Retirement Guidance Wizard

Brief: TIAA works with many non-profit organizations to help educate their employees in choosing retirement plans.  There are far too many random documents and links about retirement plans and very little guidance around the basics of retirement savings.  Using the multiple resources that TIAA provides, create an interactive experience where users can not only learn about retirement but also self-discover which retirement plan they might want to choose.  This work may serve as a template for many other TIAA clients who may want to provide an easier approach in providing information about their institution’s retirement programs.  

Solution: An interactive retirement tool was created and is currently hosted on the University of Rochester’s retirement benefits page of their website. .  The tool is a retirement guidance wizard providing  guidance from a virtual retirement counselor named Andy. The Wizard allows a user to explore the basics of retirement investing and about the retirement plans available to them.  The tools also makes choosing a plan simple by providing a simple self-assessment quiz which recommends a plan based on their feedback.  

Process:

  • User flow/Pathing: Reviewed and analyzed all of the resource documents available for retirement plans and all retirement information available on TIAA’s website.  Created a hierarchical outline and user journey map to define the navigation for a user to explore this information in an interactive experience.  
  • Ideas & Wireframing: Used icons and temporary visuals to create a clickable wireframe based on the user flow.  
  • Usability Testing: Shared the clickable prototype in an informal testing environment with random participants.
  • Design: Worked with business partners at the University of Rochester to refine the final user flow, designs, and audio script.