Making finance understandable for emerging adults on their path to financial literacy.

Beacon

An app that empowers young adults to make informed financial decisions that align with their unique vision of success.

Client
B.F.A Senior Thesis // Miami University

Year
2019

What does it mean to feel like a Real Adult?

For many people, there is a gap between becoming a legal adult at 18 and feeling like a "Real Adult" based on their own values and experiences. This period has been recently coined by developmental psychologists as Emerging Adulthood.

During this time, young adults face consequential financial decisions and milestones, such as paying for college, finding a first job, renting an apartment, and managing their own bills. These decisions can feel confusing and complicated for emerging adults experiencing them for the first time, who often depend on others for guidance. This dependence can hinder a person's sense of pride and ownership in their adulthood, which can lengthen the transition from Emerging Adulthood to True Adulthood.

“I kind of feel like an adult, because I have a sense of responsibility over things, but I have a ways to go. When my husband and I set a budget on our honeymoon, I realized I didn’t really feel like an adult…we just sort-of wing it when accounting for savings or fun things to do.”

Sophie, 23

When speaking with emerging adults and observing their attitudes toward personal finance, four truths were discovered:

1

Emerging Adults see financial literacy and financial independence as a metric for achieving “real adulthood.”

2

Emerging Adults learn the ins and outs of personal finance through lived experience from both before and after moving away from home. These experiences fundamentally shape their relationship with money as they navigate adulthood.

3

For many emerging adults, financial literacy takes the form of a specific knowledge base that they must obtain, either through experience or some kind of education.

4

Many feel self-conscious when talking about money or asking questions of others that would fill their knowledge gaps out of fear of “revealing” their lack of adulthood.

Beacon is an app designed for emerging adults that uses their evolving financial goals as a framework for building their knowledge base in personal finance.

Beacon meets user where they’re at by tailoring personal finance instruction to the individual based on their current financial situation, short and long-term goals, and existing knowledge. Contextual, easy-to-understand guides work to fill in the gaps so users can make financial decisions that set them up for success—however they define it.

Straightforward Onboarding Experience

Emerging Adults downloading Beacon for the first time have minimal knowledge of functionality needed in an application made to help them achieve financial independence.

To alleviate confusion, first-time users get clear, simple explanations of the application’s functionality. Overall design is clear and minimal, with interactions showing clear cause-and-effect to help users organically learn how to use the app.

Organized, Easy-to-use Budgeting

Money is automatically separated into three buckets based on bank account information saved upon setting up the app: recurring charges such as rent, money to spend, and money to save at the end of the month. Use the money bar at the top of the budgeting screen to adjust budgets and money allocation at the macro-level.

Users are able to further adjust budgets at the micro-level by clicking on one of the budgeting cards. From there, they can add bills, adjust money allocations to specific items, and see how these changes affect the rest of their budget in the long and short-term.

Set and Keep Track of financial Goals

Emerging Adults have the ability to set long-term financial goals and keep track of their progress towards them. These can range from saving up for a vacation to paying off a loan. Minimal allocations toward these goals are set based on income and current budget. These goals can be further added to various parts of their budget.

Robust, Centralized, and Contextual Resources

A centralized resource tab sorted according to relevant and personalized filters allows Emerging Adults to build a financial knowledge base from their own starting point and to grow their financial knowledge at their own pace.

In addition to a centralized knowledge base, contextual information exists throughout the app, providing personalized budget recommendations or clarifications on common misconceptions. This makes Beacon a powerful tool for Emerging Adults who learn best through experience instead of through more formal, out-of-context methods.