Building Emergency Savings through “Impulse Saving”

Into all good saving plans a little impulse spending often falls. A meal out and some new shoes, and the intended savings are gone. But what if impulsivity could be leveraged to help people save money, rather than spend it? This is the idea behind MAGIC Mojo, a recently piloted product that allows people to transfer money to savings instantly via text message. The MAGIC Mojo approach aims to help underbanked consumers build emergency savings and reach their financial goals. The approach is highly scalable, has the potential to reach a broad base of consumers, and incorporates ideas from behavioral economics to increase the likelihood that people save successfully.