Armed with a Financial Capability Innovation Fund grant from the Financial Health Network, Piggymojo is transforming the way people think about savings.
The goal of the technology startup is to help underserved consumers increase their savings, combining goal visualization, social commitments, and mobile and online technology to enable them to make “impulse saves.” The web-based savings tool helps users to instantly put money they would otherwise spend impulsively during the normal course of their day toward savings goals. When a user decides not to spend, he or she texts the amount to Piggymojo, which facilitates the transfer of funds from the person’s transactional account to a savings account.
The idea behind Piggymojo is to give consumers an immediate boost from saving, a feeling usually associated with consumption. The benefit felt from saving, on the other hand, is often delayed. Founders Jayson Halladay and Leah Solomon created Piggymojo to be the link between saving and forgoing consumption by making the savings goal present when the consumer is deciding whether to buy that latte or second beer. By quantifying the spending avoidance and then automatically transferring that money into savings, users experience both short-term and long-term satisfaction. Additionally, users can share their savings goals with family and friends, and inform them when they decline to make an impulsive purchase, which also helps them visualize good behavior and get it to stick.
