NextDollar

Inspiration

College students juggle classes, work, and social lives, leaving little time to find savings or understand investing. We created NextDollar to connect those two needs: helping students keep more of their money and make informed decisions about what comes next.

What it does

NextDollar brings together textbook comparisons, student discounts, subscription tracking, scholarship discovery, and Night Guard spending reminders. Students can then explore financial research and generate a personalized investment thesis based on their selected research, planning amount, and financial preferences.

How we built it

We built NextDollar with Lovable, using AI-assisted prompt development alongside ChatGPT, ElevenLabs, 21st.dev, Gemini, and Grok to shape the experience. We connected Perplexity for research and opportunity discovery, then designed a savings-to-thesis workflow that presents complex financial information in plain language.

Challenges we ran into

One challenge was getting subscription detection to recognize different billing names and display relevant records instead of incomplete results. Another was distinguishing potential savings from available money while clearly communicating which features depended on live integrations or simulated workflows.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We brought five student-focused savings tools and an investment research workflow into one cohesive prototype during a 24-hour hackathon. We are especially proud of Night Guard, which helps students revisit spending limits they set earlier, and the investment thesis experience that connects research to a concrete plan.

What we learned

We learned that a useful financial tool needs clear explanations and trustworthy data as much as it needs features. We also learned that connecting a service is only the beginning: the surrounding workflow must handle missing information, user permissions, and understandable results.

What's next for NextDollar

We plan to improve subscription detection, expand verified scholarship and discount coverage, and test the experience with college students. We also want to strengthen account integrations and thesis quality while keeping user control, clear sources, and accurate money tracking central to the product.