Only around half of Americans have savings in retirement accounts, and even fewer have a plan in place to help them meet their retirement goals. Plans can help determine income targets, evaluate spending expectations, and create a vision around one’s ideal retirement lifestyle. This case study identifies common barriers that customers face when creating a retirement plan in the current experience, and proposes a new path to planning centered on ease and longterm engagement.

The existing planning flow takes users through a multi-step onboarding process, presents estimates based off of the inputs gathered during onboarding, and concludes on the retirement plan page. On this page, users can review their information and projected income and expenses, and take steps to refine their plan. 

We know that customers who create a plan with an advisor tend to have high confidence in the value and accuracy of their plan, but self-directed users often feel that the analysis they get does not accurately reflect their situation. How might we quickly connect customers with value, give them retirement estimates they can trust, and show them how best to take action on their plan?

Our business goal is to engage the 3.1m households who are <59 years old and non-planners. Our target user Kelly exemplifies this user profile. She lives in Colorado with her husband Tom and two kids. She’s the primary financial planner in her household. Without an advisor’s help, she’s not confident that she’s making the right financial decisions for her and her family. Primarily, she wants to know that their current savings and ongoing contributions will afford them the life they want to live when they retire.

(Need text here) We know that customers who create a plan with an advisor tend to have high confidence in the value and accuracy of their plan, but self-directed users often feel that the analysis they get does not accurately reflect their situation. How might we quickly connect customers with value, give them retirement estimates they can trust, and show them how best to take action on their plan?

The future vision targets the following KPIs: 

• Drive more engagement from the homepage by creating a one-step onboarding process.
  
• Encourage re-engagement through scenario modelling, creating a bridge between analysis and next steps.
  
• Maintain updated personal information (household details, retirement age, accounts).
  
• Convert self-led users to managed accounts when users feel ready to establish an advisor relationship.