A Dad’s Guide to Fintech Money

Banking and doing your finances, in general, has changed drastically in the last few years. It’s no longer a world of men in pinstripe suits and having to dress up to go to a large skyscraper immaculately made from steel and glass. 

As the internet has made a massive impact on every business, you can imagine and accelerate the proliferation of increasingly more powerful mobile phones in everyone’s pocket. Cloud computing and increasingly more powerful AI solutions have created a new wave of companies that offer a new version of any traditional financial product, usually with an added benefit. Time for any financial savvy dad to throw out the old and welcome the new.

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Banking

Regular banking has completely changed. It’s no longer only the traditional names you can choose from, you have the choice of a whole new range of brands that usually operate digital-first. Opening a new bank account is as easy as downloading an app, take a few selfies with ID, and you are all set. Some even offer to provide a digital debit card that uses the NFC technology on your phone. These bank apps usually come with a plethora of ways to track your spending and possibilities to make saving boxes for your next big purchase. This is where the big traditional banks are trying to catch up, but these newer online banks have it in their DNA.

Money Loans

When it comes to mortgages or different kinds of lending, there are plenty – overwhelmingly so – options out there nowadays. You will have to navigate a minefield of options, including those with extremely high APRs. One of the true innovations is the way applications can be handled nowadays, with AI doing the scoring and accepting or rejecting applications. 

This means as a consumer, you get a decision almost instantly and usually funds sent to your account within hours (post some manual checks, of course). This used to days, maybe even weeks with a traditional bank.

Transferring Money

Money transfers, especially overseas, have gone through a revolution as well. It used to be extremely costly to send money from one country to another, plus it would take up to a week before the money would reach its destination. Fintech has enabled people to send money to Vietnam online in just a matter of 24 hours or less, at just a fraction of the cost it used to be.

Money For The Future

You can also expect plenty of innovation in the way you can handle your investments and your pension planning. This used to be quite an opaque territory with seemingly black voodoo magic going on behind the scenes. That’s no longer the case. There are plenty of providers that offer you trading desk experiences from behind your desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. 

Some even offer using smart AI type portfolio management where all you have to do is indicate your risk appetite. The same goes for how your pension funds are being managed, with some offering some real insight into how your funds look at the moment and how this will be converted to real returns when you take up your pension. That’s probably the primary improvement of all the new fintech around, it provides better user experience and increased transparency on a very personal subject: your own money.