Yours in Finance: Theodora Lau

The same questions asked of the people shaping the future of banking and fintech.

Welcome to Yours in Finance, where we are tracking how banking is changing. Once again. Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Venturesresponds to our questionnaire: "This friction keeps me on track.” When everything is on auto pay, “you don't have that moment to pause and check what you have done."

About Theo

Theodora Lau is the founder of Unconventional Ventures, a public speaker, and an advisor. She is the author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (2025), the co-author of The Metaverse Economy (2023) and Beyond Good (2021), and host of One Vision, a podcast on fintech and innovation. Her monthly column on FinTech Futures explores the intersection of financial services, tech, and humanity. She is named one of American Banker’s Most Influential Women in FinTech in 2023. She is a contributor and commentator for top industry events and publications.

The interview is edited for brevity and clarity.

Q&A

What's difficult about managing money?

Oh, that’s tough. I think what's hard about it is we don't really have a good one view of what we have and what our obligations are because think about how many financial relationships we have. I have three bank accounts with one main street bank. And then I have my side fund money with two different fintechs. And then I have a retirement account. I have so many things everywhere. It’s kind of hard to think in one full picture exactly where my assets are. And then, you know, what are my obligations? What are the bills that I need to pay? What are the things I will need to pay? And then, what are the things I need to plan for? So, it's multidimensional.

What do you like about digital banking?

Well, what I love about it is that you can have access to things when you think about them and where you think about them. In the old days, I came from obviously a world where you had to go through the bank branch and you had paper money. You have coins, and you have those things called passbooks. You have to literally note down when you put in what and how much and basically tally it up manually. Now, if I know I need to pay a bill that comes due for a credit card even though I'm halfway around the world, I can just log in and I can get my bill paid. Or, I can just move money and give allowances to the kids anywhere and anytime. Or the other day, when we went shopping, they needed money in their debit card, and I could just move money over. So, the convenience of it is what I like. The accessibility of it is what I like.

What financial habit or behavior are you unwilling to automate?

I don't like to auto pay my credit card bills. I manually go in because this forces me to look through my statement to make sure that there's nothing abnormal, to make sure that I have a mental accounting on how much I've spent and the state of it. And then, looking at how much money I have in my bank account. To do that is extra friction. It’s weird, but I think that friction keeps me on track. Because otherwise when everything is automated, you tap at a retail store and pay. Or, you have subscriptions you sign up for and you don't even think and blink. And then, when you have all of your bulk of purchases being on auto pay, and something coming out from your account automatically, you don't have that moment to pause and check what you have done. And that allows you to, A.), rebudget, if you need to. It's a discipline. And B.), to think, ‘whoa, wait a minute, maybe I don't need this. Maybe I can cancel that. Or maybe I need to dial this back down.’

Because when everything is auto, people say, ‘well, you know, you have an alert.’ I'm like, ‘no, but I need more than that.’ Because you could miss an alert. You could be in the middle of a meeting and you swipe it away and then you don't think about it. And next thing you know, you're negative.

What's a financial decision you'd be happy to outsource to an AI agent?

[She scratches her chin.]

Oh, tax preparation. Oh, my goodness. It's big because I already have an accountant that helps bring everything together because I run my business and you have your typical mortgage and all of that, right? But every year, just bringing all of that information together to tally up the base package before you send it off to the accountant, it’s painful. I would love for the agent to basically bring in, ‘here are all of your business expenses. Right here, your travel. This is how much you've gotten paid from clients from the work. And here is money you put aside for retirement. Here are things to write off, and bring all of that together. That would be so helpful.

What earns the right to be someone's primary financial relationship?

Oh, do we still have those?

I have a quote unquote bank that is my business account that all of the income comes in, but I don't keep anything there. I move things out right away. I move things to my retirement. I move things to my Apple bank because they pay more interest. I move things to Acorns because it auto saves. I auto save all the time. And it allows me to invest.

It's almost like it's a quote unquote primary bank or primary relationship if you will, but it acts more like a hub than anything. The money doesn't stay there because it doesn't earn me anything.

How we work has changed.… you have more independent workers. You have more people that are doing part-time of everything in addition to other work, and you have more small-business owners. And small-business owners, we have a business account. That is, my quote unquote primary, but then I also have a personal bank account that's also my primary.

How do you define a bank?

What a regular consumer would think? Not so much what regulators think, but if that’s somewhere you put money in, somewhere you take money out, somewhere you get your credit card, you pay bills from, it is a bank.

You can say it's not legally a bank, but if people treat it like a bank where you get banking services, then to me it is a bank. I'm gonna get smacked for that.

What's the last thing you bought that you're still thinking about?

I love eating out with a small group of friends like you and I have done rather than a giant happy hour that stresses me out. So, anytime when I get to be able to spend money, small or large, as a way to have a small group of friends together, and chit chat after a conference, that's what I always go back and think about.

So, in the last few years, I've been very intentional about setting up dinners with like three or four people during conferences.

Those are things that bring me back memories. I think it reminds me of why we do what we do. Money is the bridge to bring that experience in, but ultimately, I think fintech is about people. Fintech is about community. It is not about sitting on stage and ‘yada yada, yada.’ It is about having a small group of people that you respect, that you enjoy the company with, to share ideas.

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