FinTAN

FinTAN is a research project focused on helping people manage their money while maintaining as much independence and choice as possible.

Many people living with serious mental health challenges experience financial stress and may need support managing their money. However, current options for support are too limited – people either need to entirely give up financial control to another person or continue to manage without help. Fintan is exploring a different approach. We believe everyone should have the option of supported financial decision making; where you get the help you need, when you need it. For some people, that might mean giving complete control of their finances to someone else for a period of time. For some, it might mean getting help with just some financial transactions. Others might just need advice.

The project uses a community-based approach, meaning people with lived experience, supporters, providers, and researchers work together throughout the project. Working with these partners, we are developing practical guidance around financial tools and services that may make managing money and receiving support easier and safer.

Our goal is simple: help people get the financial support they need while preserving choice, control, and independence.

Everyone needs financial tools and services – like bank accounts, direct deposit, online bill pay, apps to send money, loans – to manage their money. Right now, our financial (banking) system doesn’t do enough to help people who need support managing their money. Too many people pay high fees, are vulnerable to scams, and can only get help if they give someone else complete control of all their money.

FinTAN is exploring ways that financial tools and services can provide different levels of support based on what each person wants and needs. We hope that with the right financial tools and services people will pay fewer fees, avoid scams, make better financial decisions, and improve financial and mental wellbeing.

We are developing a practical Financial Tools Access & Navigation (FinTAN) Guide to help people explore financial tools and decide which options may work best for them.

The guide will include information about tools and services such as:

• Bank accounts with no or low fees
• Safe and affordable debit and payment cards
• Budgeting and money management tools
• Phone apps for banking
• Tools that allow another person to provide financial support
• Options that may help people build greater financial independence over time

The guide is designed to help people understand their options, ask questions, and make informed choices about their money.

The FinTAN project has three main goals:

Create the FinTAN Guide
Develop the guide together with people with lived experience, supporters, providers, and other community partners.

Try the Guide
Pilot the FinTAN Guide with 15 people living with serious mental illness and people who assist them with managing money.

Learn and Improve
Gather feedback about what works, what does not, and what needs to change before testing the approach in a larger study.

Supported Financial Decision Making means that a person can receive help making or carrying out financial decisions without automatically giving up control of their money.

Support can look different for everyone. One person may want help creating a budget, another may want reminders about bills, and someone else may want a trusted person to help with certain financial tasks.

FinTAN explores how financial tools and services can make this type of support easier, safer, and more practical.