
Show HN: Net Worth Verification - jonward
https://www.iamhighnetworth.com
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ghego1
I'm sorry to say that I hope that such a product fails for lack of a market.

I dislike the idea that it is of any relevance the net worth of a person to
any means. I would rather prefer to live in a world where the worth of a
person is determined on the basis of his/her actions, words, and intellectual
capabilities.

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greenyoda
I'm curious...

\- What's the business model of this site (how does it make money)?

\- Who do you expect will find it useful? Businesses who want to know whether
I'm creditworthy will run a conventional credit check on me. Who else needs to
know about my net worth?

\- I don't see any information on the site about terms of service (privacy,
etc.). Why should anyone trust you with sensitive financial information such
as their net worth?

Also, many peoples' major positive contributor to their net worth is their
real estate, and a major negative contributor to their net worth is debt such
as student loans. Someone who has $100K in the bank but $200K in debt has a
net worth of -$100K. How can you accurately compute such peoples' net worth by
just using the Plaid API?

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g82918
I am imagining it is a status thing. 90% of my worth is in commercial
businesses with no liquidity. You can't verify that well without months and
months of audits and accounting if my last sale is any gauge.

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jonward
Yes, especially for this v0.1 its a status thing. It's really focused on
relatively liquid assets. But of course, once we master these easy asset
categories and build a product that people want to use, we can work towards
these more complex asset categories.

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g82918
So I am high net worth. One issue is that 1) why would I want people to know.
2) How won't this make me more of a target. The biggest issue since getting
money is family/friends knowing. Why would I use this?

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g82918
Not meant to be a brag. I am honestly wanting answers.

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bastijn
Not the author or related in any form. Maybe if this thing would be accepted
as the verified proof it could back your claim when investing. Speed up the
process a bit as you have immediate proof you have some form of worth.

Problem is of course a single net worth number says nothing about liquidity or
any of the zillion other aspects that you would be required to prove in such a
scenario. Unless the app business model diverts and becomes a tool investors
can use for exactly that issue. I.e. It isn't a net worth tool anymore but a
full investor guarantee/check thing. Not sure how that would work but for sure
many investments end up in nightmares because it turns out the investor didn't
have the actual money they claimed to have to invest.

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g82918
So very recently there was an article about an SAAS provider baremetrics
having to do a ton of due diligence for a buy that never happened. I own parts
of a few properties that aren't publicly traded. Find my net worth(a real
estimate without lawyers and months).

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bastijn
Not sure if you meant this sarcastically, I guess you do. However, if such a
tool would exist, taking away the hassle of due diligence or at least
beforehand (before starting due diligence) prove you are a credible investor
it could save a ton of work. If you had some way of knowing that your due
diligence work and accompanying costs would not go to waste because of the
opposing party not checking out, that would be value. Note it doesn't need to
give an accurate, to the dollar net worth as long as it flags you as credible
investor.

Not saying anything about the complexity of building such a tool.

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g82918
Kinda my point. If he has this tool it is a potential game changer. If not,
why publicize a dumb tool that scavenges my bank account and posts that
publicly? Where would I derive value from that? I basically think the product
is shit, and degrading and worthless at best, but am trying to provide
direction.

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bastijn
I do not think the author had this idea in mind. They got a free business
advice ;).

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g82918
So, I am ideal consumer. High value. I would pay. Why would I use your
service? I own ~$10k dollars USD. I have >2Million <8Billion in stock. How
will you present me?

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jonward
Show the world how much money you have.

Our system is built on top of the plaid api, and we don't store any of your
financial credentials.

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mister_hn
Do you think will users share that information?

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g82918
So I am willing mainly as a form of social currency, a lot of women ask about
money early on. I own a lot of unusual investments and some more conventional
ones. I exist on my more conventional interests, and I would be silly to say
no woman has wanted to know all I own.

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greenyoda
> a lot of women ask about money early on

To me, that would be a signal to break off the relationship. If someone is
only interested in me if my net worth is above a certain number, I'm not
interested in them.

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zozbot234
Maybe they're high net-worth ladies themselves who want to make sure you won't
just be mooching off from them all the time. And they aren't going to tell you
that upfront, either.

