My opportunity centers around making sure people are financially educated and confident as they pursue their life's ambitions. I am specifically targeting college students as I feel this is the most imperative time to develop financial education. What better time to develop sound financial habits? We pursue degrees in search of better paying jobs to improve our quality of life but no one takes the time to educate young adults on the core and basic concepts to not only understanding personal finances but managing them. What makes the opportunity strong is that any environment demands financial confidence. If we're in a recession or a boom, we need to understand how our decision impact our financial well being. I think this need will always be in demand as there is not solution in place to make sure young adults fully understand how to manage their personal assets and finances.
Innovation
My opportunity identified the immediate need to educate and advise young adults on efficiently managing their finances. I've been in the retail banking world for the last 9 years. Everyday, I meet people of all ages who have no basic understanding of not only financial concepts and practices but where they stand financially. If I were to ask you specifically how much money you had at the end of the month, free, could you tell me? Can you explain how much interest you earn on your savings account? What if I asked how much of your interest you have to report to the government on your taxes? If you cannot answer me, don't feel bad. You're officially a part of the majority that also cannot answer these questions. How can we create a better financial picture for tomorrow if we do not understand where we are today? You need to know where you are to know where you're going.
My opportunity would provide financial education and advising to students and non students of all ages. After we're sure you have a good understanding, we can create a financial plan. Are you paying for college? Have you established credit? Will you have financing needs in your near future? When will you start saving for retirement? Can we pay of debt fast than you anticipated? We can answer all of these questions and almost always find a solution. My pricing would truly depend on the service you would need. If were are moving forward with a financial plan, we will charge a monthly fee. This would incorporate and personal banker and planner available at your disposal. This service would also be able to be cancelled when you feel you no longer needed my guidance. However, our lives financially are a constant evolution. There are always new events occurring in our lives.
If you just need to meet with me once for a consultation, there would be a base fee depending on how much time I reserve with you.
I can work with colleges to meet new students and get my organization's purpose out there.
Venture Concept
My concept will immediately improve the knowledge around financial stability. People will be able to make sound decision from the understanding of their finances. Having this knowledge early can drastically change their financial future. The good thing is, they would not need to 'switch' since there is no service similar to mine available yet.
The three minor Elements
Once people hear of my concept, it will be moderately difficult to duplicate. The reason for this is, a lot of people are in the banking industry but it's also my personality behind the delivery. I have built a very successful reputation for being kind, developing a quick and long standing report and developing loyalty and trust with my clients. My clients trust me because they know I always work with their best interest at heart. These are not characteristics that everyone maintains. I think a lot of my success is due to my ability to develop these relationships quickly. I've worked with many people and it's not easy being a people person and it's not common that you meet someone who puts your best interest in front of their own financial gain.
What's Next?
I would love to establish a small network of trust advisors. If my organization grew, I would love to have some key partners to also represent my organization so there's more than one financial educator available. Since it's my own organization, I would be extremely selective in who I choose to represent my brand and organization. They would need to embody everything I've indicated above to be sure we're all delivering that same level of service to all our clients.
In Five Years
I would love to see my organization grow outside of just me educating. I would love to have a location leased out and have my organization recognized as an innovator in the industry. Change our focus from individual financial achievement to improving the financial well being to those around us. I believe if we were to focus on improving the knowledge and education around this, we would be profitable as a result.