About TFI

Empower people to make better financial decisions

About

42% of all EU households, approximately 215 million people, are not financially empowered and have difficulty to make ends meet.1 It is difficult for them to invest in their individual and family’s future, the Think Forward Initiative (TFI) aims to solve this.

The level of income is not the only reason why people might feel squeezed each month. Equally important are the small decisions that people make in their daily lives about how they spend their money. Although small, these decisions have a big impact on their financial well-being. This impact is even more significant when these decisions are not properly thought through and this can adversely affect a person’s financial well-being in the longer term.

1European Union Statistic on Income and Living Conditions (Eurostat, 2017)

The Think Forward Initiative is based on the belief that our society is better off when people make sound financial decisions. TFI’s Research Hub does cutting-edge, data-driven research in social and behavioural sciences to learn more about people’s decision-making. TFI’s Accelerator Hub translates research insights into innovations. It scouts and selects start-ups and supports them to scale faster and helps people to change their behaviour and improve their financial well-being. Lastly, TFI’s Community Hub promotes the activities of the other two hubs through our network of TFI community members, and it launches campaigns to ensure our work reaches the people that need it the most.

TFI sponsors and members

ING, Deloitte, Dell/EMC, Dimension Data, Amazon Web Services, and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) are the core sponsors of the TFI. These sponsors are supported by a network of nearly 1,500 researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, consumer advocates, NGOs, innovators, corporates and influencers who share TFI’s aim to help empower people financially. The TFI is an open collaboration and is always looking for potential new members that can help augment TFI’s positive impact on the financial well-being of people.


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    "Empowering people is very core of ING's purpose. This initiative shows how seriously we believe in that. What really goes on in someones mind, both conscious and subconscious, when making financial decisions? Getting insights into this helps us to help them."

    Ralph Hamers, CEO ING

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    "We recognise the increasing value of data and cutting-edge information technology as key to delivering personalised experiences and enabling smarter financial decisions."

    Adrian McDonald, President EMEA, DELL EMC

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    "Household finance combines insights from several fields to understand how finance can be made to work better for people. The new CEPR Network on Household Finance shares with the TFI the commitment to 'economics in the service of society', making the partnership promising and worthwile."

    Richard Baldwin, President of CEPR

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    "We are proud to be part of the Think Forward Initiative as it accelerates the use of technology to create solutions that help people improve their life or in this case, to help people make better financial decisions."

    Steve van den Heever, Global Director Financial Services, Dimension Data

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    “Deloitte is passionate to contribute its people, skills and experience in changing so many lives in a positive way“.




    Engelhardt Robbe, Partner Deloitte