Targeting Young Users, Level Money Introduces Goals

Level Money, a San Francisco-based provider of personal financial management software, introduced a new feature today for its Android app that allows users to create and set “Level Goals” to help users set and reach both long-term and short-term goals.

The feature, designed to help millennials manage their money, is just one of several new features planned for the app.

CEO and co-founder Jake Fuentes explained that Level Goals is an “extension of Level Money itself” and that this new feature lets users “draw a straight line between day-to-day purchases and long-term goals.” Level Goals tries to solve the two biggest issues its targeted demographic — 18- to 35-year-olds — have when it comes to saving: coming up with a plan and demonstrating progress on that plan.

For instance, when it comes to paying off debt, it can be hard to see that paying an extra $100 a month can save a much larger amount in interest payments down the road, but Level Goals attempts to display that information. Fuentes also notes that while other personal financial management apps have a Goals feature, Level Goals is different. All the calculations to see how much you need to save and when to do it are made automatically. The feature also has a “rollover” function — if users spend less than their daily target, the surplus is “rolled over” to goals.

Level Money is built on the idea that users dislike budgeting. Survey after survey demonstrates this, and name it as a reason PFM solutions typically see modest traction at best. Fuentes described the origin of the Level Goals feature and why Level decided to add this feature:

We found that what really resonates with this demographic and what they’re interested in is the promise of [the app] paying attention to a few things in their financial lives so they don’t have to stress about where they want to be. This generation is very ambitious, but money is inhibiting that ambition, so we want people to not stress about long-term issues. We’ve done an analysis of what people actually do today in regards to planning their financial future. Most people just check balance via their ATM receipt, and that’s their version of personal financial management. If we can present the single most useful info [basic account information], we could build on that to help people achieve success.

Targeting the millennial demographic and focusing on their needs is a key for Fuentes and Level Money. The app was designed to target the 18 to 35 year-old age group and has been very successful. Fuentes said that 80% of Level Money users are in the targeted demographic and 70% of them are in their twenties. “We set a goal for ourselves to pass the 100,000 user mark in the first six months,” Fuentes said, “but it only took us two weeks, which is amazing growth. We didn’t expect this demand that we saw. This is our first foray into the market and we plan on building on that early success and we’re lucky enough to have a strong base to start with.”

And it seems like Level Money has its sights set on adding more intricate features as well. When asked about Intuit’s acquisition of Check and the bill payment industry, Fuentes said:

“There are lots of solutions for bill payments and we think that bill payment may be something we get into a little later on. We want to perfect the problems that we’ve already started addressing — informing users of everyday purchasing decisions and success based on decisions. We also may explore things like integrating investing and things like that.”

Fuentes also mentioned that, at a higher level, Level Money may help set up savings accounts automatically for users within the app. “We don’t have any details yet,” Fuentes adds, “but we’ve been asked by our users to help facilitate actual account creation.” Fuentes added that the savings account feature “may involve a partnership with banks, but it’s too early to tell what exactly that looks like right now.”

The Goals feature is hitting Android devices first, and the Level Money team is hard at work on adding it to the iOS app as well. Fuentes explained that while there is a “soft majority” of iOS users compared to Android, Android users are more active with the app. The app update will be available in the Google Play store for Android devices today.

With Level Goals premiering today and broader ambitions set on the horizon, Level Money looks to continue its rapid growth by becoming a more well-rounded PFM by offering not just basic data but a growing range of services. Success with young people is elusive in financial services, but Fuentes seems to have found the right formula.