CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The former product manager of personal finance app, Mint, is now CEO of Monarch aimed at helping Americans better manage their money.
"What we found with Mint was people loved seeing all their financial stuff in one place and help with tracking and budgeting, but then a lot of people needed help with, 'What do we do next?'" Val Agostino said.
Agostino told WCNC Charlotte there is a need for Monarch's budgeting tool in today's household.
"It's kind of sad, frankly, that we don't get taught this stuff in our school system at all," Agostino said. "We learn amazing things about biology and chemistry that you don't use all that much in adult life, but something that we use every day, like how to manage our money and how to think about money and how debt works, how investments work, all these kind of fundamentals of personal finance."
The Monarch co-founder said the app automatically connects to users' financial accounts, including checking, savings, investments, and debt accounts, to provide a comprehensive view of their finances.
"So, it brings your data in, and we don't get access to any of that," Agostino explained. "We don't have your information. It all comes through a third party, so it's very secure."
Agostino said the need for manual entry is eliminated.
"We suck in the new transactions every night while you're asleep, and we automatically categorize it, and then update your graphs and reports," Agostino said.
Mint's former product manager said Monarch goes beyond budgeting.
"Our goal is to help people be intentional and kind of make the decisions and understand the tradeoffs,' Agostino said. "It's like, 'OK, yes, we can spend more on restaurants, but that may impact what kind of vacation we can go on later this year. And once people have those tools, then it just comes down to the decision, what's important to them frankly. And people again, get this sense of control over their money."
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.