{"id":391,"date":"2018-07-29T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T15:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fintechcadence.com\/2018\/07\/financial-literacy-blockrewards-amp-hardbacon-ascension-fintech-program\/"},"modified":"2020-09-02T22:28:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T22:28:28","slug":"financial-literacy-blockrewards-amp-hardbacon-ascension-fintech-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fintechcadence.com\/fr\/blog-posts\/financial-literacy-blockrewards-amp-hardbacon-ascension-fintech-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Literacy: BlockRewards & Hardbacon | Ascension Fintech Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fintech is changing the way financial services are packaged and delivered. Tasks associated with everyday banking are becoming increasingly customer-centric and engaging. But these advancements are not being coupled with improvements in financial literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on a study conducted by lowestrates.ca in partnership with IPSOS, 34% of Canadian are unaware of the fact that free chequing accounts exist, which allows banks to get away with high fees. When it comes to mortgages, most are confused about the meaning of terms such as amortization, term, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This problem is further exacerbated to levels that can be dangerous when consumers enter the areas of investing. Uneducated and uninformed decisions in investing can cause individuals to lose their entire life savings or suffer due to crippling debt for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ideal situation, therefore, would include improvements in not only the way financial services are delivered, but also in tools that educate and help the general population to make better financial decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FormFintech was fortunate to have two startups in its first Ascension Cohort (a Fintech Incubator Program<\/span><\/a>) that are trying to do exactly that. Details of these two startups, the accompanying market environment and their value proposition are mentioned below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardbacon<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apps like Robinhood have made it easier and cheaper for the average consumer to invest in stocks, but nothing has been done to improve their skills and knowledge – a big obstacle that keeps people from investing. Those who do make investments without the right data usually end up not making any gains, and it is common that most retail investors consistently underperform the stock market.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julien Brault, understands the magnitude of this problem, and is doing something about it through his startup – Hardbacon – aimed at those between the ages of 25-45 and less than 100K to invest.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple Wall St and Morningstar premium can be considered the closest competitors to Hardbacon, and have been successful in raising money (Simply Wall St. closed $1.8 million round in 2017) pointing towards the fact there is an appetite for such startups in the market. Hardbacon aims to differentiate itself from these competitors by allowing individuals to effortlessly sync the Hardbacon app with their Questrade account and analyze their own portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s behind Hardbacon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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