Making budgeting feel like a game night for Singapore's seniors
Problem
How might we enable seniors in Singapore to be more economically secure?
How might we enable seniors in Singapore to be more economically secure?
With Singapore’s rapidly aging population, the percentage of low-income elderly are increasing year by year. Today, 1 in 4 elderly continue to stay in the workforce. Nearly 40% of elderly earn less than $1,379 - the minimum amount required for a basic standard of living. In a study by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the relative poverty rate amongst the working elderly has jumped from 13% in 1995 to 41% in 2011.
With Singapore’s rapidly aging population, the percentage of low-income elderly are increasing year by year. Today, 1 in 4 elderly continue to stay in the workforce. Nearly 40% of elderly earn less than $1,379 - the minimum amount required for a basic standard of living.
INSIGHTS
Yet elderly do not care about managing their finances
55% of retirees don't track their spending; only 19% monitor it closely. The gap isn't ability, it's motivation and habit. As Uncle Lim from Bedok put it, staying thrifty is enough; active budgeting isn't something most elderly see the point of.
INSIGHTS
Yet elderly do not care about managing their finances
55% of retirees don't track their spending; only 19% monitor it closely. The gap isn't ability, it's motivation and habit. As Uncle Lim from Bedok put it, staying thrifty is enough; active budgeting isn't something most elderly see the point of.
Making budgeting feel like a game night for Singapore's seniors
Insights
Yet elderly do not care about managing their finances
55% of retirees don't track their spending; only 19% monitor it closely. The gap isn't ability, it's motivation and habit. As Uncle Lim from Bedok put it, staying thrifty is enough; active budgeting isn't something most elderly see the point of.
Solution
Making them care by making it social
During interviews, we found that elderly participants spent the most time and money socializing over shared meals - they were, above all, seeking social connection. Introducing Belanja Belanja: a simulation game that helps seniors practice everyday budgeting habits. Rather than treating financial planning as a solitary chore, Belanja Belanja combines what they need - better financial planning - with what they actually want: companionship.
More than a game, it's part of an overarching system that aims to raise the standard of living among the elderly through a holistic approach. Sessions would be held at community centers, in partnership with social welfare organisations such as Touch Community Services and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), alongside financial literacy booths - including NTUC Income offering guidance on the spot.
The initiative would target elderly-dense neighbourhoods such as Bedok, Clementi, and Ang Mo Kio.
Research
CONTEXT
Singapore's elderly are living longer, but not always more securely - financial precarity that stays hidden behind pride, independence, and a national narrative of self-sufficiency sociologist Teo You Yenn echoed.
Singapore's elderly are living longer, but not always more securely - financial precarity that stays hidden behind pride, independence, and a national narrative of self-sufficiency sociologist Teo You Yenn echoed.
Sessions would be held at community centers, in partnership with social welfare organisations such as Touch Community Services and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), alongside financial literacy booths - including NTUC Income offering guidance on the spot.
The initiative would target elderly-dense neighbourhoods such as Bedok, Clementi, and Ang Mo Kio.
Using a human-centered design approach, secondary research was combined with semi-structured interviews - speaking directly with elderly participants, as well as stakeholder interviews with practitioners like Hazeem, founder of A Little Change - to ground our understanding in both lived experience and on-the-ground expertise.
The result looks less like a budgeting tool, and more like something worth sitting down to play.
Interviews surfaced three intersecting needs. It's at the overlap of these three; social, independent, but financially unsupported that the real opportunity sits: elderly don't care about managing their finances, but they do care about connection and independence. Combine the two, and financial literacy stops being an ask and becomes a byproduct.
The intervention then has to become social first, financial second - a reason to gather, that happens to teach budgeting along the way.
Using a human-centered design approach, secondary research was combined with semi-structured interviews - speaking directly with elderly participants, as well as stakeholder interviews with practitioners like Hazeem, founder of A Little Change - to ground our understanding in both lived experience and on-the-ground expertise.
Design process
Mahjong is almost a national game among Singapore's elderly. Inspired by that, we designed a gameplay that reenacts their everyday spending across five overarching categories - drinks, meals, transport, leisure, and health - built into a deck of cards and a notebook for players to track their choices. The branding reflects Singapore's tiles and colorful visual culture, incorporating illustration and multilingual translations throughout.
Mahjong is almost a national game among Singapore's elderly. Inspired by that, we designed a gameplay that reenacts their everyday spending across five overarching categories - drinks, meals, transport, leisure, and health - built into a deck of cards and a notebook for players to track their choices.
The branding reflects Singapore's tiles and colorful visual culture, incorporating illustration and multilingual translations throughout.
The result looks less like a budgeting tool, and more like something worth sitting down to play.
Interviews surfaced three intersecting needs. It's at the overlap of these three; social, independent, but financially unsupported that the real opportunity sits: elderly don't care about managing their finances, but they do care about connection and independence. Combine the two, and financial literacy stops being an ask and becomes a byproduct.
The intervention then has to become social first, financial second - a reason to gather, that happens to teach budgeting along the way.
SOLUTION
Making them care by making it social
During interviews, we found that elderly participants spent the most time and money socializing over shared meals.
Introducing Belanja Belanja: a simulation game that helps seniors practice everyday budgeting habits. Rather than treating financial planning as a solitary chore, Belanja Belanja combines what they need - better financial planning - with what they actually want: companionship.
Next steps
Jalan-Jalan was designed and prototyped as a conceptual solution, not yet tested in the field with seniors. If piloted, I'd want to measure:
Habit change - whether players' notebooks showed more consistent spending-tracking after repeated sessions, comparing entries from an early game to a later one.
Voluntary return - whether players chose to play again unprompted, as a proxy for genuine engagement rather than obligation or politeness.
Social spillover - whether the community formed around the game translated into real-world behavior, like neighbors checking in on each other's budgeting or sharing money-saving tips outside of gameplay.
Comprehension, not just participation - whether players could explain why they made a particular buy/save decision during play, to distinguish real financial reasoning from simply following game rules.
Jalan-Jalan was designed and prototyped as a conceptual solution, not yet tested in the field with seniors. If piloted, I'd want to measure:
Habit change - whether players' notebooks showed more consistent spending-tracking after repeated sessions, comparing entries from an early game to a later one.
Voluntary return - whether players chose to play again unprompted, as a proxy for genuine engagement rather than obligation or politeness.
Social spillover - whether the community formed around the game translated into real-world behavior, like neighbors checking in on each other's budgeting or sharing money-saving tips outside of gameplay.
Comprehension, not just participation - whether players could explain why they made a particular buy/save decision during play, to distinguish real financial reasoning from simply following game rules.
SOLUTION
Making them care by making it social
During interviews, we found that elderly participants spent the most time and money socializing over shared meals - they were, above all, seeking social connection. Introducing Belanja Belanja: a simulation game that helps seniors practice everyday budgeting habits. Rather than treating financial planning as a solitary chore, Belanja Belanja combines what they need - better financial planning - with what they actually want: companionship.
thanks for everyone who we interviewed! (more unpictured)
More than a game, it's part of an overarching system that aims to raise the standard of living among the elderly through a holistic approach. Sessions would be held at community centers, in partnership with social welfare organisations such as Touch Community Services and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), alongside financial literacy booths - including NTUC Income offering guidance on the spot.
The initiative would target elderly-dense neighbourhoods such as Bedok, Clementi, and Ang Mo Kio.
RESEARCH
CONTEXT
Singapore's elderly are living longer, but not always more securely - financial precarity that stays hidden behind pride, independence, and a national narrative of self-sufficiency sociologist Teo You Yenn echoed.
Using a human-centered design approach, secondary research was combined with semi-structured interviews - speaking directly with elderly participants, as well as stakeholder interviews with practitioners like Hazeem, founder of A Little Change - to ground our understanding in both lived experience and on-the-ground expertise.
Interviews surfaced three intersecting needs. It's at the overlap of these three; social, independent, but financially unsupported that the real opportunity sits: elderly don't care about managing their finances, but they do care about connection and independence. Combine the two, and financial literacy stops being an ask and becomes a byproduct.
The intervention then has to become social first, financial second - a reason to gather, that happens to teach budgeting along the way.
Mahjong is almost a national game among Singapore's elderly. Inspired by that, we designed a gameplay that reenacts their everyday spending across five overarching categories - drinks, meals, transport, leisure, and health - built into a deck of cards and a notebook for players to track their choices. The branding reflects Singapore's tiles and colorful visual culture, incorporating illustration and multilingual translations throughout.
design process
The result looks less like a budgeting tool, and more like something worth sitting down to play.
Jalan-Jalan was designed and prototyped as a conceptual solution, not yet tested in the field with seniors. If piloted, I'd want to measure:
Habit change - whether players' notebooks showed more consistent spending-tracking after repeated sessions, comparing entries from an early game to a later one.
Voluntary return - whether players chose to play again unprompted, as a proxy for genuine engagement rather than obligation or politeness.
Social spillover - whether the community formed around the game translated into real-world behavior, like neighbors checking in on each other's budgeting or sharing money-saving tips outside of gameplay.
Comprehension, not just participation - whether players could explain why they made a particular buy/save decision during play, to distinguish real financial reasoning from simply following game rules.
NEXT STEPS
thanks for everyone who we interviewed! (more unpictured)
thanks for everyone who we interviewed! (more unpictured)
Making budgeting feel like a game night for Singapore's seniors
YEAR
2020
team
toby gail lim
