By Tyler Griffin, Financial Health Network This post is a follow-on to our recently released FinLab Snapshot, a report in which we identified industry insights, trends and analyses based on FinLab’s 356 applicants in 2016. In this post, we’ll share more about something we called out as one of the “trends on the horizon” we…

By Katherine J. Flocken Financial Health Startups Win Their Way to Money20/20 As autumn arrives, financial services innovators know it is almost time for Money20/20 — one of the largest conferences for payments and financial services innovation in the world. It is a major event for those in, or trying to break into, the financial services industry….

By Asad Ramzanali & Josh Sledge, Financial Health Network This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most of you reading this post, but it is worth stating: Fintech has a diversity problem. Specific numbers for diversity in fintech are hard to nail down. But we do know that both technology and finance have a significant…

This post is a follow-on to our recently released Financial Solutions Lab Snapshot, a report in which we identified industry insights, trends, and analyses based on Financial Solutions Lab’s 356 applicants in 2016. In this post, we’ll share more of our funding related applicant data and call out what we think these data imply. As we […]

By Tyler Griffin I think one of the most interesting tensions in our world of fintech exists between building a product that our customers love and building a product that is good for our customers. Much ink has been spilled about the tension between building a successful business and doing good; that is well trod…

By Aja McClahanan I’m a child of the 80s and came of age in the 90s. If you don’t know much about that time period, I’ll sum it up for you: the rise pop culture consumerism. Rappers, ball players and other larger-than-life personalities defined success for us in terms of the “bling.” The more diamond-encrusted…

By Steven M. Hughes LET’S REWIND. I’m a freshman in college, hungry for food and new experiences as I’m walking across the library bridge. From one end to the other are tables filled with coupons for free pizza, subs and credit cards (one of these things are not like the others). Shortly after all the…

By Stephanie Jones Have you ever avoided going to the doctor about an ache or pain simply because you were afraid of what the diagnosis might be? That happens with finances too. In fact, that was totally me three years ago. While my husband was in law school, I knew our debt was mounting, but…

By Bobbi Dempsey Growing up in severe poverty, smart financial skills aren’t something you learn. I say that from personal experience. Survival is the main goal, and you do anything necessary just to get your hands on enough food to make it through the day. You have a very negative view of — and relationship with — money, as…

What does financial health mean to me? If only I were presented with that question eighteen years ago when I was a young man entering the United States Army, maybe I wouldn’t have made some of the mistakes I have made in the area of my finances.

By Joshua Sledge, Director, Financial Health Network After a relaxing Labor Day weekend, I settled back into work last Tuesday morning by scanning for industry news. Everywhere I looked — my Twitter feed, the company Slack channel, Google News — I kept seeing the same article pop up with a thought-provoking headline: “Sex ed is required. Why isn’t financial…

By Tai Stewart Ever since I can remember, my dad was always the financial manager in our household. He knew how to support 8 kids and a wife on less than $40,000, and we didn’t lack any basic necessities. As the eldest child, I was the recipient of most of the financial lessons since I…

How to Value the True Cost of a Loan How should we measure the true value of a loan on consumers’ lives? Lower blood pressure, for the anxiety and stress saved? The dollar amount of an additional payday, because someone could afford to repair the car and get to work? The quality of life achieved…

By Amanda K. Lettmann Disability comes quickly and very unexpectedly. One moment you are healthy, another moment you are having open heart surgery — at least that’s what happened to me. In the early 1990’s, I learned dearly the importance of having sound financial health. At the time I was 29, an avid runner, cyclist, and fitness…

All children are “our” children. Financial shocks affect millions of children’s lives. Over 48 million children live in financially struggling households; 38% of these families don’t have savings habits. Financial Health Network has been dedicated to raising awareness around America’s children, publishing research to support the efforts. And this summer, we invited Bob Putnam, author…

By Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Specialist, CFI This morning I had the luxury of splitting an Uber with my girlfriend for our to-work transportation. Neither she nor I are affluent by United States standards, but I would say we’re relatively financially healthy. Most months, our expenses like rent, food, medical bills, and student loans are low…

By Eric Patrick, BlackMarketExchange Spring 2011. That’s when I graduated from Howard University’s pharmacy school. I felt like I hit the lotto. No more waiting on refund checks, which at the time felt like a million dollars. I was now going to be a licensed pharmacist with a paycheck that was sure to prevent me…

By Nancy Castillo This Spring, Financial Health Networker Nancy Castillo spent 12 weeks at Oportun’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA. Castillo was there as part of a Fellowship program offered by Financial Health Network to its staff, the goal of which was twofold: to provide professional development and exposure to an emerging Financial Health Network…

By Financial Health Network Consulting Putting Low-Income Consumers First With the Help of Financial Health Network’s Knowledge More than 68 million low-income Americans don’t get the financial services they need. It’s this market gap that prompted the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a network of community development financial institutions to turn to the Center for Financial…

By Toni Husbands, Debt Free Divas As a mother of two very young children, staying healthy is a priority because I want to remain active with them as we all grow older. Helping my children develop healthy lifestyle habits is important so hopefully one day they can pass that on to my grandchildren. I didn’t…

By Ryan Guida, CashMoneyLife We all have financial goals in our lives. Mine have changed through the years, but I can still remember the big ones. Paying off all consumer debt. Getting married. Buying a home. Becoming a father. These were all huge financial milestones. But perhaps the biggest financial leap of faith I ever…

In July our colleagues at Fifth Third Bank shared several examples of how Financial Health Network has affected that organization’s thinking. “We printed out the image of small-dollar credit consumers, taping it by our desks to remind us every day about the people we were doing our work for.” Thank you, Tom, Mark, and Darren,…

By Financial Health Network Consulting A Financial Inclusion Forum Goes Further Nothing makes the consumer experience resonate more than living it first-hand. The Financial Health Network understands this, which is why it created the Consumer Financial Experience (FinX) to offer an in-the-field opportunity that puts participants in consumers’ shoes and has them tackle the challenges…

By Grayson Bell, Debt Roundup Did you know 57% of Americans are struggling financially? Isn’t that a crazy number? What if I pull out percentages and go with about 138 million people. Yes that is MILLION! This information is according to Center for Financial Services Innovation’s Consumer Financial Health Study. While I hate to see…

By Nick True, True Tightwad So, I have a confession to make. I ruined my honeymoon. This is hard to admit since most people don’t know this (not even my mom, who’s reading this for the first time). It’s hard because this story has the potential to paint me in an extremely negative light. But…

The following is a transcript from Jennifer Tescher’s Big Idea at the EMERGE 2016 Forum in New Orleans. I don’t know about you, but as a frequent flyer, those announcements when you get on the airplane about “put on your seatbelt”, or “no smoking in the lavatory”, those just sort of wash over me at…

By Financial Health Network Consulting From Check Cashing to Credit-Building Nix Neighborhood Lending has come a long way since it opened fifty years ago as a check cashing business inside a Los Angeles grocery store. In 2007, after the company was bought by Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Nix began shifting its business away from simply…

By Abigail Perry, I Pick Up Pennies FinCon and Center for Financial Services Innovation partnered up for a contest to have bloggers explain what financial health means to them. Here’s my take on the subject. Most people think of financial health as a state of being. To me, it’s about a conscious journey toward stability….

How a rejection letter and a plate of red velvet cupcakes led me to understanding how #FinHealthMatters. By Betsy Mikel Thank you for your interest in Northwestern University. After careful consideration of your application, I am sorry to inform you we are unable to offer you a place in the class of 2008.* The 18-year-old me…

By Elizabeth Vivirito, Managing Director, Financial Health Network This month we’re introducing a series called “Moments of Impact.” At Financial Health Network we work hard to design our events, content, and experiences with impact at the center of our work. While we have seen notable strides from our members and in the marketplace, we recognize…

What financial providers need to know about young adults. What if we reached young people at the moment they’re primed to to absorb financial education — a moment like their first paycheck? What if we used that moment to capture people’s attention, and we allow them to open that account to help get started? MyPath, a San…

By Mel Bondar, brokeGIRLrich I am the world’s laziest runner. I kind of hate it. Sometimes it’s my legs that hate it. Sometimes it’s my lungs. Most of the time though, it’s my mind. My mind really hates running. My mind wants to be at home binge watching Pretty Little Liars and eating chocolate chip…

In case you missed it, June 29 was the first-ever #FinHealthMatters Day. You might be wondering what that’s all about, maybe even why you should care. In a nutshell, it’s this: 57% of Americans — approximately 138 million adults — are struggling financially. If that doesn’t scare you, it should. The struggling majority aren’t who you think: While it’s…

Building products that help consumers improve their financial health is hard. Finance is complex, the space is regulated, and consumers tend to be reserved about sharing their financial information, limiting viral loop options. So why would anyone try to build a product in this space instead of another food delivery app? Here are five reasons […]

By Thea Garon, Senior Manager, Financial Health Network Financial Health Network is pleased to announce the launch of the Financial Health Beta Project, an initiative designed to help providers measure and improve their customers’ financial health. From June to December 2016, participating companies will use Financial Health Network’s 8 financial health indicators to measure and…

By Rachel Schneider Senior Vice President, Financial Health Network Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its long-awaited proposed rules about payday lending. The CFPB is to be applauded for wading into the near-impossible task of trying to regulate this controversial product without causing harm to the millions of people who rely on…

By Sohrab Kohli, Senior Associate, Financial Health Network Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be issuing a proposed rule on payday loans and other small-dollar loan products. This rule will likely introduce protections that would curb consumer harm and have other broad implications for much of the small-dollar credit…

Three Things Innovators Should Know About Prepaid Millions of Americans–whether they have bank accounts or not–depend on prepaid cards to take more control over their financial lives in a way that cannot easily be done with cash alone. High-quality prepaid products are a critical component to the financial health of those who use them to […]

By Sarah Parker, Director, Financial Health Network Originally published on Financial Health Network’s website on February 2, 2016 The better a financial services provider understands its customers, the better it can serve them. With Big Data, providers can increase customer loyalty and gain market share by better serving its customers. Big Data here is defined…

Financial Solutions Lab sat down with Jean Claude Rodriguez-Ferrera, Co-Founder of Puddle, one of Financial Solutions Lab’s 9 winners, to talk about FinTech and Finhealth. What made you start your company? There’s nothing more powerful than a community that trusts you. I discovered this some years ago by working with different communities who shared money […]

By Josh Sledge, Director, Financial Health Network This blog originally appeared on Nextbillion.net on November 11, 2015. When we traditionally think of the industries that can help promote successful outcomes for children, the financial services industry doesn’t generally make the list. However, financial service providers can actually play an important and constructive role in children’s…

While digital platforms make it easier to reach a larger number of consumers, it doesn’t always mean those consumers will choose your product or even continue to use it once they do. Gavin Michael, Head of Digital for Chase, offers the best practices that have helped his team transform the way they interact with their […]

Guest blogger: Eldar Shafir, Co-Founder of ideas42, Princeton University Professor, and Advisory Council Member for the Financial Solutions Lab Like many of us, I’m lucky enough to be able to manage my daily life while devoting just a sliver of my mind to looking after my personal finances. But for lower-income American households, navigating continuously […]