Author Topic: Mustachian Business Idea -- Would you (or your anti-mustachian friends) use me?  (Read 4008 times)

rylandking

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Hey fellow Mustachians!

Would you (or anti-mustachian friends) use something like this?

1. Link your accounts and we give you a forecast graph of where you'll be if you continue your current habits.
2. Each month we send you an email telling you exactly what to do money-wise to get you ready to invest.
3. You get to use the product for free until your projection actually improves.

Would you us it? For like $2.99/mo or something.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2017, 02:49:58 PM by rylandking »

bigalsmith101

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My first, initial, basic response is a resounding NO.

#1. I don't know you, so I don't want you to "see my accounts"

#2. I don't often solicit advice, this is no different.

#3. A person that needs help spending less money is not going to flinch over $3.

I believe that the reason YNAB, MINT, and other such apps/programs are successful, is because they do the opposite of what you're suggesting.

1) No graph, but a very useable interface, allowing the user to draw his/her own conclusions.
2) All the information to make their own choices fluidly, rather than have EXACT actions pushed to them.
3) They are free or very cheap.

FrugalFisherman10

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My initial response was "no" as well, buutt, I and most somewhat experienced people on this forum will not be your target audience, I don't think. You could definitely help some non-Mustachians though!

Here's where I think you'd be a little different from most things out there:
"...get you ready to invest."

I do think that is a different focus from most other similar things out there.
Is it something who needs this type of advice will be able to perceive their need for? Yes, I believe so...consider all the times you've heard so-and-so getting into their mid-30s say "I don't even know where to start with investing and stuff.." or "Hey, do you think Acorn is a good idea/starting place?" (my bro-in-law literally asked me this this year so that's where the example comes from).

If you don't know what Acorn is google it if you're trying to get into this business haha
Also, have you used Personal Capital? It is very in-depth.

MadFientist has a similar "program" but for Travel hacking. He just runs it over an email distribution and I don't believe it takes in any individual user information/your situation, so it's not as 'tailored' of advice..but it's free. It just lays out a prescribed path of when to apply for which cards, how long to wait in between etc. So like "hey, you've just started in the email blast program, go ahead and apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred if you are prepared to put the min spend on it to receive the sign up bonus amount of rewards."
At least I think that's the idea.

Fishindude

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stashgrower

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MrsDinero

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Probably not.  Most my heavily in debt/anti-MMM, yet in denial friends are convinced they are really good with money.

I like the idea of analyzing the accounts and sending them steps on how to fix it.  I've noticed when new people come to the forum, figuring out WHAT to cut seems to be big problem. 

What I don't like is the "give me access to all your accounts".  Who are you?  What are your security protocols/encryption, etc?

have you seen simple.com?  While they don't send monthly steps they do help with budgets, setting goals, and what is "safe-to-spend".  They have graphs that show the user how the goals are impacted if they spend more than the "safe-to-spend" amount.  I think it adjusts for each transaction.

Roe

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I think there is a seed for a viable business idea here. It sounds like some kind of paid version of the forums case studies, although automated, right?

If you can get the automation to work, the idea might work. I would skip step 3, that's your Be Nice To People-voice, you need to listen to the Earn Money-voice. I know the troubles with this, my BNTP is much louder than EM aswell. The people that do get on track will cancel you before you get your money, the people that will stay with subscriptions for years because they are too lazy to cancel will never reach the point where you charge them.

What you should do is sell it to the people that want to get in financial shape but don't know how to and cant be bothered to google. There are a lot there that would feel it to be a mature and clever investment to pay 10$ for a run trough of their finances. And since you are such a nice guy and want to reward their hard work, that monthly payment will be lowered to a mere 2.99$ once they are on track!

BlueHouse

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Are you picturing something like "My Fitness Pal" that tells you if you proceed with your current calorie budget, you will weigh xxx in 3 weeks?  I could see how the creditKarma crowd might like something like that. 
Not me though, for reasons stated above by others.