Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save • Hacker News Board

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#31

Post by whoisjuan » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

dyeje wrote: post #27

I'm surprised the play here is to make your own bank rather than integrate existing banks. I've never worked in finance though, maybe integrating with banks is a PITA.

Well this is a lottery basically. Doubt it that you can create the margins needed for the payout by integrating with banks.

The business models here is to be a bank that raffles money based on your deposits. And they need to hold that money to generate the profits to support those payouts.

It's quite clever. This fully disrupts businesses like scratch tickets which are quite popular (haven't seen one gas station that doesn't sell them).

I actually wish I had this idea. It's super smart. My only doubt is that this model apparently doesn't scale just with holding money. Digit tried that for a while and then they start charging for their sevice.

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#32

Post by frakkingcylons » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

pinfisher wrote: post #20

amellin794 wrote: post #2

One of those brilliantly simple ideas, I'm already in for 10 tickets and have shared it with a bunch of friends.

You sound like a shill.

From the comment guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken.

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#33

Post by pcmaffey » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

Note that as soon as you accept any winnings you give Yotta full right to use your name and city for marketing.

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#34

Post by adammoelis » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

unwoundmouse wrote: post #25

adammoelis wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fair point for sure. The rationale is the $10 million headline is the annuity value of the jackpot, and it's standard practice for sweepstakes or the PowerBall/MegaMillions contests to use the annuity value for promotion in marketing materials and on the website.

So if I buy into a 100m dollar powerball, I'm actually getting the net present value of 100m in 40 years? I'm amazed this is standard practice

Yeah exactly. Almost any grand prize you see is really the sum of the annuity value. We kind of have to use the same practice in order to be competitive, and we think a lot of people assume it's the annuity value sum as well. (https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/banking/powerball-annuity/)

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#35

Post by cik » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

dyeje wrote: post #27

I'm surprised the play here is to make your own bank rather than integrate existing banks. I've never worked in finance though, maybe integrating with banks is a PITA.

It's much easier than it used to be, but it still sucks. Even with Modern Treasury and Plaid banks a a horrible thing to deal with.

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#36

Post by oplav » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

From the FAQ

> While technically not "interest," you receive a savings bonus every month that functions very similarly to "interest." Savings bonuses are paid on the first of every month and are based on your average balance in Yotta from the previous month.

How do taxes work with these "savings bonuses". Do you issue a 1099-INT for this money earned or does this show up on a W-2G?

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#37

Post by arosier » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

How does users being able to withdraw their money immediately affect your business model? How are you preventing someone from depositing/withdrawing the same $25 a billion times per week?

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#38

Post by frakkingcylons » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

Sounds like a great idea, I made an account. I was looking at the official rules and noticed the mail-in option to get tickets. Was it a regulatory requirement to provide a way to get tickets without deposits?

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#39

Post by adammoelis » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

pcmaffey wrote: post #33

Note that as soon as you accept any winnings you give Yotta full right to use your name and city for marketing.

We only use first names and last initials along with cities for social proof to show that people are winning.

We do allow you to be completely anonymous from the privacy settings within the app. If you don't want your first name, last initial, and city shown anywhere, you can toggle it off.

Re: Launch HN: Yotta Savings (YC S20) – Behavioral psychology to help people save

#40

Post by Jommi » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 2:54 PM UTC

arosier wrote: post #37

How does users being able to withdraw their money immediately affect your business model? How are you preventing someone from depositing/withdrawing the same $25 a billion times per week?

Its a savings account so you can only withdraw 4-6 times a month.