2022 financial relationships look very different from what they were even ten years ago. Today, couples are demanding greater flexibility and money management tools from their finance brands to help accommodate all styles of relationships. From Gen Z to the elderly, financial relationships look different for everyone and it’s time your finance brand reflected this in your products and services. To stay ahead of the competition and build long-lasting relationships with consumers, your finance brand needs to stay on top of what consumers are demanding to make their financial relationships easier.
Financial relationships require flexibility
According to recent research by Forrester, more and more finance brands are disrupting the status quo by designing products to help clients with their interpersonal financial needs. By addressing key pain points in consumers’ shared finance journey, your finance brand can create a unique value proposition that sets you apart from the competition. With everybody having a unique approach to money management, it’s important finance brands ease the stress placed on financial relationships by making managing and tracking money between individuals easier.
Most traditional finance providers haven’t strayed far from the run-of-the-mill shared bank account products, whereas fintechs have begun to lead the charge by offering forward-thinking digital money management tools. It’s important finance brands build valuable digital tools that help financial relationships prosper rather than hinder them.
“ It’s important finance brands build valuable digital tools that help financial relationships prosper rather than hinder them”
All financial relationships are unique
As the concept of relationships continues to evolve and expand, finance brands need to stay ahead and offer flexible financial relationship tools. Some different types of relationships that require different financial tools include:
- Financial education tools for young adults – As children begin to grow up many parents are wanting to educate them by offering them their own, supervised money tools. Finance brands can look to offer products and tools that educate young people about healthy financial management with parental supervision. Go Henry is one finance brand leading the charge in this area.
- Both Gen Z and Millennials require greater flexibility – Relationships are slightly different as each generation gets older. With Gen Z and Millennials, flexibility is key. Today, many couples have two incomes to manage, are living together before marriage or aren’t getting married at all. Offering budgeting and financial goal tools are important for this demographic. Finance brands already doing so include Honeydue and Zeta.
- Elderly financial relationships – As family members get older keeping track of their spending and ensuring they’re being smart with their money is important. While it’s important to offer financial freedom to elderly citizens, alerts to family members of spending can be an important tool to ensure they’re not being scammed and are spending their money safely. Finance brands offering tools like this include EverSafe and SilverBills.
- Friends purchasing a property together – As property prices continue to soar, friends purchasing properties together is becoming more common. As this can be a delicate financial situation, it’s important finance brands offer greater transparency. Budgeting, tracking and financial goal tools are a top priority. Fintech app YNAB (you need a budget) is a great example of this.
As more people decide not to pool their money together and cash becomes less used, making money sharing easier should also be a top priority for finance brands wanting to make financial relationships seamless. Finance brands and tools like Osko, Zelle and Venmo are becoming increasingly popular for the convenience and ease of use they offer consumers.
Key takeaways for finance brands
At the end of the day, how people operate within their financial relationships is unique to them. As relationships contine to evolve and expand, so must finance brands’ offerings. Flexibility and unique money management tools are what couples are demanding. By providing tools that make financial relationships more convenient and simpler, your finance brand can develop a unique value proposition that will foster consumer loyalty.
