Down Under Dollars

Team Name

Kiwi Kangaroos

Team Members

Project Description

Pain Points
Lack of Financial Literacy:
Many New Zealanders struggle with understanding key financial concepts, making it difficult to create and follow a budget or plan for long-term savings.
Untracked Spending and Savings:
A significant number of people don't track their spending habits effectively, leading to overspending, missed savings opportunities, and a lack of financial control.
Difficulty Planning for Financial Goals:
Individuals often don’t have clear financial goals or the right tools to help them reach milestones like purchasing a home, saving for retirement, or paying off debt.
Over-reliance on Credit:
Many households are over-leveraged due to high debt-to-income ratios, increasing financial strain and making it harder to save or invest.
Living Paycheck to Paycheck:
A large portion of New Zealanders live paycheck to paycheck, with little room for savings or emergency funds, contributing to financial stress.
Inconsistent Saving Habits:
Many individuals save irregularly, often without clear strategies or goals, leading to ineffective long-term financial planning.
Problem Severity
High Levels of Personal Debt:
Many households are burdened with credit card debt, student loans, or personal loans, making it hard for them to build wealth or financial security.
Limited Savings and Investment Knowledge:
With little knowledge of savings or investment options, people often miss opportunities to grow their wealth, exacerbating the wealth gap.
Rising Cost of Living:
New Zealand is facing rising costs in areas like housing, transportation, and utilities, putting more strain on households to manage everyday expenses.
Income Instability:
With growing gig economy jobs and casual employment, many New Zealanders face income instability, making financial planning harder.
Project Solution
BudgetBuddie is an AI-powered personal finance companion designed to help New Zealanders take control of their finances. The tool leverages publicly available data on financial behaviors and spending patterns to categorize users’ financial personalities. By analyzing earning, saving, and spending habits, the tool provides personalized, real-time insights to help users improve their financial behavior.
Financial Personality Analysis:
Users will be guided through a set of questions and datasets (such as household debt, consumer spending) to assess their financial standing.
Personalized Recommendations:
Based on their personality type, the tool will offer actionable advice on areas like spending reduction, improved saving habits, and investing basics.
Real-Time Feedback:
Users can interact with an AI-based chatbot powered by a GPT model to ask questions about their finances, get tailored advice, and receive updates on their progress.
Goal Setting & Tracking:
BudgetBuddie will help users set financial goals (e.g., saving for a trip, building an emergency fund) and provide continuous feedback on how well they are meeting their objectives.
User Value
Financial Awareness:
Users will better understand their spending and saving habits, allowing them to make informed decisions.
Improved Financial Health:
By receiving personalized tips, users can start building a solid financial foundation and work toward long-term financial security.
Stress Reduction:
By taking control of their finances, users can reduce the anxiety and stress associated with money management.
Actionable Insights:
The tool provides real-time suggestions, helping users take small, manageable steps toward better financial habits.

Data Story

Data Story
Household Debt-to-Income Ratios:
Stats NZ data can help provide an overview of the typical debt burden across different income groups and household types, guiding personalized advice.
Consumer Spending Patterns:
Open data on spending habits will be crucial to compare individual behaviors with national or regional trends and offer context-specific advice.
Financial Literacy Data:
Survey data on financial literacy can help customize advice for users based on their knowledge level, ensuring that the guidance is neither too advanced nor too basic.
Savings Rates & Investment Behaviors:
Using Stats NZ data on household savings and investment trends, the tool can encourage users to adopt strategies aligned with successful savers.
Application
BudgetBuddie will utilize open public datasets to provide real-time, user-centric feedback. For added value, the tool will allow users to connect their financial accounts via Akahu, enabling deeper insights into spending and saving trends. This can enrich the advice provided, making it more tailored and actionable.