When thinking about how to improve the lives of the underbanked, many gravitate towards financial literacy.  Sadly, most of it has proven ineffective.  Others seek to make policy and regulatory changes.  While this can yield meaningful scalable impact, there are often unintended consequences in our niche (e.g. capping interest rates increases the use of even higher rate off-shore payday products).  Others yet, like myself, try to develop new products and services that presumably can generate profits and help customers achieve greater financial freedom.

I’m slow, but I’m just getting my head around the notion that in large part the “enemy” of progress – of any upward mobility at the hands of financial products – is a deeply ingrained need for instant gratification.  This is not just limited to lower-income people, of course, it’s across the spectrum.  But the lure, on one hand, and the consequences, on the other, of instant gratification for the poor is much greater.  There are external reasons for short-termism, significantly related to cash-flow needs (wanting a check cashed instantly to pay for an emergency bill is not likely an artifact of needing instant gratification).

So what?  Well, what started as some cool thought experiments by a gaggle of grumpy renegade economists has become a veritable industry: Goals, Inc.

DebtSavvy, Kaboo, GoalMine, HelloWallet, Payout, Mint, Backbase, Piggy-Mojo, Credit Karma and stickk are all for-profit companies that feature financial goal-setting in their business model (and there are many more).  This is the anti-instant gratification industry.  They’re helping people eliminate debt, establish and break down goals into doable pieces, save for a rainy day, avoid expensive late fees, build credit, invest for retirement, stick to goals, and other “good for you but not that fun” things.

Even novice cynics can excitedly wring their hands at how briefly these companies will last.  They are bucking big economic trends and powerful behavioral forces.  I’d much rather have a giant TV now than give that $1000 to some nasty bank.  The attitude of the “long now” is an acquired taste in America.

So will half of these companies exist next time we celebrate our great nation’s independence?  Some reasons they could: First of all, the “long now” is not an entirely foreign idea: Weight Watchers is a $5.5b company.  Second, many are feeling the pain of instant gratification today.  Now may be a once in several generations’ “new years resolution” time, but with bite.  Third, this isn’t your grand parents’ goal setting.  These companies are smart, savvy, game oriented and understand human psychology arguably better than any previous generation of innovators.  The guys at Churnless (behind Thrive and Piggy-Mojo) are a good example.

The most important piece I struggle with is monitization.  Subscription can work, but it’s not easy.  Lead-gen can work, but often counter-act the point of the goal (pay down your debt to get a high limit credit card).  Sponsorship can work, but it’s hard to demonstrate clear value to the sponsor (say, an employer).   If the solutions work, perhaps the most scalable financial model is a break-even one, but where the goal service provides stickiness to the profit channel (like NetSpend’s high yield savings account).  Well, my goal is to figure how to make Goals, Inc profitable.  Happy 4th.