Latest / Talking FACS / MoneyWi$e: FinTech at Your Fingertips

Transcript

MoneyWi$e: FinTech at Your Fingertips · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
• 0:04
  food, finance, and fitness.
• 0:07
  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
• 0:12
  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
• 0:15
  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
• 0:20
  and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:24
  Maybe you've heard about FinTech, or maybe you haven't, but today we're going
• 0:28
  to talk about FinTech on MoneyWi$e on Talking FACS.
• 0:33
  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, and our guest today is Kristen Jowers,
• 0:37
  Extension Specialist for OneOp.
• 0:40
  Today, we are exploring the world of financial technology, also known as FinTech.
• 0:46
  From mobile banking to debt trackers and payment apps, we will be talking about
• 0:51
  tech tools that you may already be using or can start to use to simplify your
• 0:56
  financial life. So let's get started, Kristen.
• 0:59
  So if our listeners haven't heard the term FinTech, what does it actually mean?
• 1:06
  That's right, Mindy. FinTech stands for financial technology,
• 1:11
  and so it refers to any online or mobile tool that helps you access,
• 1:17
  manage, or track your money.
• 1:19
  FinTech is virtual, like something you'd access on the computer or on an application
• 1:24
  that you'd use on your phone or your tablet.
• 1:27
  This includes apps like mobile banking, payment apps, budgeting apps,
• 1:33
  debt calculators, and credit monitoring services, which we'll be talking about later on in the episode.
• 1:40
  But just think of fintech tools as technology that puts your kind of digital
• 1:46
  money right at your fingertips.
• 1:49
  So in the past, if you had cash, you always had money at your fingertips,
• 1:53
  But now with a lot more of virtual money management, fintech tools are virtually
• 2:00
  at your fingertips as well.
• 2:02
  Oh, exactly. So no need to carry around those massive calculators that used
• 2:08
  to do all of the amortization for us, right?
• 2:13
  And now I'm telling my age, right? Because...
• 2:16
  Probably no one who is listening to us remembers what those calculators looked like. I remember.
• 2:25
  But, you know, I was using FinTech before there was even a name for FinTech
• 2:32
  because I was mobile banking before we had smartphones.
• 2:36
  And, of course, using those financial calculators before we had,
• 2:41
  you know, apps to put all the numbers into. And so I guess I was an early adopter
• 2:47
  of FinTech before it even had a name.
• 2:50
  But how many people now are we seeing use FinTech?
• 2:53
  It's more and more common. As you said, Mindy, there's been early adopters that
• 2:58
  would go to specific websites to run specific calculations.
• 3:01
  And then now there's folks that they don't have to do all of that legwork to
• 3:06
  go out and find the right calculator. There's a lot of apps that will do those
• 3:12
  sorts of calculations for you.
• 3:15
  I think many people are already using FinTech without even realizing it.
• 3:21
  You mentioned going on your mobile banking website.
• 3:25
  A lot of banks now, most banks, I would say, have apps that you can log into and check your balance.
• 3:33
  A lot of early adopters are using payment apps.
• 3:38
  And so, yes, many of us are already kind of engaged with FinTech.
• 3:42
  Well, and I would say that a payment app like PayPal or Zelle or those sorts
• 3:49
  of things really knew that this was coming along and that people were not going
• 3:54
  to want to have to carry cash all
• 3:56
  the time and wanted to have ways of transferring money in a simple way.
• 4:02
  And so it happened sort of almost organically as a way for people to get money to one another.
• 4:09
  And then, of course, all of our
• 4:12
  cards that we use or our bills that we pay also recognize that it's a whole
• 4:19
  lot easier than putting it,
• 4:21
  not that it's easier than putting a check in the mail and a stamp on it,
• 4:24
  but it is a whole lot more expeditious way of paying our bills. I agree, Mindy.
• 4:30
  The payment apps also sometimes referred to as peer-to-peer payment apps.
• 4:35
  They're one of the most commonly used forms of FinTech.
• 4:39
  So I want to say the number is like 76% of Americans use these apps regularly
• 4:45
  to do things like split bills, pay rent, send money to friends and family.
• 4:52
  I went to a comedy show recently where the comedian was even asking for tips
• 4:58
  for their show through these payment apps.
• 5:03
  And so, as you mentioned, there's a lot of different brand names that many of us are familiar with.
• 5:08
  They usually link to a bank account or to a debit card, and they can allow you
• 5:15
  to really seamlessly send money to someone else.
• 5:18
  So peer-to-peer payment apps, as you mentioned, like Zelle and Venmo and Cash App,
• 5:25
  they are considered FinTech, and they're just a great example of how technology
• 5:30
  is really transforming how we are handling everyday transactions.
• 5:35
  So with this added convenience approach.
• 5:39
  What security or privacy concerns should we keep in mind?
• 5:43
  I think like the biggest thing that might surprise folks about payment apps
• 5:48
  is just that there are fees sometimes associated with sending money.
• 5:52
  You might have been surprised around tax time to receive a tax form from them
• 5:58
  to report your earnings through these payment apps.
• 6:01
  With the kind of immersive technology of payment apps, there's been an increase
• 6:08
  in the number of scams that are using payment apps to get you to send money.
• 6:12
  And so those are kind of the thorns that come with the convenience.
• 6:18
  So you just want to be sure, like, if you're initiating payment,
• 6:21
  that you know that you're sending it to the right person because it might actually
• 6:25
  be difficult to undo that payment if you happen to send the money to a scammer.
• 6:32
  You also don't want to leave your money sitting in a payment app.
• 6:37
  I've heard this a lot, especially from college students, that they kind of use
• 6:42
  their payment app as a bank, and that's really dangerous because they're not bank accounts.
• 6:48
  They don't offer payment app accounts, don't offer the same federal protections
• 6:53
  or insurance on that money.
• 6:55
  So it's really smart, even if you're using payment apps, that you're consistently
• 7:00
  transferring your balance back into a federally insured bank account or a credit
• 7:06
  union instead of just leaving money sitting in the app.
• 7:09
  And we can include like the FDIC's bank find suite in the show notes just so
• 7:15
  you can check that your bank or credit union are available.
• 7:19
  That you're using are insured. Perfect.
• 7:22
  So other than our peer-to-peer or payment apps, are there other types of fintech
• 7:29
  that we want to talk about today?
• 7:30
  Yes, there's budgeting, fintech, debt-to-tracking apps that can help you track
• 7:37
  your spending or create debt payoff plans.
• 7:41
  Some of these tools, kind of as I mentioned with the payment apps,
• 7:46
  they will connect to your bank account or even your credit cards to show how
• 7:50
  you're spending in different categories.
• 7:53
  One thing I found just in my personal use of these is that not every tool can
• 7:59
  link with every credit union or every bank account.
• 8:04
  So you'll just want to be sure as you're exploring different fintech that it's
• 8:09
  actually going to work for your needs specifically.
• 8:13
  Another common category of fintech is credit monitoring.
• 8:19
  These tools will allow you to track your credit and financial health over time.
• 8:24
  They'll show you a kind of a one-stop shop for all of your account history,
• 8:29
  accounts that you have open.
• 8:31
  They'll also alert you. The credit monitoring will alert you if you have missed
• 8:36
  payments or new credit inquiry.
• 8:38
  So let's say you went to buy a car and they ran your credit,
• 8:42
  you would see those types of credit pulls on this report.
• 8:46
  So you can access those free credit reports every week on annualcreditreport.com.
• 8:53
  And it's a good habit to review those regularly so that you can catch any errors or potential fraud.
• 9:01
  And it's a good time to mention that what you see on credit monitoring apps
• 9:07
  might not be exactly the same as what you see on the annualcreditreport.com
• 9:12
  because everybody has a little different way of calculating that score, don't they?
• 9:19
  That's true, Mindy, yes. And it's also dependent on what they're calculating the score for.
• 9:24
  So that really is dependent on how that score is. So, don't panic if you see
• 9:30
  just a little fluctuation in the score.
• 9:33
  And what you see on anglecreditreport.com won't give you a score,
• 9:37
  as you will see on the credit monitoring.
• 9:41
  So, why are people using these FinTech tools so readily? I know why I use them,
• 9:47
  but why does everybody else use it?
• 9:49
  Yeah, Mindy, I think, like, the biggest reason is definitely convenience.
• 9:53
  It can make money management easier, even replace some of your pen and paper analog processes.
• 10:01
  But it's also kind of daunting to some to kind of combine technology and money,
• 10:09
  especially for first timers.
• 10:11
  But a lot of fintech I found are really designed for everyday users.
• 10:17
  You don't have to be super tech savvy, especially with those mobile banking
• 10:22
  apps and the payment apps.
• 10:25
  I find there's not a lot of clutter on those.
• 10:28
  And so it's pretty straightforward to adopt some of those tools.
• 10:34
  With so many apps available, how do we know if we're choosing the right one?
• 10:39
  It's definitely easy to feel overwhelmed.
• 10:44
  I don't know if you remember the saying, there's an app for that.
• 10:48
  Yes, I do. It feels like that's definitely true when it comes to the world of financial technology.
• 10:55
  So the Office of Financial Readiness has three kind of tips for choosing the right one.
• 11:02
  The first is to know what type of features you need. So are you looking for
• 11:08
  a tool that's going to help you track your spending or are you looking to monitor your debt?
• 11:14
  Once you identify what features you need, that will kind of help you with the
• 11:19
  next step, which is to actually test out the app.
• 11:23
  If you can test it out for free or during a trial period, see if the app is
• 11:29
  intuitive for you to use. If it's easy to use, you're going to be more likely to engage with it.
• 11:36
  See if it connects with the accounts that you'd like it to connect to.
• 11:41
  If it's one of those apps or if you're manually putting in the information,
• 11:45
  are you finding yourself to being able to navigate the app easily?
• 11:51
  And then the third is to understand the costs associated with the app.
• 11:58
  So while some apps are free, others are going to either charge upfront fees or even monthly fees.
• 12:05
  So take your time when you're exploring new apps.
• 12:08
  If you search for budget tracking apps, it's going to come up with 100 results
• 12:15
  and not all the apps are created equally.
• 12:18
  So when you're looking, think about what type of features are important to you.
• 12:24
  So if you're managing money with a loved one, or you're just looking to track
• 12:29
  your coffee spending or to increase your savings, you'll want to look at reviews
• 12:34
  for apps and make sure that you understand how much it's going to cost.
• 12:40
  I might mention, too, that sometimes your bank or your credit union has an app
• 12:46
  available that will do some of the features that you want, and oftentimes those apps are free.
• 12:52
  And so, if that is the low-level type of tracking that you're trying to do,
• 12:58
  that might be a good place to start, at least to get familiar with the tracking
• 13:03
  and then see if you want to do something a little bit more advanced or a little
• 13:07
  fancier, have a little fancier fingertip activity going on. I agree.
• 13:13
  I think, yeah, I think starting with free apps just to see what's possible,
• 13:17
  like you said, through your bank apps.
• 13:19
  I know my bank has the credit monitoring and the spending tracking where they'll
• 13:23
  make a little pie chart about how much money I spent eating out.
• 13:27
  And so there's things that I can access through the bank app,
• 13:31
  through my mobile banking app that definitely support my financial management.
• 13:37
  And once again, that's something that you can feel pretty secure in their security
• 13:43
  because you know that they have already gone through the process of making sure
• 13:49
  that your information is going to be protected and that sort of thing.
• 13:54
  Maybe you can be a little bit more relaxed with that one than something that
• 13:59
  you have gone out and found on your own.
• 14:02
  So do you have any tips for getting started or incorporating a fintech into money management?
• 14:09
  I think that fintech tools are going to be the most helpful when they're part
• 14:13
  of your regular routine.
• 14:15
  So maybe that's pulling up the fintech tool in your family budgeting conversations.
• 14:22
  So rather than saying, hey, I feel like we've been spending a lot on eating out lately,
• 14:28
  you might have a fintech tool that would kind of show like a comprehensive overview
• 14:34
  of the different places that you're spending money or maybe particular businesses
• 14:40
  or vendors that you frequent regularly.
• 14:42
  And that can help kind of support some of those conversations.
• 14:45
  But a lot of these tools are going to require regular engagement to keep things up to date.
• 14:52
  Some are automatically synced to like your bank account.
• 14:56
  And so it can see your spending in that way. But other ones,
• 15:00
  like one that we're going to talk about soon, it's definitely one of those things
• 15:04
  where you'll have to keep up with it in order to kind of receive the benefits from it.
• 15:10
  Earlier, you mentioned that some apps charge fees to use them.
• 15:14
  Does all fintech cost money or are there free tools that you'd like to recommend?
• 15:19
  In addition to starting with those mobile banking apps, as you mentioned,
• 15:23
  Mindy, that are free and have a lot of built-in value,
• 15:28
  some other apps on the Internet are going to have monthly or recurring fees
• 15:34
  associated with using them.
• 15:37
  So just like other subscriptions, you wouldn't want to sign up for an app that
• 15:41
  costs money every month.
• 15:44
  And then if you're not really engaging with it and not getting value from that
• 15:48
  subscription, this is one of those things that you'd want to make sure that
• 15:52
  you're engaging with, especially if you're paying for it.
• 15:56
  But some apps and tools are free.
• 16:00
  One of the ones that I love talking about because it's a great example of Cooperative
• 16:05
  Extension's financial tools is PowerPay from Utah State University Extension. It is FinTech.
• 16:13
  It's a debt payoff tool that helps you simulate different repayment strategies
• 16:20
  to see how fast you can pay down your debt and how much money you can save on interest.
• 16:26
  And so we can include a link to that free fintech resource in the show notes as well.
• 16:32
  I tell you, that's one that's been around long before we were calling it fintech,
• 16:37
  because I remember when it used to come on a floppy disk.
• 16:40
  Yes, it is an OG FinTechfor sure.
• 16:45
  And it's evolved over the years from floppy disks and CDs to a virtual
• 16:51
  website tool and even app. So it's definitely one of those.
• 16:56
  Well, and that just speaks to the validity of this program because it really
• 17:03
  does work or it wouldn't have stuck around for so long.
• 17:07
  So, do we have any special advice for military families?
• 17:12
  Yes, Mindy. As you know, I work in the military family support space,
• 17:18
  and military families face unique financial challenges like frequent moves and deployments.
• 17:23
  There is a FinTech tool called the Sen$e mobile app.
• 17:29
  Sense is spelled S-E-N, the dollar sign as the second S and then E.
• 17:36
  So the SenSe app was designed by the
• 17:39
  Defense Department as a FinTech tool specifically for military families.
• 17:44
  So it has a lot of educational content, calculators, quizzes to help manage
• 17:50
  topics like retirement or deployment play.
• 17:53
  And it's a really great FinTech tool for military families who are often on the move.
• 17:58
  I love that we have all of these resources for all of our families,
• 18:04
  whether they're in the military or they're civilian families,
• 18:08
  because knowledge is power.
• 18:10
  And if we have power at our fingertips, then we're even better equipped to make
• 18:16
  sure that we have control over our finances.
• 18:20
  So whether you are checking your bank balance from your phone or exploring debt-free
• 18:25
  plans with tools like PowerPay, financial technology can help you feel more
• 18:30
  in control of your money.
• 18:31
  We encourage you to visit your local extension office or check out the resources
• 18:35
  in today's show notes to get started.
• 18:38
  Kristen, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks, Mindy.
• 18:41
  To our listeners, thanks for joining us for MoneyWi$e on Talking FACS.
• 18:46
  You can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
• 18:52
  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
• 18:58
  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
• 19:02
  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question, or a show topic idea,
• 19:07
  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT,
• 19:12
  or send us an email at UKFCSEXT@UKY.edu.
• 19:19
  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
• 19:26
  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local Extension
• 19:30
  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
• 19:33
  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.