge and experience of how the body works has limited direct influence on financial wellness. Rather, three key behaviours have a much bigger impact
- Exercise – Get ready for tomorrow
- Eat Well – Don’t steal from tomorrow
- Sleep – Recover from today
In this segment, Strava, Fitbit and the array of technologies in the smartwatch category, at both a hardware and software level, show us the type of encouragement and reward system that can be deployed to engage people in their bid for wellness.
Moroku is enormously excited about bringing financial fitness to the world through a focus on customer success and harnessing proven engagement strategies in support of our vision of a world where everyone is doing great with their money, getting their financial streaks.
In this process we shall unashamedly leverage our understanding of physical and emotional fitness successes around the world.