Does this app only work in certain countries? Edit: great idea
You have to be a U.S resident in order to win prizes right now unfortunately, so basically yes
How do you check eligibility?
Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
141–150 of 309 posts
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting to hear. This is something similar I do with some betting/stock buying I do. But the odds are on a completely different level of impossibility in lottery that I just cant really get your end of the argument :/
The value is in the hope it creates. As a statistician, a lottery seem hopeless. To everyone else, it's about feeling that something impossible becomes possible. Tbh lottery tickets can be a pretty cheap form of hope relative to other forms of gambling. Take a look at some of RobinHood's customers who are ”investing”. The odds seemed so favorable until they realized 95% of traders lose their money.
But people routinely buy insurance, and it's considered a right and moral thing to do. Though the math is exactly the same as with the lottery. Statistically, odds are unfavorable. But it buys peace of mind, so people pay.
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#143The grand prize of $10,000,000 will be paid out as... $5,800,000? I don't understand how you justify saying (as far as I can tell) "The grand prize is $10,000,000. We reckon you could invest $5,800,000 and make $10,000,000 in 40 years, so we will give you $5,800,000 instead".
I’m a little confused why that is relevant. Is there any payment in life that isn’t taxed?
When you interview for a job, and the salary is 100k, should they advertise it as 70k?
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Brit not attuned to American retail banking I didn't notice the FDIC insurance element (aside: in the UK that's called FSCS Protection). Actually that's pretty huge for trust, great job :)
Yup - but people still need to trust that we actually are FDIC insured. We've had some people contact our partner bank directly to verify they are working with us, for example. But hopefully as we get some PR and more word of mouth, we won't have that issue as much.
Perhaps you could link directly to evidence of your FDIC insurance policy?
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a mathetmatician how can you ever justify participating in a lottery where there is a possibility of no-winners or shared winners. It just destroys any hope of any positive EV.
The point is that my personal happiness level does not only depend on positive expected gain in capital. I gain happiness also from the miniscule hope of the life-altering outcome of winning the lottery. That gain in happiness is occasionally worth the price of a lottery ticket.
Exactly. People try to maximize expected utility in life, not expected value.
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#146I love the concept!
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#147The grand prize of $10,000,000 will be paid out as... $5,800,000? I don't understand how you justify saying (as far as I can tell) "The grand prize is $10,000,000. We reckon you could invest $5,800,000 and make $10,000,000 in 40 years, so we will give you $5,800,000 instead".
I’m a little confused why that is relevant. Is there any payment in life that isn’t taxed? When you interview for a job, and the salary is 100k, should they advertise it as 70k?
quite frankly, yes, but that is an entirely different conversation. :)
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah we actually studied the FNB program when we were setting out to develop Yotta. Basically, it got shut down because it got so popular in its ~2 years of operation and was taking away from the National Lottery. The difference in the U.S is that there has been legislation explicitly supporting prize-linked savings, which didn't exist in South Africa. It was more of a grey area there. A great academic read on the FN…
I love the hack to lottery-fy savings. Few comments: 1. Product: It in the wide spectrum anywhere between savings account lottery. In your mind, is it closer to one edge vs. other? - Per my read and based on the rate (0.2%) offered, it is closer to the lottery end 2. Web page: "Savings + rate >15-100x banks + Win $10 mil" is what could be a turn off. Depending on the answer above, fix the headline 3. math on how this…
Thanks for this.
1. We don't really think of it as being closer to one vs the other. From a front-end perspective, it's closer to a lottery/sweepstakes. But from a back-end perspective it's more of a savings account with a twist. So maybe I'd say right smack in the middle of that spectrum on a blended basis.
2. Thanks for the feedback here
3. Good idea. I like that
4. Fair
5. Agreed. Will update
6. Thanks - will fix that
7. I think your math is off on this one. Numbers are 1-70 and the special number YottaBall is 1-25, so lots more combos than that.
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#149Interesting you use Plaid as your only onboarding ramp. I am personally on Morgan Stanley and am completely locked out of Plaid and have to do manual entry. Have you thought about other "easy" money transfers such as Venmo, Cash App, etc
Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup - but people still need to trust that we actually are FDIC insured. We've had some people contact our partner bank directly to verify they are working with us, for example. But hopefully as we get some PR and more word of mouth, we won't have that issue as much.
Perhaps you could link directly to evidence of your FDIC insurance policy?
Yeah maybe there is something like that we can do. Hadn't thought of providing some sort of hard evidence. I will look into this now though!