I think there's a missing point: the convenience factor.
Earlier this week, I went and set up a certificate of deposit. It took half an hour, making arrangements to visit on the rare day their hours didn't clash with mine, presenting two forms of identification, and having a significant amount of money to contribute to the account at once.
I also bought a Powerball ticket the same day, which was a $3 commitment and took 20 seconds at the all-night Kwik-e-mart I was already visiting.
Yeah, people keep coming up with various gimmicks (apps, automatic transfers, rounding up your purchases) to encourage saving, but that still targets an audience fairly high up the curve-- people with savings accounts or at least bank relationships already.
If you made a product reminiscent of the UK Premium Bonds, made them a bearer instrument (to minimize friction in purchase, no account or KYC stuff needed), and sold them in every store that offered Lotto tickets, you'd have a product which could get a lot of people onto the savings bandwagon. You've got $10 to put away? You're undocumented? You're 12? No bank will touch you, but you can start squirreling away these bonds, and in a few years, have a nice little nest egg, even if none of them pay out.
Earlier this week, I went and set up a certificate of deposit. It took half an hour, making arrangements to visit on the rare day their hours didn't clash with mine, presenting two forms of identification, and having a significant amount of money to contribute to the account at once.
I also bought a Powerball ticket the same day, which was a $3 commitment and took 20 seconds at the all-night Kwik-e-mart I was already visiting.
Yeah, people keep coming up with various gimmicks (apps, automatic transfers, rounding up your purchases) to encourage saving, but that still targets an audience fairly high up the curve-- people with savings accounts or at least bank relationships already.
If you made a product reminiscent of the UK Premium Bonds, made them a bearer instrument (to minimize friction in purchase, no account or KYC stuff needed), and sold them in every store that offered Lotto tickets, you'd have a product which could get a lot of people onto the savings bandwagon. You've got $10 to put away? You're undocumented? You're 12? No bank will touch you, but you can start squirreling away these bonds, and in a few years, have a nice little nest egg, even if none of them pay out.