FA864924P0347

Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I

Reduced Suicide Risk, Increased Readiness, Improved Financial Health with Personal Financial Management Tool for Airmen & Families, Counselors, & Commanders

BlankitData, Inc, a Virginia-based SDVOSB, proposes to develop a modern personal financial management (PFM) platform for airmen and their families that will reduce financial stress and its related disruptions, namely elevated suicide risk, increased readiness risk, poor retention, revoked clearances, and diminished productivity. This PFM tool will connect airmen and spouses to DoD personal financial counselors as well as provide actionable analytics for commanders seeking to track unit financial readiness. DoD and DAF have extensive financial readiness, education, and support programs but they are not appropriate or relevant to a digital-native GenZ force. Organizing one's financial information with current resources is highly manual, error-filled, and stressful. Access to counselors is equally frustrating, with hassles around collecting and sharing data, scheduling consultations, and managing progress towards personal goals. Detailed information on unit financial readiness is hard to come by, using backward-looking metrics like bankruptcies to make rough estimations of unit or installation financial readiness. Surveys show that the most influential driver of a service member's decision to remain in uniform or to get out is spousal satisfaction. The number one driver of spousal satisfaction is financial stress. At a time when recruiting challenges are especially great, retention becomes more important than ever. Over 80% of DoD security clearance revocations involve serious financial problems and financial problems cause large distractions during working hours, with consultant PWC finding that 55% of those workers experiencing financial stress spend over three hours a week at work dealing with their personal finances. Commercial providers have made tremendous strides in reducing the difficulty of setting up and maintaining a personal budget. Commercial tools like Mint, Simplifi, or HoneyDue, automatically import user data from their accounts and provide light analytics around spending habits and financial health. These commercial tools are often developed overseas, promote proprietary financial products, and lack resources relevant to military life, but the core technology infrastructure is used by all of the largest US banks and financial institutions. Members of GenZ, born between 1997-2012, grew up surrounded by seamless digital experiences from Apple, Amazon, and Google. Unlike previous generations, they expect technology to just work, without much hassle or configuration. Commercial financial institutions have found that GenZ not only becomes frustrated with poor digital experiences, but they develop mistrust and even hostility towards the organizations who try to force these poor experiences onto them. We propose to develop GenZ-friendly PFM tools adapted to military life, systems, and security standards that streamlines access to DoD financial counselors and provides unit and installation commanders insights into financial readiness.

The goal of phase I is to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of proposed R&D efforts and determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization.

AFX237-PCSO1

FX237-PCSO1-1239

X23.7

Meghan Scott