FinAssist: a financial hotline and personal mentor

FinAssist brings clarity to painful financial moments with step-by-step mentoring for crisis support. Whether you’re facing debt, hardship, or planning, FinAssist will provide warm financial wisdom.

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Inspiration

Money is one of the leading sources of anxiety, yet most financial platforms focus only on numbers and not emotions. We built FinAssist after recognizing a painful truth: people don’t just need budgeting tools; they need someone to talk to when finances become overwhelming. Inspired by crisis hotlines, financial therapy, and peer-support models, FinAssist aspires to become the first space where financial transparency meets emotional compassion.

What it does

FinAssist is a 24/7 financial support line and personal mentor for all things finance. It does not track any data whatsoever and is completely secure for your needs. Users can: 1) Talk through financial stress in a calm, conversational format, 2) Access emergency resources (988, debt counseling, domestic support) during crises, 3) Learn through step-by-step graphs and lessons on budgeting, debt relief, savings, credit, and investing (maybe learn about suitable Toyota models in the process), and 4) Receive non-judgmental financial mentoring, tailored to their emotions and goals. FinAssist isn't just about educating the general public; it’s also about providing immediate financial first aid.

How we built it

  1. Node.js with TypeScript
  2. LiveKit Agents framework
  3. AssemblyAI
  4. LLM: Gemini API
  5. ElevenLabs (primary) with Cartesia (fallback)
  6. Silero VAD for conversation turn detection
  7. LiveKit's enhanced noise cancellation
  8. Next.js 15 with App Router and React 19
  9. TypeScript
  10. Tailwind CSS 4.1.11
  11. MediaPipe for Facial Landmark Tracking

Challenges we ran into

Detecting Distress Responsibly Users sometimes hinted at deep crises (“I can’t do this anymore”). We had to carefully design severity detection to escalate to human or hotline support—without false alarms but without missing real emergencies. Most platforms give tools; few make the UX process a little bit smoother and comforting. There was no guideline for what “financial therapy tech” should look like, so we borrowed inspiration from resources on mental health, UX psychology, and personal finance. User privacy and security: After tons of thought, we decided it was not right to collect data or store anything user-related for this app due to the nature of hotlines and finances. For example, the video landmark detection setting is blocked behind 2 layers of buttons (enable video + tracking) to ensure user privacy and safety preferences first. Also, no session data is collected at all, so feel free to fire away at our agent.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. Built a platform that acknowledges financial pain, not just planning
  2. Created emotion-aware financial mentoring, a new category of support
  3. Designed a space where users felt heard before being advised
  4. Integrated personal growth, literacy, and crisis care in a single experience

What we learned

  1. Financial decisions are 90% emotional, 10% numerical
  2. Users want validation before instruction
  3. Shame is a financial barrier, and empathy is a financial tool
  4. A hotline format can humanize personal finance education

What's next for FinAssist: a financial hotline and personal mentor

Potential next steps include:

  1. Live Human Volunteer Line for escalation beyond AI
  2. Voice and SMS Support for accessibility beyond the web
  3. Financial Recovery Programs: Debt plans, savings challenges, peer groups
  4. Mobile App Launch with mood tracking + money journaling

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