3 Bs - the Philosophy
Quids in! has long adopted the principles of nudge theory and behavioural economics. You only to look at the covers of our quarterly magazine with celebrities, suggestive headlines and half-naked models to know we're not the usual type of financial capability initiative. The 3 Bs follow in this vein, this time offering heuristics, or a rule of thumb, to trigger positive habits.
We tend not to present them this way to our target audience, ie, low income households, but the 3 Bs are: Banking, Budgeting and Being online. They came to light as we explored and developed responses to the pitfalls many people moving onto Universal Credit were suffering. Our own research backs up these concerns with 40% of low income households not using a bank account, just 26% saving for unexpected setbacks (like a five week minimum wait for benefits) and 21% saying they had no access to the internet at all.
We cover these three themes in our quarterly magazine and through digital offer, which is a mix of monthly money emails, social media and web content. Our first training programme on the 3 Bs for people on lower incomes is taking place in Bath from April 2018, delivered in partnership with Clean Slate Training & Employment and we're looking forward to rolling it out through other partners in the future.
We know from the experience of agencies offering personal budget support sessions that claimants, for example, are finding them a big turn off. People are also cynical about finance institutions and often reticent about getting online. But these are essential steps for improving financial inclusion and capability. The 3 Bs messaging we use (which you can see in practice here) are more usually presented as:
- Being sure you have more coming in than going out, and what to do if that isn't the case
- Knowing where to keep your money safe and doing it's job paying bills and protecting you for the future
- Understanding where advice, support and the best deals and savings can be found
Under each of these heading are a number of habits we promote that will minimise the risk of financial disasters going forward. As we explain on our consumer-facing website, quidsinmagazine.com:
"The 3 Bs are prompts for tricks like always knowing our bank balance, trying to put away savings, using direct debits, finding ways to spend less, 'switching' and finding deals and bargains, checking benefits, and getting familiar with the online tools so we're ready for when services, benefits and information services go digital. All of these steps, and others, will lead to us all being more money savvy."
We tend not to present them this way to our target audience, ie, low income households, but the 3 Bs are: Banking, Budgeting and Being online. They came to light as we explored and developed responses to the pitfalls many people moving onto Universal Credit were suffering. Our own research backs up these concerns with 40% of low income households not using a bank account, just 26% saving for unexpected setbacks (like a five week minimum wait for benefits) and 21% saying they had no access to the internet at all.
We cover these three themes in our quarterly magazine and through digital offer, which is a mix of monthly money emails, social media and web content. Our first training programme on the 3 Bs for people on lower incomes is taking place in Bath from April 2018, delivered in partnership with Clean Slate Training & Employment and we're looking forward to rolling it out through other partners in the future.
We know from the experience of agencies offering personal budget support sessions that claimants, for example, are finding them a big turn off. People are also cynical about finance institutions and often reticent about getting online. But these are essential steps for improving financial inclusion and capability. The 3 Bs messaging we use (which you can see in practice here) are more usually presented as:
- Being sure you have more coming in than going out, and what to do if that isn't the case
- Knowing where to keep your money safe and doing it's job paying bills and protecting you for the future
- Understanding where advice, support and the best deals and savings can be found
Under each of these heading are a number of habits we promote that will minimise the risk of financial disasters going forward. As we explain on our consumer-facing website, quidsinmagazine.com:
"The 3 Bs are prompts for tricks like always knowing our bank balance, trying to put away savings, using direct debits, finding ways to spend less, 'switching' and finding deals and bargains, checking benefits, and getting familiar with the online tools so we're ready for when services, benefits and information services go digital. All of these steps, and others, will lead to us all being more money savvy."
