Why I founded moneysherpa

After 20 years creating B2C products and services for big corporates, I've launched a startup, moneysherpa. Empowering people to take control of their money. Here's why.
moneysherpa

Did you know that money & finance is the most frequent source of worry for Irish adults today, more than family or health? [1]

The source of this worry is financial security. Yet when it comes creating that security, Irish investing and pension participation is less than half UK rates. [2,3]

Why? People need to overcome their financial fears and that’s the problem moneysherpa was born to fix.

My story

Whilst I was responsible for financial services for Ireland’s 3rd largest bank PTSB, I was puzzled by this financial in-action. I couldn’t square the number of people with savings earning no returns or on high mortgage rates and the low levels of switching.

It was only years later, when I started consulting for a financial advice firm, that it dawned on me. The problem was a powerful cocktail of two things, fear of finance and friction in the buying journey.

I got to understand their motivation a lot better by talking to people about their finances over a coffee one on one. In these conversations I’d hear the same themes over and over again. 

Savers stuck with earning low returns because they weren’t aware of how to build a portfolio or even better a pension. Mortgage holders sticking with interest rates twice as high as they should be, because they were worried they might lose their house by switching or that the process would be as painful as when they first bought.

Even the people that had overcome this initial fear then found themselves bogged down in tricky choices and paperwork. Giving up before actually making an investment, setting up a pension or switching their mortgage.  

In talking to all kinds of people about their finances, I realised that this fear and friction was driven by lack of clear information, impartial advice and supporting services.

Our solution

Existing financial information in Ireland is too wordy and generic. Advice too expensive and compromised, while support to help customers take action easily?

It simply doesn’t exist.

In other countries like the US & UK, customers have already been empowered to take control of their personal finances by startups like moneysherpa. These countries boast 20% higher financial literacy and double the level of financial engagement seen in Ireland [4].

So we assembled a handpicked team of technologists and financial experts and decided to build moneysherpa, to better support the financial journey of Irish customers.

What makes us different

At moneysherpa we empower people to reach their financial goals. 

Helping them make smarter decisions and then put them into practice.

We do this by delivering 3 things.

  1. The right information, at the right time. We track what people are actually asking and make sure we give a straightforward answer. Using smart Search Engine Optimisation and our team of qualified expert contributors to produce on point content.
  2. Un-compromised free advice. We provide impartial reviews and recommendations on the best approach and financial providers for our customers. Supported by our strictly impartial editorial code so no financial provider gets unfairly promoted. We are also totally transparent who we get paid by, what for and by how much. 
  3. The help they need. We make getting and switching personal finance providers easier. Our on site tools crunch the numbers for you, guiding you to the best rates, the provider most likely to approve your mortgage or working out exactly how much you will really save. Our sherpa customer teams will then guide you through the process of switching mortgage or making an investment over a series of video calls and emails.

Our secret sauce lies in the way we have built our platform from the ground up to solve these challenges for our customers.

moneysherpa.ie about us 3

Our journey

We have talked to hundreds of customers, jumped over all the required regulatory hurdles, built multiple unique tools and services, then spent hours testing and tweaking all the moving parts. Yet we are only just getting started.

Initially we will be focussed on helping people invest and switch their mortgage. Future developments will see us expand to other financial services, including pensions, savings, loans and insurance.

API Cloud

As well as offering our services direct to consumers, we are also able to open up our technology to selected partners using our cloud based architecture.

This will raise the bar for the Irish financial services industry as a whole. We will be announcing our first partners in the coming weeks

What’s next?

If you share our passion to re-shape the personal finance landscape in Ireland, you can follow our progress on our social channels below or by signing up to our newsletter. If you want to suggest a great idea, an article or you are a potential partner you can reach me on [email protected]

If you want to make smarter investment or mortgage choices, you already know where to go ;-).

Check out our recommendations, guides, calculators/tools or set up a video call with a mortgage sherpa to save by switching now here.

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Daire McConnon - mortgage sherpa lead

Need help with your mortgage?

No hassle, in a 15 minute call our mortgage sherpa team will guide you on the journey. 

They will help you borrow, find you the best deal and make the paperwork painless.

Best of all, they are free as they are paid for by the lenders.

Why Us?

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Suzanne Powell
Suzanne Powell
14/03/2023
Lovely to deal with. Sound, honest, unbiased advice with no pressure. They'll tell you what is genuinely best for you. Would highly recommend.
Lee Palmer
Lee Palmer
09/03/2023
Great service. Highly recommended. Couldn't speak more highly of Gavin and team for making the whole experience as seamless as possible. Thanks all who were involved.
Eve Quigley
Eve Quigley
26/02/2023
Cost of living challenges, seeing prices increase daily on everything from utilities, basic essentials and services made me re-evaluate my outgoings and where savings could be had. That included my mortgage, every article I read recommended reaching out to a mortgage expert. I have no regrets in contacting Moneysherpa, I contacted three experts and only they responded. Having delved into the world of mortgages, done my own research I knew my best option would be to stay with my present provider and fix my rate, they concurred and by doing so ultimately wouldn't have made a financial gain on my ask but were still willing to share their invaluable expertise with me and that counts for a lot. They were professional, knowledgeable and offered me sound advice. I have since recommended to family/friends. Thank you Nikki and your team, I appreciate your time and words of wisdom. Best wishes to you and your company.
David O'Shea
David O'Shea
17/02/2023
Daire and the team helped me with a recent mortgage switch. Fantastic service from my first call with Daire through to completion. If you are thinking about switching mortgage then the first thing you should do is contact these guys. I am so glad I did!!
Julie Gleeson
Julie Gleeson
03/02/2023
I was delighted with the service I received from the moneysherpa team. So efficient, friendly and on point with everything. Highly recommended them.
James Grace
James Grace
02/02/2023
I used Moneysherpa when switching my mortgage provider at the end of 2022. Petrina was very helpful when detailing the different options available and working through the process. The online platform for uploading all the various documentation is very user friendly and clearly lists out what is uploaded and still outstanding. Louise then took over for the drawdown stage and answered any questions we had. I would definitely recommend Petrina and the team to anyone planning on switching their mortgage.
Gary Meade
Gary Meade
25/01/2023
Great to see a “modern” mortgage service in Ireland. Everyone knows a mortgage application can be extremely time consuming and document heavy but with everything being “online” made such a difference. Highly recommend Petrina from discussing our options from the outset and any curve balls that came our way during the process. Damian (jacobs law) and Niki in Money Sherpa. Highly recommend. Thanks everyone
Dara Gannon
Dara Gannon
16/01/2023
Had a very informative consultation with Kinga who answered all our questions and gave us sound and impartial advice. Top class service. Thanks!
Brian Carpenter
Brian Carpenter
20/12/2022
Great service...a pleasure to deal with & very prompt with responses to any queries. Would recommend to anyone.
Edwin Nienhuis
Edwin Nienhuis
20/12/2022
Very good service by the MoneySherpa team in helping us switch our mortgage earlier in the year. First an introduction call, explaining the service and next steps in detail followed by the creation of a personalised portal where you can upload all your documents and track the mortgage application process.
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