The Money Hackers with Daniel P. Simon | E121

How A Group Of Misfits Took On Wallstreet and Changed Finance Forever

In this 121st episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Daniel P. Simon, Author of the book The Money Hackers. Daniel P. Simon talks about the different founders and companies that have changed the finance world in the last 10 years. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:55 – Daniel P. Simon introduces himself. 

● 01:47 – How did his book The Money Hackers come to be? 

● 03:44 – What was the biggest surprise Daniel came across while writing the book? 

● 06:18 – What made his interview subjects different? 

● 10:00 – Teaching financial literacy is a difficult thing. 

● 14:21 – What was the craziest story he came across while writing the book? 

● 16:48 – Daniel talks about the founders of the robo advisors. 

● 23:42 – What are the two types of competition according to Daniel? 

● 26:14 – Where will the robo movement most likely lead us? 

● 27:23 – Daniel tells the story of Green Dot Banking. 

● 32:55 – He shares stories about Margaret Keane from Synchrony and Blythe Masters from JPMorgan. 

● 36:00 – What would Daniel P. Simon change in his business or industry? 

● 40:05 – Was there a commonality to the people he interviewed that they faced a common challenge? 

● 44:57 – What kept Daniel P. Simon excited about working on his book every day? 

3 Key Points 

1. Over 150 entrepreneurs were interviewed for the book The Money Hackers. 

2. Typically, if you don’t implement the learnings of financial literacy within a couple months, it is as if you didn’t learn them at all. 

3. Steve Streit, the founder of Green Dot Banking, coined the music genre ‘Soft Rock.’ 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “I’ve spent most of my career on Wall Street. So, I’m a communications guy. I advise, obviously, some of the largest banks and asset managers and trading companies and technology firms in the world.” – Daniel P. Simon 

● “If you add up all of the assets of the robo advisors, they are not even 1% of Vanguard.” – Daniel P. Simon 

● “More people in this country (USA) own a cellphone than a bank account, and we don’t see it every day. But a vast amount of this population is woefully underserved by the traditional financial industry.” – Daniel P. Simon 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn 

● FintechImpact.co – Website for Fintech Impact 

● JasonPereira.ca – Sign up for Jason Pereira’s newsletter 

● DanielPSimon.com – Website for Daniel P Simon 

● Linkedin – Daniel P. Simon’s Linkedin 

● The Money Hackers – The book The Money Hackers