Finsteps

Inspiration

As we prepare to graduate and enter working life, we realised how many young adults lack practical experience with managing money in the real world. Coming from a FinTech background, we wanted to create a safe and engaging way to help young adults and soon-to-be adults build financial awareness, especially in today’s uncertain economic and job climate.

What it does

Finsteps is a proposed financial survival simulator that lets users experience everyday financial decisions in a Singapore context. Through a 12-month simulation, users manage income, expenses, savings, and unexpected life events to understand how small choices add up over time.

How we built it

Finsteps is planned as a desktop-based application using Python and PyGame to simulate income, expenses, and financial events. Web scraping will be used during development to inform realistic cost ranges, while an LLM will generate reflective prompts to encourage learning and self-reflection.

Challenges we ran into

One key challenge was balancing realism with simplicity so the simulation remains educational without becoming overwhelming. We also had to carefully scope the project to ensure it is technically feasible within an academic timeline.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of developing a clear, localised concept that addresses a real social issue using our FinTech knowledge. The proposal demonstrates how technology, simulation, and AI can be combined responsibly for financial education.

What we learned

Planning Finsteps helped us better understand the importance of user-centred design and scope management in educational tools. It also reinforced how experiential learning can be more effective than traditional financial education methods.

What's next for Finsteps

The next step is to build a working prototype and refine gameplay based on testing and feedback. In the future, Finsteps can be expanded with more scenarios, age groups, and educational features.