Managing day to day finances of older adults is often a family affair. As older adults’ cognitive health declines, adult children and caregivers regularly step in to monitor spending, help pay bills on time, and keep bank accounts in order. Yet our financial products are not designed to support these behaviors. Adult children helping their aging parents have to manage clunky workarounds instead - posing as their parents on the phone or borrowing passwords and social security numbers when they’re trying to hold everything together.
adults over age 60 hold
half of the nation’s
$140T
wealth. efforts to protect the assets of older adults could have
a substantial impact on both
the individuals, caregivers,
and the banks that hold
their assets.
What if banks could offer features that enable caregivers to help older adults handle their finances—without relying on workarounds? This means thinking more expansively about what older banking customers need - from help managing their affairs to protection from fraud and more.
let's build…
Linked accounts that help caregivers manage loved ones’ finances alongside their own.
Key features
- Caregivers can easily see, manage and monitor their loved ones accounts.
- Linked Accounts simplifies transactions that caregivers and older adults are currently managing on their own - sharing costs, splitting bills and more.
- Older adults can maintain full control over their accounts and adjust privacy and sharing settings to give caregivers view-only or full access.
THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
- When tested with consumers, “linked bank accounts” has a potential annual financial opportunity of ~$4-10B.
- This market opportunity is driven primarily by increasing customer value, as ~2-5M more caregivers have expressed interest in buying other products e.g., credit cards, loans, etc. from a bank that sells a “linked bank account” vs. from a bank that only sells a standard bank account.
- In addition, an estimated ~300-800K older adults would switch banks in order to gain access to a “linked bank account”.
of caregivers of adults
SAID a “linked bank account”
would be useful for
the person they care for.
Source: 5,000-person consumer survey, based on this description.
let's build…
Protected bank accounts for older adults to protect against fraud.
Key features
- Notifications for a close family member when there is unusual activity on an older adult’s account.
- Customizable alerts that give older adults and caregivers control over when and why they're notified.
- Customizable settings that engage both the older adults and their caregivers to balance the right levels of independence and support.
THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
- When tested with consumers, “protected bank account” has a potential annual financial opportunity of ~$3-7B.
- This market opportunity is driven primarily by increasing customer value, as ~1-2M more caregivers have expressed interest in buying other products e.g., credit cards, loans, etc. from a bank that sells a “protected bank account” vs. from a bank that only sells a standard bank account.
- In addition, an estimated ~300-800k older adults would switch banks in order to gain access to a “protected bank account.”
of caregivers said “protected bank account” would give them peace of mind for the older adult they care for
Source: 5,000-person consumer survey, based on this description.
what we heard
Both older adult and adult children report that this “protected bank account” and “linked bank account” would be helpful and to provide peace of mind.
Interest level of caregiver in “protected bank account” and relationship to care recipient’s independence
Source: 5,000-person consumer survey, June 2023
Independence of an older adult is a key factor for caregivers in deciding to purchase a “protected bank account.”
Caregivers of less-independent older adults expressed 10 percentage points more interest in buying a “protected bank account”, sharing that they would “likely” or “definitely” encourage their loved one to buy this product.
Peace of mind is a powerful value proposition for caregivers when evaluating new products or services.
Younger consumers, under 45 years old, are particularly interested in purchasing peace of mind these features offer, sharing that it would “probably” or “definitely” give them peace of mind.
Age of caregiver and how much peace of mind “linked bank account” would provide if their loved one were to purchase it
Source: 5,000-person consumer survey, June 2023
I know a few people that have fallen victim to scams. A way to protect against this would be huge and give me peace of mind and I would love it!”
satia, 47
Mother of two, lives with and takes care of her parents,
who are both cancer survivors
This would make it much easier for bill payment and also ensure my parents are not falling behind on payments.”
laurie, 31
Married mother of one, expecting a second child
how to get started
Both of these features have the potential to make the financial side of caregiving easier, but there are several considerations to keep in mind from technology infrastructure and regulations to user experience. For example, creating a new way to authorize shared accounts will likely need legal approval, as well as navigation of privacy terms. The existing digital banking experience may be built on technology that makes it difficult to enable new types of permissions. And ultimately, the user experience needs to be simple and clear for two audiences: older adults seeking to link their accounts, as well as their adult children or caregivers.
Considerations:
1
To work within current tech infrastructure, borrow and adapt tech pathways that already exist.
Leverage tech from parallel existing products, such as other types of paired accounts (custodial accounts, authorized users). Build the new capability of moving funds on top of patterns for authorized users to view others’ accounts. Or, build a layer on top of existing infrastructure, so you don’t have to make major changes to the underlying technology up front.
2
Use current privacy guidelines as a starting point for onboarding.
Educating consumers about the existing guidelines is a way to help a pair of account holders have necessary conversations about security, verification, authorization, power of attorney, and permissions. This could become an interactive part of onboarding.
3
Co-design with older adults and their caregivers.
To ensure that the user experience is intuitive and works with families’ realities, engage older adults and their children in a co-design process, so the features are built around everyday use cases, edge cases that match real circumstances, and both customers’ mental models.
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