Surplus
Automated budgeting tool that analyzes spending habits and directs surplus money to savings and investment goals. (Full case study coming soon!)
Timeline
2 months
Team
Solo
Skills
Product Design, User Research
project overview
Rather than relying on manual categorization and constraining budgets, Surplus automates zero-based budgeting and allocates leftover money to user-designated goals based on priorities and timelines.
By analyzing spending habits through linked accounts and cards, it lets users know where they stand based on average spending across fixed, flexible, and non-monthly categories which impacts their projected surplus income at month-end.
background
Although most young adult Canadians are investing their money, they are still more likely to hold savings in cash compared to Gen Xs and Boomers who are more likely to put their savings into investments. I wanted to know:
What's preventing young adults from investing more?
research
I surveyed and interviewed participants aged 24–34 to understand their investing, saving, and budgeting behaviours, and what frustrations they have across these categories.
Based on the answers of 12 survey respondents:
53%
of participants regularly invest their money.
69%
said lack of income prevented them from investing more.
77%
said irregular expenses made it hard to save consistently.
key takeaways
Based on current user behaviours and pain points, I compiled a list of core requirements for my product.
1
Automated budgeting
Users find manual tracking tedious and time-consuming, so they need a way to keep track of expenses automatically.
2
Guidance on where to invest
Users need personalized guidance on where to direct their money for maximum growth and goal completion.
3
Help maximize leftover income
Users have money left after expenses, but need to keep track of where it goes.
4
Track and predict irregular expenses
Users need a way to account for irregular and non-monthly expenses in their budget forecast.
5
Flexible budgeting categories
Traditional budgeting by category is constraining and stressful.