Fintech fiend Julian Antonescu from MoneyMe swings by to run us through the future of banking and how technology is transforming the way we manage our money.
Do you have regrets? Wishing you could turn back the clock and buy bitcoin instead of studip sh*t? Check out bitcoinorshit.com.
Julian Antonescu is a representative from MoneyMe.
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Disclaimer
We Talk Cents is not a financial advisor and the information provided is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. This podcast should not be considered to constitute financial advice. Accordingly, reliance should not be placed on the podcast as the basis for making an investment, financial or other decision. This information does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation
The transcript is created by AI software so it might not be perfect - please forgive any imperfections or grammatical errors.
Blaize Pengilly 00:09
Personal Finance budgeting cash flow and investing don't have to be scary words. The We Talk Cents podcast is here to help you learn more about money and take control of your personal finance.
Blaize Pengilly 00:27
This podcast is not a financial advisor. This podcast is made for entertainment and educational purposes only. All information shared is of a general nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate for your needs and where appropriate seek professional advice from a financial advisor.
Dan Jovevski 00:45
For more information, please check out wemoney.com au/disclaimer.
Dan Jovevski 00:51
Hi, welcome to Episode 20 of We Talk Cents a podcast presented by WeMoney, I'm Dan, you resident finance expert,
Blaize Pengilly 00:57
and I'm Blaize your resident recovering spendaholic. Dan, how you doing?
Dan Jovevski 01:03
I'm doing great. How about you?
Blaize Pengilly 01:05
Well, Dan, I'm doing pretty well doing pretty well. I actually found something during the week that I thought you might like so before we get into the news, I want to know I've been I've been holding off talking to you about this all week because I don't know how have you heard of Bitcoinorshit.com?
Dan Jovevski 01:24
Bitcoin or shit.com? No, I haven't, but I'm never getting there right now.
Blaize Pengilly 01:33
Well, it's this website, and it tells you what how much money you would have if you had bought Bitcoin, instead of, in their words, stupid shit many years ago, so I'm just going to give it a click. So if you'd bought Bitcoin instead of air pods in 2016, you'd have $10,308. So your $159 back in 2016 for a pair of air pods would have you over $10,000 in Bitcoin right now.
Dan Jovevski 02:07
I just went online Blaize and i and i got if I bought one in 2015 if I bought an Apple Watch the V one version that would have cost me $249 back in 2015? Or had I invested in Bitcoin? That would have been $54,000. That is bonkers.
Blaize Pengilly 02:26
That is crazy. If you bought a GoPro Hero back in 2012, a GoPro Hero three 299 bucks back then you would have $1,171,000 and $31. I don't even know if I said that. Right? You have over seven digits is what I'm trying to say. So yeah, if you want to live in regret and all the things that you wish you'd done, head to Bitcoin I shit.com. And you will be filled with regrets. That's that's what I found this week, Dan, it's not necessarily news. But what news headlines caught your attention to do with money,
Dan Jovevski 03:08
The constant discussions back and throw from the government in terms of jobseeker to the jobkeeper changes. That's coming from unemployment benefits. And as we're all aware that anytime there's some pre announcement, there's always going to be some change. But the government has announced that there's going to be a $25 increase in welfare from April the first and that's to support people on the road to recovery from all the effects in COVID, which is pretty good. And that will increase to about $307. And payments such as rent assistance energy supplement will still flow on as well, which is really good from a consumer perspective. And if you're sitting at home thinking that maybe this was all gonna be cut off, quite thankfully, it's continued. So that's that's pretty, pretty good. Pretty good outcome. What do you think?
Blaize Pengilly 03:53
Well, okay, see, I'm not very convinced because I do think it's great that they are increasing the job caper rate because many, many people have been lobbying for years for it to be raised because it is such a little amount. But $25 a week that's according to my calculator because you know, I'm useless at math. That is $3.50 a day. So it's $3 while Yes, I think any boost is good. I'm kind of wondering is $25 a week is $3.50 day really going to make much of a difference in people's lives. You know, like the value of $1 you can you can stretch it but I don't off $3.50 is enough to to help people start living above the poverty line. So I do think it's good, they're doing something but hopefully they will revise it or raise it a little bit more because you know, they're going $25 a week more from what it was before I had the Coronavirus supplement, and with the Coronavirus supplement, it was an extra five or $600 a fortnight so I think that's much more livable than an extra $25. But yes, we shall save Because it's in big discussion in the US at the moment, so I'm sure something will probably change as is most government announcements like this?
Dan Jovevski 05:07
Totally. I'm not sure if you saw something else from the government. Did you hear about this hotline that employers can call for people that don't accept employment? Oh, my
Blaize Pengilly 05:18
God, I actually did hear about this. This is I heard it briefly on the radio what it what exactly is it?
Dan Jovevski 05:25
Well, apparently the government for the infinite wisdom. And again, as you can probably know, from listening to us talk about the government, we have very mixed feelings on the same episode. This is the perfect example of one is, is the government for the infinite wisdom has created a hotline, where if you're an employer, you can deep dive on people that don't accept job opportunities or offers that are made for them that are seeking or for assistance? And I think that's all right. I didn't pass the Australian test for me. Blaize. What about you?
Blaize Pengilly 05:59
That's the asking you to rat that just doesn't sound right. I mean, if you can, it sounds like they've got the best intentions. They're like, Oh, you know, we don't want people to exploit the system. So we're creating this, you know, rat heartland so you can rat someone out. But what if you go to a job interview? And you What if you rack up and your ex is there, and you're like, well, I can't accept this job now? Because I because my ex is there. What if he go in? It's way more manual labor than you can do? And you're not fit enough? Or what if you go in the boss is really sleazy or they insist on only paying you cash and won't give you a pay slip? You know, I feel like there's a lot of things that could go wrong, and people should have the right to be able to say no to a job if it's not for them or know what if you misled and you think you're going to a sales job, and then you're going to wear meatpacking factory or something, you know, lots of things can go wrong in interviews. So I feel like the hotline is probably a step too far from scomo.
Dan Jovevski 07:00
Well, it's also been dubbed dobseeker as the endless seeker suffixes of all these programs. Yeah, boy, I would say this one I don't think is the is the best for you.
Blaize Pengilly 07:17
Yeah, I don't think so either. Now, then, Bitcoin one other thing I did here in the us this week, we have been talking about Bitcoin a lot. But God, it's just such big news at the moment. What's happening with the price is is it still crazy What's happening?
Dan Jovevski 07:32
It is dropping. So like last time in 2018, where we had this meteoric rise to about 24,000 volts Australian, I think it peaked around $75,000, ie, a week ago. And now it is starting to go back. And I think this is part of the mania phase of all these asset price inflation that we've seen around the share market now sort of with crypto. But as to remaining pretty strong, it's bouncing up and down. The last time I checked with recording this podcast that $63,000 we are seeing some wild swings here. But I think also as well, anytime you have a massive increase, the likelihood that you also get a really equally sharp pullback was also probable based on the historical price of bitcoin. So wait and see how it all it all pans out. I think it's become way more pervasive than it was back in 2018. And you know that it's becoming more part of the mainstream when you're 70 year old father in law asked you how to open a crypto account. Which, which thanks to the likes of platforms like Coinbase and coin spot, you can easily get involved in crypto, but I think that's it's pretty amazing, right? A lot more people are talking about it. What's your What's your thoughts?
Blaize Pengilly 08:48
Definitely becoming more mainstream, and people are talking about it way more, especially in the sort of millennial market. But yeah, I'm keen to just to sit back and watch the numbers rise and fall and see where it ends up and where Dogecoin and Bitcoin and all the other coins will take us in the future. Okay, dang, shall we bring in our special guest for today?
Dan Jovevski 09:10
Let's do it Blaize
Blaize Pengilly 09:16
Full disclosure before we kick off our chat with our next guest. We money the producer of this podcast is affiliated with money made the personal loan provider that Julian represents. The reason we've asked Julian to join us today is because he's super passionate about FinTech and has some valuable insights that we think you'll enjoy. When it is pop quiz time, this time a little bit left field so I wonder if you get it. What do surfing rugby and securities law all have in common?
Dan Jovevski 09:49
Whoo Blaize. That's a tough one. Okay, say you gotta be a baller. Number one, play Rugby - you deal with a ball. Number two, go surfing. You've got to be a baller. nd the three if you deal with anything in money and securities law, you've got to be a baller as well. So that's my guess.
Blaize Pengilly 10:11
Well, okay, Dan, I wasn't expecting me to be able to get that one, but tick, tick tick. Because our next guest is passionate about all three of those things and plenty more. So today's guest has worked as a national sales manager and business development manager. He studied law, a Bachelor of Commerce, finance and also securities law. He is passionate about FinTech community building for millennials and financial education that sits outside of uni and school. Outside of work, you catch him surfing or playing rugby. He currently works for a non traditional credit lender called MoneyMe, and he joins us now to talk all things tech and finance via the magic of the internet. Welcome, Julian Antonescu Was Dan right? Are you a baller?
Julian Antonescu 11:00
Look I definitely aspire to be so we'll go with that answer. We'll lock it in.
Blaize Pengilly 11:08
Well, Julian, thank you so much for joining us today, we're very excited to have you as a guest on We Talk Cents. Now, you've worked in the FinTech space for many years now. What is it that makes you so passionate about tech?
Julian Antonescu 11:19
So guys, you know, tech is pretty amazing, because it's applicable to every industry, every service, and most companies these days, whether it's insurance, finance and real estate, we've entered the real estate space and brought tech to the forefront. I think it's also important to note that Australians largely are pretty willing to embrace tech, and they're always looking for the next thing. We see it in real estate, where people are welcoming tech with open arms. But it's exciting, because tech allows people to be better, to focus on what they do best, whether it's managing clients, lending all those services. Without the distractions, I think Tech has a real ability to augment things that are traditionally personality based relationship based, like selling a house to make that real estate agents life easier. In the finance, space. Tech plays a massive role in connecting people, particularly millennials and driving that financial education. similarly to what WeMoney does,
Dan Jovevski 12:16
it tech is pretty important to reach audiences in crowds that were quite hard to get to, and, you know, unite us in a community of amazing Julian. And I'm just thinking back to you know, what I saw in going through some of those transactions. As a kid sort of growing up is a very manual process. It takes days and days and days. And I think a lot of people now have been used to their awesome experiences on other platforms like, you know, ordering, an uber by pressing a button, clicking a one button checkout on Amazon and getting your goods robbed your door, you know, two days later, all of these expectations, especially by young people are driving over these other companies to provide better services to people. You mentioned the term disruption. And what companies do you have you seen really disrupt the financial services space, and the companies that were most impressed by?
Julian Antonescu 13:03
Look, there are so many, and they're all equally impressive in their own right. One thing that comes to mind that I've seen it with my friend group, and my you know, my family as well is these kinds of financial education investment platforms, the concept of micro investing, you know, through companies such as acorns, and raised to name a couple, really powerful because it opens up people to a way to manage their finances and access things that traditionally was a little bit far out of their reach, whether it was lack of connectivity, or just a lack of confidence and ability to access these services. Another way, another way that we see that quite prevalent is financial education, and the p2p lending platforms, again, bringing people into the world that was, you know, traditionally dominated by the Big Four, and those big firms. Now giving people the ability to understand their credit, understand what it really means to them, and to other people, and use their finances in a way to better themselves and better others. I think that peer to peer lending platform space is awesome. It's really connecting Australians in a way that we haven't seen in the past. That's awesome.
Dan Jovevski 14:07
Julian, we open up to the question of one of our guests is the things we're most excited about is the future and how things are going to help a lot and if we just pick up the sort of next 10 years, what do you think the financial services warfighters that will services look like for regular everyday individual and how they go about doing doing what they do in their life? You know, saving money for a home taking out a loan to say, you know, buy, buy a car or something like that? What What will that future look like and say 10 years time?
Julian Antonescu 14:37
Look, I think that the the way Australians access and consume credit, it's going to be evolving quite rapidly. But we see these these evolutions Little by little, every few months. There's something that comes out on the scene. For example, this cryptocurrency craze, you know, whether it's a viable platform or way of the future, it's kind of irrelevant to me and how I think about it because it does signify that realization of everyday consumers saying, Well, what is the value of my money in the bank? What is the value of the bank and storing it? How can I get creative and use my credit and my finance in new ways. So I think it signifies the decentralization of money, the understanding of money and the concept, and really opens us up to a lot more creativity in how we use credit and disperse it. Even though there's some widespread dissatisfaction with traditional lenders, there's definitely some loyalty there. And I think consumers are challenging the banks to keep up with this disruption trend. They're releasing these interest free credit cards, you know, they're varying the products that they have now to appeal. So it keeps resonating with consumers. But all of that really is underlined by the the massive explosion of the buy now pay later saying, it's not just a product, you know, we all know those big names like after pay, but it's really a consumer sentiment. I think what these Buy Now Pay Later does,the popular ones have done well, is providing these easy services in a very non invasive manner. Really quick and easy. Sign up, no one to talk to available 24 seven. So I think you know, operational efficiencies can only get so good. Everything's going to be real quick and easy fingerprint, eyeball, scan all that crazy spy stuff. But I think we're gonna come up with new and more creative ways to use our own money to lend whether it's that p2p lending, investment overseas, this micro investing, it's gonna get a lot more creative.
Blaize Pengilly 16:29
I think that's one of the things that's most exciting about tech is that the possibilities, seeing how quickly Tech has changed over the last five years, let alone the last 50 years is crazy and mind blowing. So seeing the, it creates so much opportunity for creativity. So I am on the same boat with you, Julian, I'm excited to see where it goes and how creatively evolves. Now, Julian, I'm curious about non traditional lenders and and in the FinTech space, how do you see millennial focused credit providers such as money me affecting the traditional bricks and mortar model? In the short and in the long term?
Julian Antonescu 17:09
Good question. Blaize. I think every time we come to work, we say, Are we staying true to our claim that we're a true disrupter? And how are we going to actually stand behind that with the products and the services we offer? Traditionally, there's been a lot of human touch points in the process of getting credit, whether it's a car loan, a business loan, or credit card, and there are some unnecessary points where it slows things down. So one of our biggest, you know, keys to disruption is convenience, that 24 seven easy access at a fingertip. And we've invested heavily into the app mobile space, because everyone has a mobile these days, really the mobile usage and the internet usage has skyrocketed. So it's a it's a global phenomenon, which is fantastic. But providers like us and others are going to have to make sure that everything fits nice and smoothly into an easily accessible app. Nothing too complicated, that people can resonate with an access anytime. So that's a massive thing that mobile pushes Well, I think that people also want to make sure that they have the service there if they need it. It's all good. Having a massive tech platform, everything automated, but there does come a point in time where people need the confidence in the support to speak to someone, someone that understands what they're what they're coming to businesses, like money move for, and they can point them in the right direction. So again, Tech has to augment that human experience, because when you're lending, borrowing and dispersing credit, there is an element of trust security. And you need to have that reputation of looking after the customers. So it's going to challenge people to pull away from the unnecessary parts of their business and focus on the ones that are delivering value.
Blaize Pengilly 18:46
Yeah, that's interesting that you you mentioned mobile first, because mobile is, it's the first place we go to it's out the closest computer to us, it's right in my pocket. So that's obviously the first place we go to, especially when we want to do pretty much anything. And then Dan has mentioned before, you know, going to a bank or needing to get a loan or whatever has completely changed from putting on your Sunday best and looking the part and going into speaking to the bank manager. Now just looking at your phone and typing in a little bit of information and getting that approval. So it's interesting, interesting to see how it's evolved. Julian with with fintechs and disruptors and non traditional lenders, are there any issues or disparity with consumer trust when it comes to using non traditional lenders like money may or other Neo banks or other lenders over the Big Four that we know and love in Australia?
Julian Antonescu 19:42
Most definitely, I think the big four, they play a pretty important part, not only in their traditional role of you know, being a bank and having those pretty key services, but they also have a massive focus on community building communities investing in Australian businesses. So there's a lot of little legitimacy that comes with the big four and those other more established institutions. In the FinTech space plays like money, May, it's really up to us to dictate our own journey and our and our future, we have to make sure that we get it right that we're providing the services that people need, that they get from the Big Four, to the same level of quality and satisfaction, and reliability, but also making sure that we are doing everything we can to protect, secure, to make sure we are a viable alternative to the Big Four, it's hard for FinTech companies to really provide all those services. So they need to scale and then anything can, what more can we do, we need to listen to our customers. But again, a very time intensive procedure to learn to adapt. So you've got to be quick, but definitely, I think Australian consumers will always hold on to the Big Four as that main source of trust, and they're going to look for other companies and fintechs that resonate, you know, similarly to those big four banks.
Dan Jovevski 20:58
this is really, really, really interesting point. And, you know, you don't have to say this, but you know, what we certainly can, as we think, from what we've seen, is that there's certainly a different perspective, particularly on millennials and how they go about the traditional banking. And what we've seen right now is that, you know, maybe the Big Four stranglehold on Australian consumers in the psyche of being safe and trusted source is shifting a bit. And we've seen this now with, you know, anybody is age 25, the likelihood that you're probably going to be banking with up is, you know, pretty, pretty big. And this is something that we probably didn't see in our parents generation where, you know, the brand, and what what companies sort of do from from day to day, really matter. And I think a lot more particularly younger people are considering their options with other providers that are much more focused and tailored to the individual lives, which is, you know, super, super interesting. But there's also another big reason that I think a lot of people are considering these other non traditional sources. And this is something that you guys are certainly involved in. But you know, one thing that really is that's exploded on the scene is this concept of right for risk pricing. So depending on your own credit score, or your own credit factors, you can get a personalized write for you. That may either give you a lower rate to, say getting a loan from a traditional lender, or it will allow you to obtain credit in situations where you may or may not have been able to from from a big bank, could you talk about that Julian and maybe how you've seen that opportunity last couple of years and where it's going to?
Julian Antonescu 22:31
100% I think, you know, from our inception, that personalized, you know, pricing model to make sure that we can appeal to as many people as they need that need credit, but also making sure that we can offer credit in an efficient manner, and scale as well. So is that tailored pricing, it really comes down to our ability to obtain and analyze the data, we've got a very heavy tech focus and our platform that we run on horizon, its proprietary tech built. And it really underpins the whole business, whether we release new products, get some surveys, manage the communications, it's an all in one. But the whole purpose of the tech is to make sure that we are delivering value to as many customers as possible. A good example, you've mentioned where someone might get a higher rate. But we want to make sure that if there's an opportunity for that person to access credit, we're trying to facilitate that. It also allows us to open up an appeal to the market of people that you know, would have gone with the big four banks, but the thinking actually, maybe I can get more value going to another alternative lender, like a FinTech. So there's no one size fits all model. And I think that as we evolve, and you know, the way money is used, gets more creative lending is going to have to get more creative as well. So I think it's definitely, you know, a massive value add to the Australian consumer base.
Dan Jovevski 23:50
Definitely, one of the questions and I'll throw it over to Blaize is in terms of consumer protections, because I think this is also another big one is that sometimes lending money for money's sake may not be, you know, in the best interest for an individual, and may not be in the best interest for society at large if we're sort of in deluding yourselves with credit products. And there should be probably used at a point in time where it's of benefit to you and what you're trying to achieve in your life. Can you maybe talk about some of the the safeguards and protections that you're saying either, you know, money may go through other companies to protect borrowers from excessive use of credit to maybe solve some problems in their life, because we can see that sometimes this can sort of run away and get people into bad spots.?
Julian Antonescu 24:33
Yeah, most definitely. What underpins many fintechs, including ours is the transparency and you know, making sure the customer is okay and that we deal with them responsibly. So Responsible Lending, it's a term that's thrown around, you know, it's defined pretty well, legally, and in in practicality as well, but we like to make sure that we take what the standard industry standard is, but we go a step further to make sure that we're doing lending responsibly. This will vary between lenders. But for us, especially being an emerging FinTech, that needs to really build a reputation quickly and establish ourselves as a safe and secure and viable alternative to the big four banks, is to make sure that we're not just leveraging our digital presence to lend irresponsibly, and reach as many people as possible. That's always the goal in scaling a business, especially in a pretty competitive and saturated industry. But we need to make sure that our customer satisfaction levels stay high. And we want to make sure that we're lending credit, as you mentioned, Dan, do you know for those life changing moments where someone really needs some assistance in whether it's buying a car, moving out, getting an education course, all those things, but at the end of the day, we have, you know, we need to have their best interests in mind. And we have to sit objectively, and it can be hard to do that. But I think we've done a good job of leveraging all our data over the last seven years, we've invested pretty heavily into AI as well to make smarter lending decisions. You can't please everybody, but the ones that we can work with want to make sure that they have the best experience possible.
Blaize Pengilly 26:05
Julian, I have a question on behalf of anyone that's listening right now going, what the heck is a FinTech? Because Dan Julian and I know. But if you are if you're listening, scratching your head going, honestly, what is a FinTech? What is all this talking about? I apologize for not asking earlier. Julian, how would you describe a FinTech for our listeners?
Julian Antonescu 26:24
Look super crucial question Blaize. Like many of these buzz words you see around these days, that can be interpreted differently. But from our perspective, a FinTech is an organization that gives people access to credit through various ways, but it's very technology focused. What it plays out in our eyes is the journey, the customer journey of looking for credit, looking at the reviews, accessing it, getting some you know, some support from our team can be done in a fully automated, really quick and easy process, have to be reliant on tech to be a FinTech as it's in the name, especially. And you need to make sure that you're not kind of putting people in the way of that consumer getting that quick and easy outcome. Again, it's a bit of a buzzword. But another symptom, other key things that I think would resonate with other fintechs is, you know, looking at implementing AI, or increasing its use within the business, making sure that the customer services is as automated as possible. And that could be live chat could be all these different things out there. But making sure that everything's accessible and online, we like to have our platforms and our portals is, you know, the central hub for people to find information. Of course, we've got a support team that you guys can call if you need assistance. But as a FinTech, we want to make sure that everything the customer needs is just a click away, and look very mobile focused as well. I think it's gonna be hard to keep up as a FinTech, if you're not playing in that mobile space.
Blaize Pengilly 27:53
Yeah, awesome. And your support team, if you do need help, and you do call, it's not just a room full of robots all answering the phones at various times.
Julian Antonescu 28:04
When those robots become available, we'll look into it. But for now, we've got our very experienced team. And I think it comes down to you've got a team to manage, you want to make sure that they are spending their time where it's most effective. If you can reduce the amount of questions that your customers have, and the ones that really do need assistance, it opens up the time for that support team to really focus and give a tailored, you know, pretty in depth experience. We've got awesome reviews from customers saying, look, you know, they gave me a call back exactly when I requested. And you know, there were ongoing conversations for days, sometimes weeks. And it could be anything from managing their account, or just, you know, asking about what the products we have and what's right for them. But it really allows us to leverage the tech for the majority of those those issues and those things we need to sort out so that our support team can focus on the meaningful conversations with customers.
Blaize Pengilly 28:57
Yeah, awesome. And Julian, for for your customers. What? Who are the people that are using or approaching services like money may or who are the people that are passionate or curious about FinTech? Is it? Like we assume is that millennials that know how to use technology? Or are they boomers getting involved as well? Like who are the people that are loving the FinTech scene?
Julian Antonescu 29:19
Look, the boomers are booming for sure. I think I think that there's a lot of people that may have worked in the industry, or close close to it at least, or you know, have a credit card or worked at the big four banks. And at that point in time, they may have wanted to do things a bit differently. But technology is always something that you know, can hold those ideas back. So now that mobiles are so accessible, just like you said, Blaize it's a little computer at your side. I think a lot of people are open to doing things differently. I think the FinTech in the money may space while it appeals to millennials, because naturally, they've kind of been born with this expectation. Having everything exactly when they want it on their phone, which is great. But also it appeals to generation now, generation now is anyone that's happy to utilize an access tech solutions to make their lives a little bit easier. So it's millennials but of course, it's people of all demographics and ages that, you know, like tech, and they're used to using tech, and they prefer to use tech and jump on their mobile, as opposed to lining up at the post office, or, you know, seeing the bank manager or holding on the phone for five hours. And then, you know, the line being disconnected. So some horror stories there. But I think generation now it's gonna, it resonates quite quite well with every age.
Blaize Pengilly 30:41
Julian, if you're not having to line up at the post office, then how are you supposed to buy all those random gifts that are always As Seen on TV, who is who is stalking Australia place because they have the most absurd gifts rings that I've ever seen. It's like wish but in real life.
Julian Antonescu 31:00
It's, it's pretty special. I've seen some Shamwow's there I've seen stuff, you know that that's making a reappearance. But I think again, you know, Australia Post, they had a, they invested quite heavily in their tech in their services to make a lot more streamlined. And they had some major successes there. We've seen that as well across Amazon, really leveraging the possibility of tech, I'm just waiting for my personalized drone to drop me everything I need in a nice little Ziploc bag, and then I can just stay inside.
Blaize Pengilly 31:34
That's the dream.
Dan Jovevski 31:36
Julian, this sounds overly exciting. But we know that to get to that instead of have this feature with, say, drones or things being able to be done with a press of a button, there are going to be some hurdles in place. And what do you think some of the hurdles are for fintechs? And what advice would you have for the consumers out there in terms of, you know, supporting fintechs, and overcoming some of these hurdles that will, you know, be in their way to get, you know, further adoption?
Julian Antonescu 32:02
I think adoption is always going to be started the mentality. You know, a lot of these things, sometimes they're easy to understand, sometimes they're not, I think that fintechs need to be especially careful in making sure that their their value proposition and their offering, including their products and services, is what people want and what they need, you can reinvent the wheel and end up with something that is pretty abstract. And it's hard to take up that adoption. So I think that making sure that the offering is streamlined, it makes sense. It solves a need, it's going to make it a lot easier for Australian consumers on a widespread scale to adopt and embrace these things. If it's too hard to understand, if it's too hard to use, then it's going to take a lot longer. So you can over engineer tech and the ideas, but making sure that you've got your your finger on the pulse to what consumers want, what the sentiment is, it's going to really speed up that adoption. I think, you know, the the tech hurdle that we've seen in the past, I think we're overcoming that pretty quickly. Internet's pretty much everywhere, mobile phones, SIM cards, they're very cheap these days. In, you know, in other countries, in Africa region, as well, you've got that mobile p2p lending space, which is pretty special. Everyone's got a phone that people do everything for that mobile phone. Pretty exciting. And I think as these other plays into the space, you've got Google phone, I'm sure Amazon's gonna whip out a phone one of these days. Again, just really, you know, makes it even more accessible for providers, such as our software developers to build something that's meaningful and reaches audiences.
Blaize Pengilly 33:38
Awesome. Now, Julian, that is all we have time for today. So thank you for coming and sharing all of your knowledge and insight on the FinTech space. Now, Julian, if our listeners want to find out more about you, or money me, where do they go?
Julian Antonescu 33:51
Yeah, look, they can visit our website moneyme.com.au or feel free to send me an email at Julian@moneyme.com.au always exciting to talk with you guys and other people in the FinTech space. And I think that it's going to the success of this FinTech space, it's really going to be collaborative effort to make sure everyone's aligned, everyone's doing what they need to do. And we're really excited to see how it evolves over the next few years.
Blaize Pengilly 34:15
Yes, as always, thank you so much for joining us, Julian. Thanks, guys.
Dan Jovevski 34:21
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Blaize Pengilly 34:56
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Dan Jovevski 35:25
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Blaize Pengilly 35:37
Also, if you like the show, it would be really awesome if you could share this episode with a friend or family member who you think may also enjoy learning about money. Helping us spread the word it helps us to keep producing the podcast so we can bring you more content that you love. Thanks for tuning in and we will catch you next week on We Talk Cents
Dan Jovevski 35:57
Adios
Blaize Pengilly 35:57
Bye
Disclaimer:
The author is not a financial advisor and the information provided is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. This article should not be considered to constitute financial advice. Accordingly, reliance should not be placed on this article as the basis for making an investment, financial or other decision. This information does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation.