Inspiration
We were inspired by real-life conversations with families, especially parents who wanted to teach their teens better money habits without the constant back-and-forth. Managing allowances, purchases, and financial expectations often led to miscommunication or lack of clarity. We wanted to create a tool that made this process easier, more transparent, and educational for both sides.
What it does
TrustFund is a family finance tool designed to build transparency and accountability between parents and teens. Dependents can log purchases, submit money requests, and track spending habits, while parents can review, approve, or deny requests with comments. The platform offers clear spending insights, a view of weekly allowance usage, and support for setting financial goals like “Save 20% this week," making financial conversations easier and more productive for families.
How we built it
We started by designing our user experience in Figma, creating wireframes and prototypes to ensure the app was intuitive and family-friendly for both parents and teens. Once the design was finalized, we developed the frontend using React Native with Expo and TypeScript, using Expo Router to handle navigation and route management for different user roles.
For the backend, we integrated Capital One’s API to simulate financial transactions and manage user account data securely. We also used MongoDB to store and manage data such as users, requests, and account activity — giving us the flexibility to structure information efficiently and scale easily. The backend logic was built with a combination of JavaScript and TypeScript, which powered the request flow, role-based views, and interactive components like approvals, form inputs, and dynamic dashboards.
Challenges we ran into
One of the most difficult parts of building TrustFund was managing two distinct user experiences, within the same app while keeping everything intuitive and seamless. It took careful logic structuring to ensure each role only accessed the features relevant to them without breaking the flow. On the front end, we also ran into challenges with mobile input behavior, especially ensuring that forms and text fields weren’t hidden behind the keyboard. The most complex piece was building the backend, simulating real bank account behavior, handling approvals and denials, and managing secure data exchanges using Capital One’s API. Designing a backend flow that felt realistic, secure, and scalable took serious planning and problem-solving, especially when working with financial data that had to update dynamically across different users and actions.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We successfully built a fully functional prototype with both frontend and backend components working together to support real user flows. The app delivers a clean, user-friendly experience that makes financial communication between parents and teens more approachable and efficient. One accomplishment we’re especially proud of is integrating a real-world financial API to simulate transaction logic and account behavior, bringing realistic data and backend complexity into the project and making it feel like a true, production ready product.
What we learned
Throughout this project, we learned how to handle multi-role logic in a React Native app and build a dynamic user experience that adapts based on login type. We became more comfortable working with third-party APIs like Capital One’s, and gained confidence in using TypeScript to manage clean, scalable code. We also deepened our understanding of mobile UX patterns, especially when it comes to keyboard behavior, navigation, and conditional rendering. This project reinforced how important thoughtful UI design is when working with sensitive data like finances.
What's next for TrustFund
Looking ahead, we want to connect TrustFund to a real-time database like Firebase or Supabase so users can log in and save their data across sessions and devices. We also plan to add authentication features to support secure login and account management. Additional improvements include push notifications for new requests and approvals, visual analytics to show teens how they’re spending over time, and customizable goals for parents to encourage financial literacy. Our vision is to make TrustFund a go-to platform for families to manage money conversations with ease and clarity.
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