Isn't That Rich Podcast

Today we're sharing the exciting ways AI is transforming our finances by taking over the heavy lifting, from managing subscriptions to helping you invest without breaking a sweat. Curious? You should be! These AI-powered apps are making it easier than ever to save, budget, and invest, so let’s break it down.

1. Rocket Money: The Subscription Slayer

We’ve all subscribed to one too many services (hello, streaming platforms), and next thing you know, you’re paying for things you forgot about. That’s where Rocket Money comes in. This AI-powered app not only tracks all your subscriptions, but it also helps you cancel the ones you’re not using and even negotiates bills like your internet or phone service.

• Key Features:

  • Tracks all your recurring subscriptions
  • Helps negotiate bills (internet, cable, etc.)
  • Offers a detailed pie chart showing where your money is going
  • Alerts you about hidden or unused subscriptions

• Cost: $9/month (with a 7-day free trial). While it may seem like another subscription to add to the list, if it saves you money on bills and canceled subscriptions, it can easily pay for itself.

Jared from our marketing team loves the clean layout and easy-to-understand spending breakdowns—though she was shocked to find out how much she was really spending on her car!

2. Cleo: Your New (Sarcastic) Budget Buddy

If you need a little tough love when it comes to your spending, Cleo’s got you covered—she’s the sassy friend who’ll call you out on buying another round of lattes when you said you’d cut back. Cleo takes budgeting to the next level by using AI to monitor your spending habits and offer personalized advice (sometimes with a side of snark).

• Key Features:

  • Sarcastic reminders to keep your spending in check
  • Automatically saves leftover funds each month
  • Suggests challenges like “no-spend weeks” to help you save
  • Features a “swear jar” where you’re fined for overspending on your budget-busters like Target or Starbucks.

• Cost: Free version available, or $5.99/month for the premium version that automates more of your savings.

Cleo’s tough love may sound harsh, but her constant reminders and challenges have helped many people rethink their spending. Jared swears by it, as it’s the only thing keeping his dining-out habit in check.

3. You Need a Budget (YNAB): Flexibility is Key

Unlike more rigid budgeting apps, YNAB (You Need a Budget) is for those who like a little flexibility. This app doesn’t just track your spending—it learns from it. If you overspend on groceries one month, YNAB will reallocate your budget to reflect that next month. It’s designed to evolve with your spending habits, making it a great fit for those of us who like a budget that can adjust on the fly.

• Key Features:

  • Flexible budgeting based on your actual spending habits
  • Automatically reallocates money across categories
  • Helps create a realistic budget tailored to your lifestyle

• Cost: $4.99/month or $90/year, with a 34-day free trial.

YNAB is perfect if you need a more relaxed budgeting tool that learns and grows with you. It’s a little pricier compared to free apps, but if you’re someone who needs that budget flexibility, it’s a worthy investment.

4. Credit Karma: Your Credit Score Guru

Credit Karma has been a household name for a while, but it’s now stepping up its game by using AI to provide personalized financial recommendations. Whether you’re trying to improve your credit score, lower your debt, or just understand why your score is where it is, Credit Karma uses AI to help you make sense of it all.

• Key Features:

  • Personalized financial advice based on your credit score and spending habits
  • Helps you find better credit cards and loan offers
  • Provides practical steps to improve your credit score

• Cost: Free! But watch out for the added

Whether you’re building credit or trying to keep it in good shape, Credit Karma gives you actionable advice without charging a dime. Plus, it’s a great way to stay on top of your financial health.

5. Acorns: The Change-Saver

Acorns makes saving and investing so simple that you don’t even have to think about it. The app rounds up your everyday purchases to the nearest dollar and invests that spare change for you. For example, if you spend $4.50 at the coffee shop, Acorns rounds it up to $5 and invests the extra 50 cents. It’s a micro-investing app that turns your spare change into a mini-nest egg.

• Key Features:

  • Rounds up everyday purchases and invests the change
  • Allows automated deposits (you can set up weekly transfers, too)
  • Tracks your investments and shows how they’re growing over time

• Cost: $3/month for the personal plan, with other options available up to $5/month for family plans.

After a few months, many users are pleasantly surprised at how quickly their little savings add up—Jill was thrilled to find she’d saved nearly $400 without even realizing it!

6. Emma: Your Fun Financial Friend

Emma is another AI-driven budgeting app that’s all about subscription management and sarcastic money reminders. Like Cleo, Emma keeps track of your spending and lets you know when you’re being a little too frivolous. However, it has an added feature: the “waste meter,” which tells you how much you’re overpaying on things like Amazon Prime or gym memberships.

• Key Features:

  • “Waste meter” that highlights areas where you’re overspending
  • Tracks subscriptions and alerts you to duplicates
  • Offers humorous reminders to keep your spending in check

• Cost: Free version available, or $10/month or $100/year for the premium version.

Ashley loves Emma’s humor, but it’s the clear and concise notifications that keep her in line when she’s about to make an unnecessary splurge.

7. Betterment: Your Robo-Advisor Extraordinaire

If you want to start investing but feel overwhelmed by all the stock market jargon, Betterment is your best friend. This AI-driven financial advisor creates a personalized investment plan based on your goals (whether it’s saving for a house, retirement, or something else). It handles all the buying, selling, and even optimizing your portfolio for tax efficiency.

• Key Features:

  • AI-powered investment management
  • Automated portfolio adjustments
  • Tax-efficient strategies to help you save more

• Cost: 0.25% annual fee, with a $0 minimum balance for the basic plan. Premium plans, which include access to human advisors, start at 0.40% per year with a $100,000 minimum.

If you’re a hands-off investor who wants to watch your savings grow with minimal effort, Betterment is a top choice.

8. Wealthfront: AI-Enhanced Financial Planning

Similar to Betterment, Wealthfront uses AI to manage your investments and create personalized financial plans. One standout feature is tax-loss harvesting, which helps you reduce the amount of taxes you pay on investment gains. If you’re looking to maximize your investment returns while staying tax-efficient, Wealthfront has your back.

• Key Features:

  • AI-powered financial planning tools
  • Tax-loss harvesting to lower your investment tax bill
  • Personalized investment advice based on your goals

• Cost: 0.25% annual fee with a $500 minimum investment.

Wealthfront’s low fees and hands-off approach make it a great choice for anyone looking to grow their wealth without spending hours managing it.

9. SoFi Invest: A Hybrid Approach

For those who want both AI-driven advice and access to human advisors, SoFi Invest offers the best of both worlds. It uses AI to manage your investments, but you can also get advice from real-life financial planners if you need that human touch.

• Key Features:

  • AI-powered investment management
  • Access to human financial advisors for a hybrid approach
  • Helps with goal-setting, whether it’s buying a house or saving for retirement

• Cost: Free to use for basic investing, with higher fees for more advanced features.

If you’re not ready to let go of that human connection in your financial planning, SoFi Invest offers a great middle ground.

AI in Community Banking: What’s Happening Behind the Scenes

As exciting as these AI-driven apps are for personal finance, it’s equally important to highlight how AI is making waves in community banking—specifically at Farmers State Bank. AI is no longer just for big tech companies or futuristic visions; it’s right here in your local community bank, working behind the scenes to make banking faster, safer, and more personalized. Let's dive into some of the specific ways AI is revolutionizing community banking.

1. Personalized Customer Experiences

One of the most significant ways AI is enhancing community banking is by allowing us to offer more personalized customer experiences. At Farmers State Bank, we’re using AI to analyze your spending habits, transaction history, and financial patterns to recommend products and services that fit your unique needs.

For example, if the data shows that you're frequently paying high ATM fees at non-FSB locations, our system might suggest a bank account with no-fee ATM access. Or, if you often carry a high balance in your checking account, we might recommend opening a savings account with higher interest rates to help your money grow. This kind of customized service used to require multiple interactions with a banker, but now AI can assess your financial situation instantly and make tailored suggestions that save you both time and money.

2. Fraud Detection and Prevention

We hear stories every day about fraud, and the truth is, fraudsters are getting smarter—using AI to create scams that are increasingly difficult to detect. But here's the good news: Farmers State Bank is also using AI to stay one step ahead of fraudsters. Our advanced AI systems are continuously learning your patterns—where you spend, how much, and how often—so that if something unusual happens, it raises a red flag instantly.

For instance, if you usually make small local purchases but suddenly a large, out-of-state transaction pops up, our AI will recognize the anomaly and take immediate action, such as freezing the account or flagging it for review. This real-time fraud detection can happen much faster and more accurately than with traditional human monitoring alone, providing you with a layer of security that's both sophisticated and speedy.

3. Streamlining Loan Approvals

If you’ve ever applied for a loan, you know it can sometimes feel like a lengthy process—gathering paperwork, waiting for approvals, and often being left wondering where you stand. AI is helping to speed up this process by automating much of the behind-the-scenes work that used to take days or even weeks.

Banks are beginning to use AI to quickly analyze your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, transaction history, and other financial factors, allowing us to make quicker and more informed lending decisions. And while larger banks may rely solely on AI for approvals, Farmers State Bank maintains that human touch, ensuring that AI is simply a tool to help us make better, faster decisions—not replace the relationships we’ve built with our customers.

We know that sometimes the numbers don’t tell the full story. For example, in a traditional model, someone with a lower credit score might get denied for a loan. But AI allows us to assess more nuanced factors—like your history of timely payments or fluctuating income due to seasonal work—giving us a broader understanding of your overall financial health. This means that instead of a simple "approve" or "deny," we can tailor loans to fit your specific situation, offering more flexible terms when appropriate.

4. Enhanced Financial Literacy Tools

Financial literacy has always been a cornerstone of Farmers State Bank’s mission, and now AI is helping us take it to the next level. AI-driven tools are making it easier for customers to access real-time financial advice and guidance. Whether you’re using chatbots for quick answers or diving into more complex financial questions, AI is providing the tools that help you learn and grow your financial knowledge.

For example, if you're unsure how to start saving for a big purchase, AI-powered tools can analyze your spending patterns and suggest ways to cut costs or allocate savings. These systems can also simulate different financial scenarios, such as how much you need to save each month to reach a goal or how a loan will impact your budget over time.

5. AI-Powered Chatbots and Customer Service

Speaking of chatbots, they’re becoming a bigger part of customer service in banking. AI-powered chatbots can answer common questions like "What's my balance?" or "How do I transfer money?" and they do it instantly, 24/7. While we always encourage customers to speak to a real banker for more complex issues, chatbots can handle a lot of the day-to-day inquiries, freeing up our team to focus on more personalized, high-level service.

What’s especially exciting is how smart these chatbots are becoming. They learn from previous interactions and can offer more accurate and helpful responses over time. And don’t worry—if you ever need to speak with a real person, we're phone call away.

6. Predictive Analytics for Customer Support

AI doesn’t just react to your needs—it predicts them. Farmers State Bank is using AI to anticipate when you might need help with things like cash flow management, opening a new account, or even refinancing a loan. By analyzing your transaction history and financial habits, AI can identify patterns that signal when you’re likely to need a specific service.

For example, if you regularly make large purchases at the beginning of each month but suddenly stop, our AI might flag that as a potential issue with cash flow. In response, we can proactively reach out to offer solutions, like opening a line of credit or offering budgeting advice to help you through the rough patch.

The Future of Banking is Here, and It's Personal

At Farmers State Bank, we’re embracing the power of AI to create a banking experience that’s not only faster and more secure but also more personal and tailored to your unique financial journey. From fraud detection to loan approvals and even financial literacy, AI is helping us serve you better every day. But rest assured, while technology is changing the game, the heart of community banking—our relationship with you—will always stay the same.