New CASH Smartwatch tracks financial fitness

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ByJonathan Bloom KGO logo
Friday, October 3, 2014
New wristband tracks financial fitness
Fitbits and FuelBands are all the rage, but now there's a wristband for tracking a different kind of fitness -- your financial fitness.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fitbits and FuelBands are all the rage, but now there's a wristband for tracking a different kind of fitness -- your financial fitness. It's a watch that watches your spending.

"Budgeting sucks," said TV finance expert Nicole Lapin. "But so does being broke."

And that's why she created the CASH Smartwatch.

"There is a wearable for just about everything these days," Lapin said. "To calculate your steps, your calories, your sleep. But nothing to calculate your financial health, until now."

There's no email or Facebook, this watch is all about your budget. You type in how much you spend, and what you spend it on. It tells you if you're overspending on pumpkin spice lattes.

"Sure there are apps that do that, but would you actually use it?" Lapin asked. "It's right there on your wrist, so you don't forget that you are on a financial diet."

Now, pretty much anybody could use the watch, but it does come with a downside -- it has a bad habit of telling you things you don't want to hear like your housing and food expenses are over budget for the month.

At $140, it comes with three different straps in one chunky size. It's a bold statement, and experts say it's a bold business move.

"I think it's a great device in terms of a starting point," Wearable World co-founder Kyle Ellicott said.

At less than half the price of the forthcoming Apple Watch, Ellicott said CASH could appeal to a whole different audience.

But as prices fall, he thinks specialized watches and bands will become a thing of the past.

"The endgame over all is I think we're gonna see those fold up into apps," said Ellicott.

But for now, Lapin thinks the simplicity is a selling point. No distractions, just cold, hard reality.

"So you feel the pain every time you type in that $4.75 for a pumpkin spice latte," Lapin said.