Thrive

The only definitive idea we had in the beginning was that we would be creating a tool for financial wellness aimed at the student population of our university. The initial stages consisted of rapidly ideating the potential path the user would take on their journey. Keeping the end goal of financial wellness in mind, the team explored ways to achieve balance between goals and financial obligations.

Ultimately, we decided that a digital experience would be the most appropriate way to convey and track the majority of the information necessary to achieve financial wellness. However, we did discuss at length the importance of tactile touch points when trying to convey financial ideas in an increasingly digital age. From these discussions stemmed the idea of a rewards system which would connect user action to physical rewards. Being focused on the student population, the team decided to develop a reward system which would grant the users functional tools to navigate their college experience. Depending on the amounts of money saved, contributed to the peer fund, and challenges completed in the app, the user could redeem points to get everything from sketchbooks to parking passes on campus.

Generosity is also a core idea which contributes to financial wellness. We wanted to give the user the ability to see real and direct impact from charity while also incentivizing the behavior through earning rewards. Ultimately we decided to form a peer-fund which all users would be part of. The goal of this would be to act as a safety net for those students who find themselves financially unwell because of unforeseen circumstances. Vetted requests could be posted anonymously to the fund and, upon approval, those users would receive financial assistance to deal with the situation. Students are encouraged to contribute to this fund as it is one of the quickest ways to earn points on the platform. 

Finally, upon graduation, students could cash out their savings accounts which they created through the Thrive app. These would be matched accounts, similar to a 401k which students could contribute too throughout their 4 year degree. Points could also be contributed towards this account which would increase the percent matched by the University. Having multiple ways to redeem points not only allows students from all different financial backgrounds to find something useful but it also acts as a self-guided journey in weighing short to long term rewards.