"Reel" Time Stocks

Portfolio Manager
Micro-Learning Program
Trading UI

Goal

Numerous studies have been done on the behaviour and tendencies of Gen Z youth [1]. As the most tech-savvy generation ever, teens of today value user authenticity and convenience more than ever [1]. In fact, many Gen-Z youth use social media as their primary information source [1]. A significant societal issue today is the low financial literacy among Gen Z, which poses challenges for their financial well-being. Studies indicate that only 43% of Gen Z respondents correctly answered questions related to financial literacy, highlighting a substantial gap in financial understanding within this demographic. Finally, 75% of teens chose mobile devices as their go-to tech, highlighting the importance of apps in today's world [1]. We combined all of this information to create our overarching goal - to create a system to attract youth to become loyal Sunlife Canada clients in a way that appeals to their tech-savvy and convenience focused personalities while improving their financial literacy and their own personal health. This is in-line with Sunlife's core values of helping clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives [3]. By enhancing financial literacy among Gen Z, we empower them to make informed decisions, fostering financial security and overall well-being.

Our Design

Reel Time Stocks takes advantage of the Gen Z population's affinity for social media and the convenience of mobile apps to create an optimized financial learning platform (with an emphasis on stock trading) for the youth of today. Our app is meticulously designed to resonate with Gen Z’s digital habits and preferences. Recognizing that over 60% of Gen Z-ers will not use an app or website that is too slow to load, we prioritize a fast, intuitive, and visually appealing interface to ensure a seamless user experience. Our app features three main features:

A reels feature where users can scroll through short-form content in the format of "Reddit stories" that teach the user import things about financial literacy, while also providing long term investment advice.
An interactive stock interface, where users can search for real time data on stocks. They can also use this page to buy and sell stocks, assuming that they have sufficient funds. We used the Yahoo Finance API provided by RapidAPI to fetch this data.
A portfolio page that tracks what stocks you own, and provides a clean user interface displaying a distribution of your investments as well as live displays of your stocks, their current prices, and the percent changes on the day.

How we built it

Our project was set up in a React Native environment, and we used various technologies including:

Yahoo Finance API to get real time stock market data
React Native to set up a developer environment for our web app
Vercel to easily and seamlessly host our app on the internet

Our inspiration

Our inspiration for this app comes from the experiences of our friends and peers, many of whom are just starting to learn about crypto, stocks, and investing. While they’re eager to build wealth, they often face challenges due to the overwhelming complexity of financial markets and a lack of structured education. We saw a need for a tool that simplifies financial literacy and guides them towards better decision-making, making it easier to navigate the world of investing.

Another major influence for us is Sun Life, whose core values align closely with our mission. Sun Life’s commitment to helping individuals achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives inspired us to create an app that empowers Gen Z to build wealth and understand their finances in a holistic way. Like Sun Life, we want to provide resources that support long-term financial well-being and help users make informed decisions for their future.

Challenges we faced

1 member who's never made a project before, with another who has very little experience coding
Deciding what features we wanted to implement due to time constraints
Debugging a new language and framework that half the group was very new with.
Troubleshooting routing issues
Lack of sleep and energy

What we learned

React Native:

Building cross-platform mobile apps.
Designing user-friendly interfaces and optimizing mobile performance.

Rapid API:

Connecting external APIs for real-time stock data.
Managing seamless API communication and data integration.

Python:

Developing backend logic for simulations and user data handling.
Structuring algorithms for financial calculations. JavaScript:
Implementing interactive, dynamic features in the app.
Writing clean, efficient code for app functionality.

HTML and CSS:

Creating responsive, visually appealing designs.
Ensuring consistent and engaging user experiences.

Team Collaboration:

Managing tasks, timelines, and effective communication.
Debugging and refining the product based on team feedback.

Problem-Solving:

Adapting to challenges in real-time development.
Innovating solutions for financial literacy problems.

Product Design:

Aligning the app’s features with Gen Z’s preferences.
Balancing aesthetics, usability, and functionality.

References

[1] T. Mediatool, “Gen Z Trends 2025: What Marketers Need to Know,” Mediatool. Accessed: Jan. 25, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://mediatool.com/blog/gen-z-trends

[2] “More gen-Z Canadians regularly investing than other generations: TD survey,” financialpost. Accessed: Jan. 25, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://financialpost.com/wealth/smart-money/gen-z-investing-other-generations-td-surve

[3] “Home.” Accessed: Jan. 26, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.sunlife.ca/en/