Fintech innovation has, historically, focused on smoothing the inconveniences of financial transactions — credit cards, ATMs, online banking, robo-advisors and beyond. While these innovations have afforded us accessibility, ease and speed, what have we lost? Fintech has often obscured or ignored the relational and emotional underpinnings of money.
Much of our modern financial lives are automated, robotic and increasingly abstract, with fintech largely failing to acknowledge our innate need for real human conversation, counsel and connection around money. The humans (and the relationships) are gone from our financial transactions but the humanity and emotional complexity of money remain. As we look to the next wave of fintech innovation, there is a decisive opportunity to reconnect with a deeper, more intentional set of human relationships foundational to our experience of money.
Money is not inherently valuable; it only accrues value in relation to how we earn, save and spend it. Its value is realized only through a tangible, human exchange. In other words, it is people who give money meaning. In this way money is intrinsically relational, and every transaction we make bears an emotional lodestone. The old adage goes "money is power" but in reality, money is relationships. The means by which we earn, save or spend money is a direct reflection of the things that are important to us, and is ultimately a reflection of our deepest selves. In this way, money is a powerful magnet for our projections, both good and bad; our financial transactions are indicators of our relationship to self and others.
Yet, despite the humanity at the core of money, financial innovation has primarily focused on how to remove the humans from our financial lives. Going forward, financial innovation must acknowledge our collective, underlying need to relate amid the emotional complexity of money.
The next wave of fintech innovation needs to reconnect us with the meaning behind the money. The founders, builders and investors imagining the future of fintech should go back to the venerable and deeply human truths of money and human behavior. Tomorrow's fintech unicorns will understand, respect and celebrate the relational aspects of money. Innovation will be in service of connecting humans with one another and with the deeper truths associated with how and why we spend or save. The next wave of fintech should not just do the thinking for us, but should further automate financial administration leaving more time for people to truly engage with people. This is already evident in the world of financial advice where the most exciting innovation is no longer focused on removing humans, but enabling them to focus on where they add the most value: serving clients.
As fintech practitioners, we cannot ignore that money and finance are deeply emotional. Technology must bolster, not replace, the human connection in our transactions. The fintech future should not be about replacing our humanity but enabling its fuller expression.
