Creating a personal finance coach using PartyRock

When I first looked at the requirements for the PartyRock hackathon, I thought that it seemed to be focused on trivial "toys." Lightweight goofs. But when I looked closer, I understood that under the category of "interactive learning experiences," there's room to do something serious and meaningful. I focused in on something that I feel strongly about: Personal Finance.

I hoped to create something that would allow the user to receive practical, personalized, actionable advice to enhance their financial security. Honestly, the results that I was able to achieve with minimal effort impressed me.

When inputing data for a 50 year old person with a high income, family, a home, and a comfortable nest egg of investments, the advisor focuses on ensuring that they're saving enough for retirement, and especially taking advantage of tax free retirement savings, advised on making sure there's enough life insurance, and suggested that after maxing out retirement accounts to invest in low cost index funds. This is good, conventional advice.

When inputting data for a 50 year old person with a moderate income, family, no insurance, and some debts, the advisor focuses on getting health insurance, noting that subsidies should be available. Then it advises saving up an emergency fund. It cautions that saving for retirement should be a priority, but focuses on making sure to earn potential employer matching contributions (free money). Again, this is very good, conventional advice.

I'm going to keep refining this tool, and I plan to share it on social media to get feedback from real-world users.