🚩 "Does this exist?" — a service that pays you a monthly allowance from your own lump sum

Pain point

People don't trust themselves not to blow a lump sum and explicitly want external spending guardrails. **Flagged highest-value signal: the post is literally a "does X exist?" request.** An advisor's anecdote about a widow burning ~$2M (44 upvotes) confirms the unmet need; top answer was "annuities," immediately qualified by "I generally don't like annuities."

Signal

Moderate volume (~22 upvotes) but extremely high intent — explicit demand for a product, with the only named incumbent (annuities) rejected by commenters including the one recommending it.

Opportunity

"Self-imposed allowance" account: lump sum in a HYSA/T-bill ladder, automated fixed monthly disbursement to checking, with friction on early withdrawal (48-hr delay, named accountability contact, or trustee co-sign). Essentially a consumer-grade spendthrift trust. *Feasibility: hard — needs a banking partner (BaaS), and the "friction" feature has real regulatory/UX constraints. Lightweight v1: an app that orchestrates transfers from existing accounts + accountability nudges.*

Evidence

• Allowance service