Many individuals lack understanding of fundamental financial concepts such as budgeting, saving, investing, and debt management, to address this pain point. We aim to develop a comprehensive and user-friendly product to track personal expenses, savings, and investments for users. The product features focuses mainly on tracking expenses, savings and budgeting to meet users financial goals and make informed decisions.

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Problem Space

Problem Background

Between 1997 and 2007, average undergraduate student loan debt rose from $9,250 to $19,200—a 58% increase after accounting for inflation. Average debt for college students graduating with loans rose six percent in just one year between 2006 and 2007, from $18,976 to $20,098 (Reed 2008). Recent survey results also suggest that these debt loads are causing anxiety among young people and influencing major labor decisions: a 2006 USA Today/National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) poll of young adults ages 22 to 29 found that, of those with debt, 30% said they worried about it frequently; 29% had put off or decided against furthering their education because of debt; and 22% had taken a job they would not have taken otherwise because of debt. There are other potentially costly consequences of accumulating high levels of 4 debt early on, such as bankruptcy (Roberts and Jones 2001).

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User Pain Points & Research Insights

Using quantitative analysis, we conducted interviews with 9 users in total to understand their pain points as stated below.

Budgeting: Balancing between necessary and discretionary spending.
User-Friendly Tools: She prefers intuitive tools that integrate seamlessly into her daily routine.
Unpredictable Income: Finds it challenging to stick to a budget when income varies significantly, such as during her time working as a server.
Lack of Comprehensive Budgeting Tools: Finds current banking apps insufficient in providing detailed budgeting features.
Overspending Temptation: Temptation to overspend on dining out or shopping.
Categorization Inaccuracies: Inaccuracies in automatic expense categorization in apps.

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Solution Explanation

1. Tracking Expenses:

Scenario: A user links their bank account and credit cards to track expenses in real time.
Definition of Done: The app successfully fetches transaction data, categorises expenses automatically, and displays them in an easy-to-read format. Users can manually recategorize expenses.

2. Setting and Managing Budgets:

Scenario: A user sets a monthly budget for different categories (e.g., groceries, entertainment).
Definition of Done: The app allows users to input their budget limits and tracks their spending against these limits, providing real-time feedback on budget status.

3. Saving for Goals:

Scenario: A user sets a financial goal, such as saving for a car or paying off a student loan.
Definition of Done: The app helps users allocate a portion of their income towards their goal, tracks their progress, and provides suggestions to adjust spending to meet the goal.

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Lofi & Hifi Mockups

Iterative Design Learnings

Technical implementation

Frontend Frameworks/libraries: React, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Redux/toolkit/query, chart.js / react-chartjs-2
Backend Frameworks: Postgresql, Django, Ninja JWT, Python
Detailed Technical Implementation of PennyAM Project on AWS: View here‍
Technical Challenges of Implementing PennyAM Project (on AWS): View here

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Future Steps

We hope to continue with the project and build more features along the way to resolve financial struggles among young professionals. We learnt that customers would want a product that is user friendly and able to track their expenses.

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Learnings

Product Manager Learnings:

Mercy Ojini

Co.Lab was exciting for me, having a real life scenario and working along a cross-functional team to build an MVP was the highlight. With so much enthusasism and a truly dedicated team, I learnt that it is always easier to start with the basic features and put users in mind when working on a product.

Designer Learnings:

Grace Gwe

Grace Gwe: as I delve deeper into the world of app design, I've come to appreciate the invaluable role of the feedback loop in our process. Working closely with developers and product managers has taught me the importance of open communication and iterative design. By constantly seeking feedback and refining our approach, we're able to create a product that truly resonates with our users. It's a humbling experience to realise that mastery in this field isn't about knowing everything upfront, but rather about embracing the journey of continuous learning and improvement. Each iteration of PennyAM is a testament to the power of collaboration and the value of a feedback loop. By actively seeking input from all stakeholders, we're able to identify areas for growth, address potential issues, and ultimately deliver a product that exceeds expectations.

Developer Learnings:

Victor Bonaruk

Victor Bondaruk: Throughout the Penny America project, I gained invaluable experience working as a backend software developer while collaborating closely with a frontend developer, another backend developer, UI/UX designer, and product manager. Although my primary focus was backend development, I also took on the challenge of improving the frontend and deploying the full-stack application to AWS, which greatly expanded my skill set. One of the most significant learnings was mastering the Django framework, particularly integrating complex APIs like Plaid and implementing secure JWT authentication.

These technologies were mostly new to me, especially dealing with access tokens and the Plaid API, and working through their intricacies deepened my understanding of secure API development and user authentication. This experience helped me build a strong foundation in backend development and secure data handling. Additionally, I had to step into the frontend development space, learning and applying React Redux to manage application state effectively. I redesigned several components to behave differently and provide enhanced analytics to users.

This hands-on experience with both backend and frontend development deepened my understanding of how these layers interact and the importance of creating a cohesive user experience. Deploying the full-stack application on AWS was another critical learning curve. Managing the deployment of both the backend and frontend, ensuring they worked together seamlessly in a production environment, and securing the application with SSL/TLS encryption and a custom domain, https://pennyamerica.com, taught me the importance of infrastructure, cloud services, and scalability considerations. While I primarily worked with a single EC2 instance, this experience exposed me to the foundational principles of deploying scalable applications, preparing me for future scenarios where scaling might become necessary.

Overall, this project was a comprehensive learning experience, helping me grow as a full-stack developer and equipping me with the skills to handle both backend and frontend challenges, as well as the deployment and integration of a complete application. The collaborative nature of the project also reinforced the value of teamwork and effective communication in delivering a successful product.

Developers Learnings:

Spencer Kim

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Full Team Learning

As a team, we were able to work collaboratively and achieve the group goal to build a MVP. We believe everyone role is unique and important for the over all sucesss.

Penny America

Product Experience

‍Problem Space