The FAQs are broken down into four categories – General, How It Works, Sign Up, and Security—to give you quick and easy answers to the Banking team’s questions and to your clients’.
I. GENERAL FAQs
What is TILE?
Why do people want to use TILE?
Why is this important?
How is SpendGrowGive.com different from other financial sites?
What’s the connection between TILE and Citi Private Bank?
I have further questions – where do I go for help?
II. HOW IT WORKS FAQs
How does it work?
Do the Parents/Funders just give money and that’s it?
Can the funder see the same thing as the Member? What about the banking team?
Who is responsible for what when it comes to member support?
How do I handle investment requests from a member?
What do I do when a Funder requests a change in their Member’s allocation?
How does TILE categorize the Member’s Spend transactions?
Is there trading from the site?
So TILE is “read-only?”
How do I delete or cancel a TILE account?
Where can I send feedback or report a bug?
Can I access the complete TILE Library?
III. SIGN-UP FAQs
How do Banking teams sign up?
What is the process for signing up clients to use TILE?
How many accounts, and of what type, does the Member need?
Do they really need all three accounts to get going?
Why does TILE need information such as academic level to sign up a Member?
What about accounts for the Funder?
Why does the Member need their Client Website credentials?
IV. SECURITY FAQs
Is the account information secure?
How does TILE deal with privacy issues?
How does TILE work for minors of “in trust” accounts?
We are discussing client information here. Is that okay?
How does TILE vet its nonprofit partners?
I. GENERAL FAQs
What is TILE?
TILE stands for The Investing Learning Environment. Its online tool, SpendGrowGive, is designed to engage and educate the next generation about the benefits and responsibilities of wealth.
Young people in the TILE community learn firsthand how to manage their money, invest for the future, and give back through charitable donations. In partnership with financial institutions, trusted experts, and parents, SpendGrowGive is the path to a thoughtful and independent financial identity.
Why do people want to use TILE?
TILE represents a whole new way of thinking about finance. In addition to a robust financial platform that uses real financial data, SpendGrowGive is filled with games, articles, video shorts, and exclusive interviews specifically designed to engage young people in learning financial concepts and developing their financial identities.
Central to the TILE experience is intergenerational communication. The system is designed to promote dialogue and enhance understanding between young adults and parents, between parents and bankers, and between bankers and their next gen clients.
Bankers can both communicate with their existing clients about their favorite subject (their kids!) and develop relationships with the next generation of HNW and UHNW clients.
Parents can feel confident that their children are learning the financial ropes in a safe environment that they actually enjoy visiting. They can also keep an eye on where their child’s allowance is going every month.
Young adults finally have a place to learn about money without being talked down to, misinformed, or put to sleep. The site is both informative and fun – educational content informs and entertains, while budgeting tools and one-click giving engage. They can begin to feel the responsibilities of wealth by managing money by themselves, and benefit from increased access to their private banker.
Why is this important?
There is a gap between private bankers and the next generation of investors: Private bankers have limited connection, if any, to the young adults who stand to inherit approximately $1.5 trillion in assets in the next 10 to 15 years. Today, 90% of young investors change private bankers when the assets change hands.
There is a gap between parents and grandparents, and their young adults: It’s difficult to talk to, much less teach, young adults about the benefits and responsibilities of wealth. Money can be taboo. Parents may think, “Where did the cash go?” “Why don’t I trust them with their trust?” “Why don’t they give money to charity?” but find it hard to discuss.
There is a gap between young adults and financial understanding: Young adults want to take control of their finances, but there are very few interactive and relevant resources that connect their daily lives with their “financial lives.” Financial resources tend to be written in Wall Street jargon – not in a language or medium young people relate to.
TILE was founded at the intersection of financial institutions, parents, and the next generation to bridge these gaps.
How is SpendGrowGive.com different from other financial sites?
There are plenty of sites that have attempted to make finance interesting for young people. The problem is that finance isn’t interesting to young people. TILE takes a different approach by communicating essential ideas in a tone and medium young people can relate to, personalizing and contextualizing dry concepts. There’s an invaluable emphasis on real-life practice. And there are a variety of ways to learn on SpendGrowGive.com; Members can simply learn by doing or by playing games, reading articles, watching videos, or asking questions.
While content is exclusive to Members, parents and bankers each have their own login so they can see Member data, from balances to specific transactions (depending on the member’s privacy settings).
Importantly, TILE is not selling anything; there are no ads anywhere on the site. This creates a safe, conflict-free environment where members can explore their financial identities.
What’s the connection between TILE and Citi Private Bank?
Citi Private Bank is the first pilot user and the first institution to be able to offer SpendGrowGive to its clients.
I have further questions – where do I go for help?
Banking teams should contact Christina Polcari or Betsy Eisenberg at TILE (christina@tilefinancial.com/ betsy@tilefinacial.com/ 877-311-TILE), or CPB colleagues Robyn Burger (212-559-3179) or Peter Gaudry (212-559-8686).
Parents and young adults can visit tilefinancial.com to learn more, and contact us at (877) 311-TILE or ask@tilefinancial.com.
II. HOW IT WORKS FAQs
How does it work?
Parents (known as ‘Funders’) will regularly transfer funds to their children (known as ‘Members’) through their private banking team. There will be a set amount transferred for SPENDING (linked to a DDA with debit card), an amount for GROWING (linked to an investment account), and an amount for GIVING (linked to a DDA, no debit).
As the Member transacts and invests, that information will display on the Client Website. TILE receives that information and allocates the transactions to the SPENDING, GROWING, GIVING categories. The Funder will then work with the private banking team to set up transfers through ACH requests.
Do the Parents/Funders just give money and that’s it?
No – keep in mind the goal is to facilitate a dialogue and education between the private banking team, clients, and their children about the responsibilities and benefits of wealth. The Member, the Funder, and the Private Banker each have their own logins to TILE so everyone is on the same page. One catch though – the Member determines how much of their information the Parent and private banking team can see.
Can the Funder see the same information as the Member? What about the Banking team?
The Member decides how much information they want to share with their Funder and Banker:
· Basic: View monthly balances for the Member’s SPEND, GROW, and GIVE accounts
· A Little: “Basic” plus total monthly activity broken down into subcategories
· A Little More: “A Little” plus details for each transaction that month
· A Lot: “A Little More” plus comparison data (aggregated from peer users of Spend Grow Give) of the Member’s SPEND, GROW, and GIVE accounts
The setting is determined by the Member on the Privacy page. Banker teams have the same access as the Funders, except the Banker always has full access to the Member’s GROW information.
Who is responsible for what when it comes to Member support?
As a Banker, you are responsible for addressing any issues relating to the Member/ Funder’s source accounts. Opening and closing accounts, changing transfer amounts or frequency, and investment execution are all on you. TILE takes care of everything else. Any problems related to the website or the information it displays should be directed to us. If you’re not sure, go ahead and Ask TILE.
How do I handle investment requests from a Member?
You don’t have to do anything different when a Member requests an investment transaction. Simply process the trade as usual, and we will automatically see the transaction and update the Member’s account. For investment transactions (unline allocation changes), you don’t need to update the member settings at all.
What do I do when a Funder requests a change in their Member’s allocation?
You should treat most financial requests that come from SPEND. GROW. GIVE. the same way you treat any other requests from your clients. Once the change has been made on your end, just go into Edit Member Settings to reflect the change in your client’s SPEND. GROW. GIVE account. That way, Funders and Members can see the change right on their account pages.
How does TILE categorize the Member’s Spend transactions?
TILE automatically categorizes the Member’s debit and credit card transactions to make it easy for the Member to see where they’re spending their money. Transaction details can be tedious to read on most banking sites (and monthly statements). For instance, while an expense transaction on a bank statement might read “POS SBX X89G NY NY 12.38,” TILE automatically records it instead as “Starbucks for $12.38” and files it under Food.
Is there trading from the site?
No.
So TILE is “read-only?”
Yes, basically. TILE will only display information from Citi’s online banking network. The one area where Members can transact through TILE is the GIVE section. They can donate to charities directly through SpendGrowGive.com, and the amounts given will be tracked against their GIVE budget.
How do I delete or cancel a TILE account?
To delete or cancel a TILE Funder or Member, please email banker@tilefinancial.com.
Where can I send feedback or report a bug?
We’d love to hear from you. You can submit any questions, comments, or bugs through Ask TILE – we check the messages regularly.
Can I access the complete TILE Library?
The TILE Library is currently only accessible to members – they’re the ones doing most of the learning, after all! As a Banker, you can view our latest blog entries and recent “TILE Cools” – links to stuff on the Internet we really like.
III. SIGN UP FAQs
How do Banking teams sign up?
Banking teams will receive a login from Peter Gaudry. To begin, simply go to www.spendgrowgive.com and enter the team’s login.
What is the process for signing up clients to use TILE?
TILE recommends that private bankers approach the client first to start the conversation about their young adult and investments. Use the “How To Talk to Your Client About TILE” PDF as a reference to frame your conversation with the client and tee them up for the sign-up process.
Once there is interest, and the client says, “Sign me up!” you can prompt them for the basic information you’ll need to get started. Then your team’s TILE point person will follow up with the client to facilitate the sign-up process using the “Client Sign-Up Checklist.”
How many accounts, and of what type, does the Member need?
Each Member needs 3 Citi accounts:
· 1 DDA for SPEND which links to a debit card; a linked credit card is optional
· 1 15F/13K Private Bank investment account for GROW
· 1 DDA for GIVE (no debit card)
Do they really need all three accounts to get going?
Research shows that young adults care about all three aspects of their financial lives equally. That’s the philosophy TILE is rooted in and it’s why we consider all three accounts essential to the experience. For those who feel they don’t need part of the site’s functionality, we would encourage them to try it – they may be surprised at how their young adults react.
Why does TILE need information such as academic level to sign up a Member?
Members can compare their Spending and Giving habits with other Members in the TILE community. Some basic information, such as age group and academic level, are used for these comparisons.
What about accounts for the Funder?
The Funder needs one bank account from which to transfer funds to the Member’s three destination accounts. Wire or ACH transfers to each must be set up by the Client or Banking team.
Why does the Member need their Client Website credentials?
Members will need their CitiPrivateBank.com and/or Citi.com IDs, passwords, and answers to their security questions to complete their initial log-on to Spend Grow Give.com. This authenticates their accounts and ensures that TILE can populate the site with their transaction data and account information. Without this information, they will not be able to begin using the site the first time they log in.
IV. SECURITY FAQs
Is the account information secure?
Account information is transferred from Citi to TILE via Yodlee Inc., which provides this service to major financial institutions (including CPB) and consumer financial websites. This means TILE can access Member accounts and data without ever storing the client’s password, decreasing potential security risks. Additionally, TILE engages iSecPartners and VeriSign Consulting (now part of ATT) to conduct more formal security audits and penetration testing.
How does TILE deal with privacy issues?
Privacy is at the forefront of TILE’s design and focus. TILE has achieved the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal, which tells Members their personal data is treated with confidentiality. TILE complies with TRUSTe’s program requirements, which are based upon the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Information Principles. See the Privacy Policy at https://demo.tilefinancial.com/about/privacy-policy.
How does TILE work for minors of “in trust” accounts?
Members under 18 can use “in trust” accounts as the underlying Citi accounts. Also, they may use a joint account they may have with their Funder. There is no trading directly from the TILE platform. Members will execute investment decisions with help from their Funder and Private Banker. Within TILE, the GROW account is read-only. TILE facilitates a Member’s ability to see what’s inside the portfolio, but the fiduciary relationship and execution capability remains with Citi Private Bank.
We are discussing client information here. Is that okay?
The CPB account opening agreements specify that Citi may offer additional services to benefit clients and as such may occasionally share information to those service providers. TILE qualifies as an added beneficial service to our clients. Also, CPB’s legal team has formed and executed contractual agreements with TILE to ensure any information shared is held in the strictest of confidence. You will also notice disclaimers that were approved by CPB legal throughout the TILE website
How does TILE vet its nonprofit partners?
TILE requires partner nonprofits to have 501(c)3 status, a minimum annual operating budget of $1M, a track record of successful past performance, and a secular scope. Before establishing an official partnership, we work with the organization to achieve a joint understanding of how it can specifically engage young TILE donors, especially with new media and exclusive content. We have partnered with ten charities for our beta launch, all of which fall within one of our five Cause categories: Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights, and Poverty.