MyMoneySense
Making personal finance accessible for everyday Singaporeans
myMoneySense was a government web app that helped Singaporeans visualise their whole financial picture and plan against it.
As the founding designer I took it from an open brief to a shipped MVP, and set the positioning that decided what the service would and would not do.
Role
Lead designer
Company
GovTech, Ministry of Manpower Singapore
Team
Team of 9, comprising user researcher, content designer, developers, business analysts
Timeline
2019 – 9 months
Tags
Product Strategy, Brand positioning, Concept Development, Interaction Design, Visual Design
Problem
There is a gap in financial literacy & planning in Singapore.
52 %
do not have emergency funds of more than 3 months’ expenses
45 %
have not started financial planning
68 %
of those who have not started financial planning feel that it is too early
Source: Financial Planning Attitudes Survey 2017
Opportunity
How can the government add value to the financial planning process in a helpful and non-intrusive way?
Design Highlights
Trusted, personalised and actionable
Based on research and early concept testing, our product strategy focused on a market gap to provide holistic financial planning, delivered through easy to follow, step-by-step modules.
Government as a trusted personal finance partner
Sacrificial concepts helped shed light on citizens' perception of government — citizens trust that the government has their best interests at heart.
They want a service that acts as an interpreter and mirror, simplifying their financial situation and supporting self-reflection.
Optimising nudges with medium-agnostic prototyping
To better understand how citizens respond to nudges on goal setting and saving, I led the team through a series of low-fidelity, interactive and code-based prototypes.
Onboarding · Sort your finances
Set saving targets · Create your game plan
Recognition
Quotes
Closing thoughts
Leading complex systems through design
This project required navigating across policy, operations, data infrastructure, and citizen trust simultaneously, a challenge where government provides complementary services within an established commercial ecosystem. Through foundational research and strategic positioning workshops, I established MyMoneySense's unique value proposition, giving the team clarity and confidence to move from ambiguous strategy to focused MVP execution.
Design legacy and impact
MyMoneySense served Singaporeans for five years (2020-2025), demonstrating how public services could deliver unbiased financial planning support. While the platform had been consolidated under CPF's PLAN initiative in December 2025, the infrastructure we built, especially the SGFinDex integration and our research-validated approach to advisory frameworks, continues to power public financial services.
Being part of the founding team that established these foundations means watching our work evolve beyond its original form. There's natural bittersweetness in this transition, but it also validates our approach: successful design pilots prove their value by integrating into larger systems.