Money isn’t funny
Did you know that 18 million UK adults run out of money before Pay Day? (Money Advice Service, 2013)
Or that over half of people are struggling to keep up with their bills and credit commitments? (Money Advice Service, 2013)
Pretty shocking stuff, isn’t it? And it strikes us that not much is being done to sort this out.
We think it’s time for a change
The reality is that managing your money is intangible, complicated and frankly, a bit boring. No wonder people develop bad habits!
The team at Brainsift have been thinking about this for a while, and we think that the solution lies in little nudges.
We don’t need complicated textbooks explaining the intricacies of financial products.
We don’t need fancy websites or snazzy apps with graphics and stats that bear no relevance to the realities of everyday spending.
What we do need are simple nudges and tips that just remind us, day-to-day, to keep an eye on our money.
Introducing Dear Penny
![]()
Dear Penny is a free, text-based service that helps you keep on top of your finances. She encourages you to develop good spending habits, and even suggests ways that you can make the most of what you’re saving.
How Dear Penny Works
Always there: Dear Penny becomes your personal financial adviser. Acting like a 'little angel on your shoulder', she will give you simple, timely and bespoke tips that keep you on budget, help you reach savings goals, and even teach you a thing or two about how best to invest your hard-earned money. All this, daily, straight to your phone, in a fun, simple, text-message format. For free.
Simple set up: No endless forms to fill in. Dear Penny learns about your money habits by asking clear, friendly and unobtrusive questions about your spending, on a daily basis, over free texts (e.g. 'did you stick to your daily budget of £20 today?') One question at a time - it'll never take more than 30 seconds to keep Dear Penny in the loop and help her get smarter at giving you good advice.
Don’t just manage your money, become a smarter saver: As well as giving you daily spending advice, you’ll receive simple, digestible texts that encourage you to invest your money wisely – making sense of normally complicated things like ISAs, acting as a crystal-clear guide in the otherwise baffling world of finance, and ultimately giving you the confidence to make better savings decisions.
![]()
An example of Dear Penny in action
It is 12.30pm and you’re looking for something scrumptious. You head out to the shops to buy yourself lunch, paying with your bank card. At 1pm, Dear Penny will send you a text with a quick question, asking you, 'How much did you spend on food today?' If you reply, she will cheerfully tell you your remaining daily and weekly budget, and give you a hint on how to spend less tomorrow. Every interaction like this helps Dear Penny understand your habits, and your goals -- so she gets smarter and smarter at being ever more helpful. Easy!
What we need & what you get
Brainsift is a education technology company that is raising funds from the Indiegogo community to build Dear Penny.
We're a team of three: Ben is our technical & product lead, with over 10 years of experience building + launching web apps. Ravi is our education expert, who most recently has been working for Pearson, the global education company. Andrew is our Marketing expert, he's run marketing campaigns for companies including Twitter & Groupon, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies. Andrew is also on the board of a primary and secondary school in London.
We need £10,000 to bring an initial version of Dear Penny to life. We’ll spend it on software, infrastructure and marketing costs. The great news is, we’re working with some of the smartest, most innovative minds from the tech community to bring the product to everyone as soon as possible, in the most effective way. Check out our video above featuring some of the biggest names in technology.
And don’t forget, we’re offering loads of great perks for people who contribute!
![]()
Other ways you can help
Not up for donating? No worries! There’s plenty of other ways you can help make Dear Penny a reality. Use the Indiegogo tools to share our message. Tweet, post or talk about Dear Penny down at the pub. Every bit of noise helps.
Thank you
We are really hoping to help millions of
people better manage their finances with Dear Penny and
we cannot accomplish it without you!
Keep up to date
You can read more about us at our website, Brainsift.com, hear our
updates on Facebook, or
keep up with our work and industry on Twitter. Don't forget to use the hashtags #fundDearPenny #foundersforum.
Any other questions, please email us at team@brainsift.com - we would love to hear from you!
With special thanks to:
Albion London, Stinkdigital, New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Indiegogo and Founders Forum.
And in particular:
Nick Derkan, Katie Colhoun, Greg Rodgers, Andrew Lang, Marketa Hrusecka, Trond Erik Olsen, Joe Hedinger, Chris Hastings-Spital, Wilhemina Hayward and the whole team from MET Film School, Neeta Patel, Zara Pearson, Florence Snell, Rob Chapman, Jonathan Goodwin and Brent Hoberman.
FAQ
If I pledge enough for the beta, when will it be
available for download and how will I get it?
We expect to send out
invitations for our beta three months after the Indiegogo campaign ends to
everyone who pledges to the campaign. When the beta launches, you will receive
an email telling you how to sign up for Dear Penny.
If
I sign up to receive the beta, will I also receive the final version?
Yes!
If you pledge you will be sent an invite to sign up for the product as soon as
it is ready for launch.
When
will Dear Penny officially release?
We hope
to release our launch version in three months time.
What
platforms will Dear Penny be compatible with?
Everyone
on the planet with a mobile phone that receive text messages will be able to sign up and receive text message updates from Dear Penny.
When will I receive my rewards?
All rewards are expected
to be available by September 2014.
Can I back this
project through Paypal or anything besides Indiegogo?
You can support us on Indiegogo and via PayPal. If you are having trouble backing us,
please let us know, and we’ll look into setting up an alternative funding
system.
Is Dear Penny a non-profit organization?
Dear Penny is a product created by the team at Brainsift. The company is creating a free to use product initially. We expect to develop a paid for offering in the future that will allow you to develop better financial planning skills. We firmly believe that it is possible to make money by doing good, and that is precisely what we strive to do, in the utmost responsible manner possible.
Hang on, I’ll be telling Dear Penny quite a bit of personal info. How do I know that my data is safe?
The team at Brainsift take data security and the right to privacy very, very seriously, and we will always be absolutely transparent when it comes to how we use your personal information. We appreciate that money is a personal and private matter, and want you to feel totally comfortable using our products. Here’s the main points you need to know, but please don’t hesitate to contact us with any other questions.
- Fundamentally, Dear Penny works by asking you for bite-size information around your spending habits, which she gradually accumulates and learns from, so that she can give you tailored financial advice. That’s why we will always explain why we are asking for a bit of information, and how that information will help us to help you.
- Please rest assured that any personally identifiable information will never be shared with 3rd parties without your explicit consent. We’ll take all the appropriate steps to make sure that the information you share with us is as safe and secure as possible, at all times.
- It’s also important to remember that Dear Penny won’t have access to any of your bank account data – she'll only know what you share with her, over text. She’ll only ever ask for your best estimates on spending habits, and will never ask for any bank information like account numbers and sort codes.
