Financial Freedom? This Company's Mission is Helping People Save by Bridging the Old and the New

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

In a society in which we are sold to at every turn, it can be hard for many to not have a spending problem. Keeping up with the Joneses takes its toll, and our wallets suffer. According to Debt.org, the average American has more than $90,000 in debt.

Many people set budgets and savings plans they struggle to keep. It can be difficult to track where the money goes. Throughout time, there have been all kinds of different methods, some more successful than others. But one of the most successful, tried and true methods is the envelope.

The envelope method involves breaking down your monthly expenditures into individual categories. Each of these is represented with 1 envelope into which you place the allotted amount in cash. This way you can watch as the stack diminishes throughout the month and more aptly restrain from spending your cash.

As successful as this method might be, it feels a bit antiquated in a world of Apple Inc.’s APPL Apple Pay and credit cards. People want to use their Visa Inc. V and Mastercard Inc. MA credit cards — not carry around wads of cash.

This goes for the way people bank, too. Many no longer want to go into a physical branch. With the proliferation of banking apps from banks big and small, people, especially younger people, want to use their phones, not brick-and-mortar banks. But these methods can come with a host of issues themselves — hidden fees and poor customer service abound.

Enter Envel.

The company has created a financial platform that marries the old and gold envelope method with today’s technology. It does away with the rampant fees charged by big banks. The central idea is to give people the freedom and ease that comes with modern apps and helps them to budget using an envelope-like system. The app employs advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automate the budgeting process, making it simpler to keep track of finances.

It’s no wonder that it is one of five cryptocurrency and digital assets startups recently accepted into the Mastercard Start Path Crypto program, an engagement program with the goal to accelerate blockchain technology development. With this partnership, Envel will have access to the Mastercard ecosystem, connecting them to networks, services, and development opportunities. The hope is that the program functions as an “express” lane for startups, allowing fintech companies to grow with state-of-the-art tools at their disposal.

This program aims to solve real world pain points with crypto and blockchain companies, introducing the startups to a wide variety of teams, customers, and partners over a three month period. There are weekly events, workshops, and feedback sessions with industry experts as well as a demo day with Mastercard employees. The hope is that Envel’s platform will ultimately integrate USDC stable coin and blockchain technology into its platform, so this partnership could provide the tools that are necessary to do so. 

Currently, how the platform works is as follows: you simply input your various expenses, and the app will suggest a guilt-free daily spending amount which will change based on your habits and preferences. You can also set your own custom “envelopes” and budgeting goals that are automatically funded each day and monitored by the app’s AI. Enter any expense you may have, whether it be recurring (such as your rent) or one time (such as saving up for a new car), and the app will fund the given envelope with the appropriate amount, by the correct due date, so that you never have to worry or stress about budgeting.

This means you can enjoy that triple-shot latte guilt-free because the AI has all your bills and funding goals covered. The app will soon be able to help you invest as well. Envel’s AI will automate the process of buying stocks in small increments based on your daily habits and favorite brands.

While Envel includes this new envelope feature, the company offers many of the features that modern day bank accounts offer including instant peer-to-peer transfers, Apple and Google Pay, the ability to freeze your debit card on demand and many others. If you want to stick with the bank accounts you already have, you can. All of your accounts can be linked to your Envel account. That way you can take advantage of the budgeting features of Envel for all of your accounts under one roof. 

If you’re interested in learning more, check out Envel’s website here.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.

It is recommended to read the Offering Circular and Risks related to this offering before investing. This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA /SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.