myMoneySense

Making personal finance accessible for everyday Singaporeans

MyMoneySense is a web app that helps Singaporeans visualise and plan their finances.

As the founding designer, I brought the product from conceptualisation to execution, driving through uncertainty and setting team processes from the ground up.

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, 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 value-add 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 bring light to 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.

Try our goal planning prototype —>

Onboarding · Sort your finances
Set saving targets · Create your game plan
Completed sessions

40.3 %

of users completed the entire multi-module flow to kickstart their success towards a better financial future

Quotes

“SGFinDex empowers the individual to consolidate his financial information for a comprehensive view of his portfolio, and use digital tools like MyMoneySense to make better financial decisions."

– Ravi Menon, Managing Director of 

Monetary Authority of Singapore

“SGFinDex empowers the individual to consolidate his financial information for a comprehensive view of his portfolio, and use digital tools like MyMoneySense to make better financial decisions."

– Ravi Menon, Managing Director of 

Monetary Authority of Singapore

“SGFinDex empowers the individual to consolidate his financial information for a comprehensive view of his portfolio, and use digital tools like MyMoneySense to make better financial decisions."

– Ravi Menon, Managing Director of 

Monetary Authority of Singapore

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 lasting impact

MyMoneySense served Singaporeans for five years (2020-2025), setting new standards for how public services deliver unbiased financial planning support. While the platform has 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 government financial services at scale.

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.

Testimonial

Esther has independently led and driven the UX work for MyMoneySense, in terms of planning and undertaking the user research, and proactively reaching out to other workstreams within the Financial Planning Programme Office and government agencies to explore potential touchpoints.

Throughout the process, she retains clear sight of the high-level objective for the project, prompting the team to assess the learning objectives from the features being considered and prioritised, and how these provide value to our target users.

She has also initiated and led efforts to build stronger coordination between the business and UX teams, such as taking the initiative to set out a features roadmap to facilitate discussion on prioritisation.

— Nina Ee, Senior UX Designer, GovTech

Working Manifesto

Cultivate trust
Approach with care and humility
Understand systems at play

Working Manifesto

Cultivate trust
Approach with care and humility
Understand systems at play

Working Manifesto

Cultivate trust
Approach with care and humility
Understand systems at play