WEBVTT - Apps That Turn Saving Money Into a Game

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<v Speaker 1>The apps that make saving money a game. What's going on,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm rich tomorrow. This is rich on Tech. Saving money

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<v Speaker 1>isn't always easy. That's why there's a whole bunch of

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<v Speaker 1>new apps that make savings fun. Basically, they turn saving

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<v Speaker 1>money into a game. Let's take a look at three

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<v Speaker 1>of them. First up is Blast. This is a new

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<v Speaker 1>app from the founder of the popular savings app Acorns,

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<v Speaker 1>which rounds up your purchases and then saves the difference.

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<v Speaker 1>The new app lets you earn little bits of cash

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<v Speaker 1>by playing the games you already love, like Candy Crush

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<v Speaker 1>and Words with Friends, basically any game available on Google Play.

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<v Speaker 1>We talked to Walter Cruttendon, CEO of Blast.

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<v Speaker 2>It just makes savings fun versus right now, savings is

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<v Speaker 2>kind of boring and difficult, and yet there's two point

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<v Speaker 2>six billion gamers, So if we can get some of

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<v Speaker 2>them to save, then we're helping the world a little bit.

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<v Speaker 1>So to make it work, you set triggers with your

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<v Speaker 1>favorite games based on how long you play or accomplishing

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<v Speaker 1>in game achievements. There's also a leader board where you're

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<v Speaker 1>competing against other Blast savers. This gives you chances to

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<v Speaker 1>win extra cash weekly, and no doubt it encourages you

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<v Speaker 1>to keep using the app.

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<v Speaker 2>So what we're trying to do is add an even

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<v Speaker 2>better outcome. Yes, games do teach you things like iye

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<v Speaker 2>hand coordination and time management skills and resource allocation skills

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<v Speaker 2>that they're finding all these benefits to it. But if

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<v Speaker 2>you can even save money in addition to it, that's

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<v Speaker 2>the message we'd like to get across. Because if you

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<v Speaker 2>start early saving money, you don't have to save much

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<v Speaker 2>every day for it to be a large.

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<v Speaker 3>A bound in the future.

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<v Speaker 1>Blast is free, there are no fees, and your money

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<v Speaker 1>saved earns one percent interest. You do have to link

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<v Speaker 1>your bank account eventually to get your earnings. Average users

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<v Speaker 1>are earning up to a dollar a day. Next up

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<v Speaker 1>is an app called Long Game Savings. This is an

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<v Speaker 1>app that rewards you with virtual coins when you save money,

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<v Speaker 1>so the money you save is always safe, it's always there,

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<v Speaker 1>it never goes away. But you can use the coins

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<v Speaker 1>that you earn to win even more money playing fun

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<v Speaker 1>little games inspired by things like slots and scratchers. You

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<v Speaker 1>can win up to a million dollars playing these games.

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<v Speaker 1>Prizes are awarded in cash or cryptocurrency. There are no

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<v Speaker 1>fees to join or play, plus you earn one percent

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<v Speaker 1>interest on your money that you save. So how does

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<v Speaker 1>Long Game make money? Well, the company says it gets

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<v Speaker 1>a referral fee every time someone opens up a new

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<v Speaker 1>savings account. They keep some of this money and use

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<v Speaker 1>the rest for prizes and operations. Long Game is available

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<v Speaker 1>on iOS and Android. Finally, a new app called Grand

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<v Speaker 1>just launched in the App Store. Every dollar you save

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<v Speaker 1>gets you an entry in a weekly contest. These contests

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<v Speaker 1>give away cash prizes that can range from a few

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<v Speaker 1>dollars up to thousands of dollars. One thousand winners are

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<v Speaker 1>announced every Friday at two pm Eastern. We talked to

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<v Speaker 1>Matt Cohen, CEO of Grand.

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<v Speaker 3>I think it's pretty udisputable that people stink its saving.

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<v Speaker 3>So seventy percent of the country has less than one

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<v Speaker 3>thousand dollars saved. So it turns out savings really boring

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<v Speaker 3>and not fun at all. There's no immediate gratification to it,

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<v Speaker 3>and you know you have to wait a long time

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<v Speaker 3>to see the payoff. So we thought it might be

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<v Speaker 3>interesting to make savings feel more like spending, and when

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<v Speaker 3>people are spending, kind of in pursuit of large prizes.

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<v Speaker 3>It turns out they end up changing their behavior.

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<v Speaker 1>Grand is a plan on something called prize linked savings,

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<v Speaker 1>which is popular in Asia and Europe.

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<v Speaker 3>There's an interesting proxy in the UK called Free Postcode

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<v Speaker 3>Lottery where people just kind of sign up for a

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<v Speaker 3>chance to win daily cash and on a savings basis.

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<v Speaker 3>There's something called premium bonds and forty percent of the

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<v Speaker 3>UK saves that way, where they forego interest in pursuit

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<v Speaker 3>of monthly prizes between twenty five pounds and a million pounds.

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<v Speaker 3>And we think there's no way we can't be that

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<v Speaker 3>ubiquitous platform in the US giving very large prizes away

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<v Speaker 3>and kind of helping a lot of people in the process.

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<v Speaker 1>Grand pays one percent on your savings. With them, you

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<v Speaker 1>can withdraw your money at any time. The big difference

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<v Speaker 1>here is that the app does charge it tow dollar

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<v Speaker 1>monthly fee for your savings account. So bottom line, are

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<v Speaker 1>these apps worth it? Perhaps if they motivate you to

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<v Speaker 1>save more money than you usually would. The chance of

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<v Speaker 1>winning some extra cash is also kind of nice, but

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<v Speaker 1>you could earn more interest in a standard high yield

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<v Speaker 1>online savings account. According to nerdwallet, some of the top

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<v Speaker 1>accounts are paying one point eight five percent interest on

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<v Speaker 1>your savings with no fees at all. So the way

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<v Speaker 1>I see it, you're sort of paying point eight five

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<v Speaker 1>percent interest on your money in order to perhaps win

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<v Speaker 1>some more money. So really it comes down to your

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<v Speaker 1>goals and whether these apps will help you meet them.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want links to all these money saving apps,

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<v Speaker 1>you can go to my website. It is richon tech

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<v Speaker 1>dot tv. I'm Rich Damiro. Thanks so much for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll talk to you real soon