MyBetterRates — Strategic Plan

Last Updated: 2026-04-03

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Mission

Help average Canadians stop leaving money on the table with inertia savings rates — and fund cancer research with 50% of every dollar earned.

The loop:

1. Canadian earns 0.010% at their Big 6 bank by default (“inertia rate”)
2. MBR shows them the delta: +2.74% = $2,740/yr more per $100k
3. Canadian switches to EQ Bank or similar via MBR
4. MBR earns a referral fee
5. 50% of that fee funds cancer research (Cancer50Pledge)

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Positioning

For: Canadian retail investors with liquid savings sitting in Big 6 bank accounts earning near-zero interest.

Problem: Account inertia — most Canadians never switch because switching feels complex, risky, or not worth the effort.

Solution: MBR reduces friction to near zero (1-click comparison, personalized benefit snapshot, guided transfer flow), quantifies the benefit in real dollars, and earns a referral fee only when the client acts.

Differentiation:

• Cancer50Pledge — 50% of profits to cancer research, forever. Documented, public. Not marketing copy — verified annually.
• Client-first revenue model — MBR only earns if the client benefits. No conflict of interest.
• Live data — Automated daily rate scraping, not stale spreadsheets.

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Constraints

• Solo operator (Talbot) — all automation, no hired staff at Phase A/B
• Canada-only (regulatory, CDIC, provincial restrictions)
• Referral model only — not a licensed financial advisor, not selling products directly
• No client data storage at Phase A/B (static widget, no auth, no accounts)

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Plan

Phase A — Rate Intelligence + Proof of Concept (COMPLETE)

Goal: Prove the core claim with live, automated data. Build the Benefit Snapshot widget.

Deliverables:

• Rate scanner: automated daily pipeline for 8 sources, SQLite storage, change detection
• rates.json export with reference_only distinction (benchmarks vs. recommendations)
• Benefit Snapshot widget deployed at benefit-snapshots.pages.dev
• Cancer50Pledge.ca scaffold deployed at cancer50pledge.pages.dev

Status: Complete. Cron running daily at 06:00 ET.

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Phase A→B — Live Site + Threshold Alerts (NOW)

Goal: Launch mybetterrates.com with the widget embedded. Build the alert engine so users can opt into rate-change notifications.

Deliverables:

1. mybetterrates.com — SvelteKit static site (Cloudflare Pages)

   • Benefit Snapshot widget embedded on homepage
   • Rate table with all recommended products
   • Cancer50Pledge story + link to cancer50pledge.ca

2. Hassle-engine — core threshold algorithm

   • Reads rate_changes from SQLite
   • Evaluates user-defined thresholds (“alert me if my bank rate drops” or “alert me if EQ Bank goes above X%”)
   • Returns alert payloads (no delivery yet)

3. Cancer50Pledge.ca Phase B

   • Custom domain (cancer50pledge.ca)
   • Pledge form with email capture (Google Sheets backend)
   • Analytics (Fathom or Plausible)

4. Custom domains

   • snapshot.mybetterrates.com → benefit-snapshots widget
   • cancer50pledge.ca → Cancer50Pledge site

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Phase B — Notification Delivery + Basic Transfer Flow

Goal: Close the loop from “alert” to “action.”

Deliverables:

1. Notifications — Email delivery of rate-change alerts (SendGrid or similar)
2. Push notifications — Web push for opted-in users
3. 1-Click Transfer (Concierge v1) — Pre-filled form generator for institution transfers; KYC storage; DocuSign integration

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Phase C — Financial Intelligence

Goal: Personalized financial context beyond savings rates.

Deliverables:

• Financial IQ Score — simple self-assessment tool
• Net Worth Thermometer — quick snapshot of balance sheet health
• Concierge v2 — full guided transfer with document storage and progress tracking

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Phase D — Passive Surveillance

Goal: Background rate monitoring without user effort.

Deliverables:

• Browser extension — detects when user is on a bank site, overlays current rate vs. best alternative in real time

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Key Technology Decisions

Layer	Choice	Notes
Rate scraping	Python + curl_cffi + Playwright	curl_cffi preferred for TLS fingerprinting; Playwright fallback
Storage	SQLite (insert-only rows)	Full audit trail; rate history queryable
Package manager	uv (Python), pnpm (Node)	GlobalDevRules standard
Web framework	SvelteKit + adapter-static	Deployed to Cloudflare Pages
Hosting	Cloudflare Pages	Free tier, edge CDN, wrangler CLI deploy
Analytics	Fathom or Plausible	Privacy-first; no cookie banner
Email delivery	TBD (Phase B)	SendGrid, Resend, or Postmark

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Cancer50Pledge Integration

The Cancer50Pledge is not a marketing gimmick — it is a structural commitment:

• 50% of MBR net profits donated to cancer research organizations, forever
• Allocations verified and published annually on cancer50pledge.ca
• Modeled on Giving What We Can (GWWC) pledge structure
• Talbot is a cancer survivor (diagnosed 2022); the pledge was made during treatment

The pledge differentiates MBR in a commodity market. Every dollar a Canadian earns by switching through MBR contributes to cancer research. This is the “why” behind the referral model.