TALITHA VAUGHAN

PROBLEM

There are striking disparities in American households’ wealth. These wealth gaps are even more conspicuous below age 35. Budgeting is essential for reaching financial goals and achieving a measure of security. But having a lower income, less emergency funds, and decreased access to employer-sponsored retirement plans and investment accounts impedes the ability to budget and save effectively.

These challenges led me to wonder:

• How might we engage more low-income Americans under 35 years of age in budgeting so they can feel rewarded and empowered through saving and investing?

RESEARCH METHODS

I got feedback from an advisor helping me to narrow my scope for participants. I didn't know a lot about this demographic. I didn't understand whether or not they were saving and investing, and what challenges they were facing. I needed to find out what budgeting tools were out there. I also needed to find out what these young adults' financial goals were and if/how they planned to achieve them.

• I created an ecosystem map to understand the available budgeting tools and to identify gaps that existed in assisting people with budgeting.





• I conducted in-depth remote semi-structured interviews with four people in the target audience (Americans below age 35) to learn their feelings toward and experiences with budgeting. I asked questions like:


• Tell me about the last time you implemented a budget.
• How are you currently managing your finances? What apps/tools/software have you tried?
• Is anything/anyone supporting you in your efforts to budget?
• What is your biggest challenge to saving money?
• How might budgeting change your life?
• I conducted remote user tests with four participants to gain general first impressions and to gain feedback on their understanding of my initial lo-fidelity product prototype. I wanted to understand:


• Can people understand the purpose of the app?
• Do they understand how to enter their financial information?
• Do they understand how to continue to engage with the app after logging out?

INSIGHTS

Analysis was done by isolating key themes from participants' interviews. I also plotted feedback insights onto axes to assist in understanding which problems should be addressed in subsequent iterations.

• Budgeting is very personal; there is no one-size fits all approach
• Budgeting takes time to learn
• Major challenges: controlling spending, emergency spending, having a low income
• Ecosystem map revealed need for support, i.e.: motivators, cheerleaders, goals, just-in-time education

PROTOTYPING

These insights were surprising and led me to braistorm many ideas I hadn't anticipated, such as incorporating social media in the budgeting tool. Based on my insights gained, I developed the following requirements for my prototype:

• Connect users with friends and family for support
• Show users how small changes can add up over time
• Allow users to choose and customize their budget
• Offering optional instructional videos





• Encouraging notifications and rewards
• Visual graphing function
• Personalized goals

I tested 4 low-income Americans under 35 years of age. Participants were encouraged to think aloud and describe the purpose of each screen. The task was: “You are trying to save or invest to meet a long-term goal. You will sign up for a personal budgeting tool for help.” After the test, they answered questions about the budgeting tool and their impressions.

• The main takeaway was concern about security: how their data was being stored and used
• Their major concern was customization, users wanted: custom budget categories, custom bank names, custom goals

For the mid-fidelity prototype, user requested greater breadth and depth, as well as greater interaction and visual fidelity. I also addressed security by adding more layers of privacy and detailed information. I addressed customization concerns by adding custom options and editable goals.

REFLECTIONS

My research findings led me in a completely new direction -- using social aspects to increase user participation in budgeting. Moving forward, I would incorporate more gamification elements to incentivize use of the app through fun and competition, while doing more user testing within the target age group. I am interested to see how these users would respond to in-app investment opportunities which are not provided through employers.