Personal Finance Meets Mindfulness: Alka Launches First Financial Mindfulness App in AppStore

Alka brings a much-needed breath of fresh air to the personal finance industry

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Jul 09, 2019, 07:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, July 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Alka launches its new app today that merges personal finance with emotional wellness. In its unique take on building awareness around personal finance, Alka uses beautiful animations and a mindful design strategy to encourage people to take a deep breath and approach their finances in a calmer and more mindful emotional state. By building non-judgmental awareness around personal finance, Alka aims to help people overcome financial stress and create healthier, more positive associations with their money.

Alka has made building a healthy connection to one's financial accounts a soothing experience, complete with beautiful animations and clean design. Alka allows users to be more aware of their finances by sending a notification whenever there is activity in one of their accounts, along with a calming interface to review daily transactions from all of their accounts in one place. A customizable Smart Balance (debit minus credit and monthly expenses) enables users to make conscious financial decisions without fear of unintentionally overspending.

Over half (54%) of Americans report feeling anxious about their finances. Not only does anxiety take an emotional toll, it commonly triggers avoidant behavior that makes it impossible to tackle the root problems. According to Alice Boyes Ph.D., in Psychology Today, "Avoidance coping causes anxiety to snowball because when people use avoidance coping they typically end up experiencing more of the very thing they were trying to escape." In personal finance, avoidance means ignoring stressful bills or avoiding bank accounts out of fear of a low balance. This can lead to unintentional overspending, complete unawareness of fraudulent account activity and hundreds of dollars spent on forgotten subscriptions.

Mindfulness is an increasingly popular practice that Americans are turning to for overcoming anxiety and avoidance. Mindfulness-based stress reduction focuses on six core principles: mental and physical awareness, emotional composure during major life changes, non-judgmental observation in daily life, intentionality in each moment, accessing inner resources for healing and stress management, and mindfulness meditation. Alka has designed its product to align and support users in each of these areas as they navigate their daily personal finances.

"The most successful products take into account the emotional state of the user. If I can design a product that allows someone to manage their financial life without feeling discouraged, I know I've done my job," says Danny Smith, Alka's co-founder.

By continuing to build awareness-enhancing features like Smart Balance and electing to not focus on classic budgeting tools that often trigger self-judgment and avoidance, Alka offers a rare opportunity to solve some of the deeper emotional struggles that keep Americans from moving ahead and living fulfilling financial lives.

To find out more about Alka and the company's story, visit https://alka.app.

Press Contact:

Danny Smith
(615) 326-5157
[email protected]