Want a steady income? There's an app for that • Hacker News Board

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#21

Post by qzcx » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 2:52 PM UTC

preinheimer wrote: post #6

tl;dr App called "even" allows people with incredibly variable income (case study is on a massage therapist, lots of money one week, little the next) to even out their income. They evaluate their income history, then offer a stabilized value, say $380/week. Weeks they make more, the application takes it and puts it aside. Weeks they make less, it either pulls it in from a reserve, or an instant loan is made. Costs us…

For once I wished I came to the comments before reading. It was an interesting article, but it is definitely full of fluff

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#22

Post by qzcx » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 2:57 PM UTC

jawns wrote: post #14

The article opens with the story of Heather Jacobs, a masseuse whose income is volatile, and it implies that she's a prototypical Even user. But she actually seems to be an undesirable user, from the company's point of view. It sounds as if she's struggling not just to budget but to earn enough money to pay for all her expenses, both recurring and unexpected. (She says she's often "desperate" around the end of the mo…

Although it sounds like she doesn't really have enough money to live comfortably on. It does imply in the article that she isn't sure of where she should spend her money. Dollar store vs. Walmart for groceries, ect. With a consistent paycheck, then she would know exactly how much she can spend on groceries and other things. Often it is the unknowns which cause people to mismanage, not that the managing was impossible to begin with.

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#23

Post by hurin » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:02 PM UTC

Thank you for double posting the infomercial for an app (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9460628) within a mere 6 hours of it's last appearance. (HN really should have a built in filter for this).

Also a big thanks to the new york times for their uninterrupted commitment towards high-quality journalism.

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#24

Post by jklein11 » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:06 PM UTC

This interest free loan makes it VERY susceptible to fraud or abuse.

Lets consider for example, a technology contractor, making $120,000 a year from various contracting jobs. The contractor could sign up for Even, and then retire, collecting a $2500 "paycheck boost" interest free.

I think this idea has a lot of value, but their current business model can't be profitable.

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#25

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:11 PM UTC

hurin wrote: post #23

Thank you for double posting the infomercial for an app ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9460628 ) within a mere 6 hours of it's last appearance. (HN really should have a built in filter for this). Also a big thanks to the new york times for their uninterrupted commitment towards high-quality journalism.

[deleted]

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#26

Post by DanBC » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:13 PM UTC

hurin wrote: post #23

Thank you for double posting the infomercial for an app ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9460628 ) within a mere 6 hours of it's last appearance. (HN really should have a built in filter for this). Also a big thanks to the new york times for their uninterrupted commitment towards high-quality journalism.

Those links were posted by different people. You might want to check ColinWrights submission history - they submit many interesting articles. They're not shilling or astroturfing for this company and your assumption is a bit rude because it's so easy to check.

About the dupe: This submission has a clean url, the earlier submission has a bunch of cruft which is probably why the dupe filter didn't spot it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/magazine/want-a-steady-inc...

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#27

Post by ColinWright » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:18 PM UTC

hurin wrote: post #23

Thank you for double posting the infomercial for an app ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9460628 ) within a mere 6 hours of it's last appearance. (HN really should have a built in filter for this). Also a big thanks to the new york times for their uninterrupted commitment towards high-quality journalism.

  > Thank you for double posting the
  > infomercial for your app ...

It's not my app, I have no connection with it, and I didn't post the other submission. I saw a fascinating discussion on Twitter that was prompted by this particular article, so I submitted the article to see what the HN community might add to it.

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#28

Post by toxican » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:20 PM UTC

rjaco31 wrote: post #9

That's a seriously fucked-up webpage without Javascript =/ http://i.imgur.com/Lr53m7u.png

How the fuck? I go to ridiculous lengths to avoid using JS for anything critical (ya know, like SITE STRUCTURE!), and then these people waltz in....

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#29

Post by belorn » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:21 PM UTC

qzcx wrote: post #20

belorn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So its a very basic personal economy management tool that automatically takes loan and restrict withdraws. Sound risky.

What is the risk you are referring to? On the surface it sounds like a decent app for someone who lacks financial skills.

Making automatic loans sound very similar to sms loans, which is a common cause for people falling into incurable debt. It mean less insight and less responsibility, targeted to those who lack financial skills. That could make things better in theory, or things much much worse if the incentives are to get people to take unnecessary and expensive loans.

Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that

#30

Post by hurin » Thu, Apr 30, 2015, 3:21 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #26

hurin wrote: post #23

Thank you for double posting the infomercial for an app ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9460628 ) within a mere 6 hours of it's last appearance. (HN really should have a built in filter for this). Also a big thanks to the new york times for their uninterrupted commitment towards high-quality journalism.

Those links were posted by different people. You might want to check ColinWrights submission history - they submit many interesting articles. They're not shilling or astroturfing for this company and your assumption is a bit rude because it's so easy to check. About the dupe: This submission has a clean url, the earlier submission has a bunch of cruft which is probably why the dupe filter didn't spot it. http://www.n…

The article author obviously is astro-turfing for the company and if people want to link infomercials passing for journalism I can have an opinion on that. (I agree that I did not phrase my first comment well and it makes it sound like I implied ColinWright's involvement specifically, I've fixed that).

That doesn't change the fact that it's a duplicate from within 12* hours and should get removed.