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

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

#301

Post by adammoelis »

zomglings wrote: post #300
doyleb wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the same way, I know the lottery is a terrible bet but I still find myself buying a ticket every now and then. This was one of the main motivations for starting Yotta for me. Will definitely check out The Lottery in Babylon!

Got a potential bug report: Signed up for Yotta, and referred my wife. She added money to her account and bought tickets. I did not receive the 100 ticket referral bonus or, if I did, cannot figure out how to claim it.

The tickets get applied for the following week's contest. You should see "100 pending tickets" on the home screen of your app. If not, shoot me an email and I'll get it resolved asap!

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

#302

Post by adammoelis »

Bookmaker12 wrote: post #298

I also think this is a great idea - I believe it is a good incentive for financially weaker people to save and even for people with good control over their financials this can be a fun way to "invest" the liquid cash balance, given that it's FDIC insured (obviously, the bigger part of savings should be invested in real estate, financial markets, etc.). Contrary to some comments here, I don't see anything morally wron…

1) Absolutely. This could be something we do in the future.

2) Yes - some people have emailed Evolve directly. If you email them, they'll confirm the partnership.

3) We have a system where we send them an encrypted file that has all the picks. We can't alter that file after we send it to them.

4) Thanks for this feedback. Yes you could stay anonymous on winning the jackpot.

5) Thanks for this feedback as well. We will be considering both of these things.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

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

#303

Post by adammoelis »

shustrik wrote: post #299
adammoelis wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every account holder has up to $250k in coverage from the FDIC. This is individually, not in aggregate. We say this on our website, but anyone who wants further confirmation could email Evolve directly and they would confirm this.

Thanks for the response. I contacted Evolve directly as you advised. They responded "Yotta Savings is not a direct Evolve customer. They are linked to our bank through our financial partner, Synapse. You will have to contact Synapse so they can better assist you." So I'm unable to get confirmation from the FDIC-insured bank that you're using that their FDIC insurance extends to your customers. Sure, I can contact Syn…

Thanks for this. It seems some people have reached out to Evolve and Evolve has confirmed the partnership, so it's probably just a different agent you got that pointed you to Synapse. We do partner with Evolve through Synapse.

Good idea on the blog post. I think we will do a post like that.

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

#304

Post by adammoelis »

XOPJ wrote: post #188
adammoelis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's considered miscellaneous income. We issue you a 1099 if you win more than $600 in the calendar year

Does the monthly interest also count towards the $600 for the 1099, or do you also issue a 1099-INT for the monthly interest?

The monthly savings bonus also counts towards the $600

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

#305

Post by Bookmaker12 »

francescopnpn wrote: post #238
henryfjordan wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why bother insuring yourselves then? Just to cover yourselves incase you get "unlucky"? Couldn't you structure the contest so that you know you'd payout $X per week and not need insurance?

I guess people eventually could win twice in a short span if they're unlucky and they'd be out of money

Even if somebody won the jackpot only once, I assume they'd be out of money by far, which is why insurance is needed.

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

#306

Post by fragmede »

groby_b wrote: post #117
Jommi wrote: post #67

Earlier 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.

Life is not all about EV. Especially not monetary EV. I own my home. It's an objectively bad investment (my tech stocks sure appreciated more than a home I bought in 2008 before the crash :) But I like the feeling that comes with owning a home. I go out for dinner. (Well, used to). It's objectively a waste of time and money, but I still like the feeling that comes with it. I play guitar. There's no EV attached to it…

We don't rigorously define a numeric EV on most things in life, but we do assign some notion of fairness. You go out for dinner, but going out for dinner comes with expectations, even if the monetary EV is someone can win.

A lottery that doesn't have a winner sounds rotten and I don't think you'd eat rotten food from a restaurant, no matter how much you accept that inherent EV of the transaction is negative. There are many, many more words that can and have been written about the psychology of lotteries, but suffice to say, for many lottery players, it's not as simple as "I know that the EV < 1, I'm just playing for the entertainment value".

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

#307

Post by fragmede »

Jommi wrote: post #67
zomglings wrote: post #61

This is an awesome idea, and I intend to try it out. I am a mathematician, and at the same time I can't resist the temptation to purchase the occasional lottery ticket. What most people miss about the lottery is that there can be utility to variance - the opposite of ennui. Have you guys read The Lottery in Babylon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery_in_Babylon

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.

EV isn't always negative!

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/how-mit...

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

#308

Post by zavex79 »

adammoelis wrote: post #303
shustrik wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the response. I contacted Evolve directly as you advised. They responded "Yotta Savings is not a direct Evolve customer. They are linked to our bank through our financial partner, Synapse. You will have to contact Synapse so they can better assist you." So I'm unable to get confirmation from the FDIC-insured bank that you're using that their FDIC insurance extends to your customers. Sure, I can contact Syn…

Thanks for this. It seems some people have reached out to Evolve and Evolve has confirmed the partnership, so it's probably just a different agent you got that pointed you to Synapse. We do partner with Evolve through Synapse. Good idea on the blog post. I think we will do a post like that.

Did you end up doing this blog? Not seeing it on your blog.

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

#309

Post by Robert22 »

Bookmaker12 wrote: post #298

I also think this is a great idea - I believe it is a good incentive for financially weaker people to save and even for people with good control over their financials this can be a fun way to "invest" the liquid cash balance, given that it's FDIC insured (obviously, the bigger part of savings should be invested in real estate, financial markets, etc.). Contrary to some comments here, I don't see anything morally wron…

I agree, mainly with #3. I think you have to post what insurance company is covering you guys. People know that the Lottery is not rigged because they have the state to back them up. In your case, you need the Insurance company to back you up, and not naming them seems sketchy in my opinion. Best of luck though, I think the overall idea makes sense.
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