Life Event Calculators
Helping people plan their finances
Calculators provide a simple interface to allow consumers to translate their circumstances into actionable information. In 2016, four calculators—life insurance, disability income insurance, college savings, and retirement savings—were re-designed to complement the decision-making process and highlight benefits of MassMutual's products.
I am the product lead on all MassMutual calculator initiatives. I defined user needs, designed interactions, modeled the algorithms, and established the data visualization pattern. I also continue to improve the products using data analytics results.
The four calculators were launched in May 2017.
Project
Concept
Natural language form
While natural language forms are a common pattern for capturing input, I also used them to display output. This provides a great narrative and helps to avoid financial jargon.
Shape data to tell a story
I reviewed and revised the algorithms' data points to explain information from the user's perspective.
Data visualizations
I designed an interactive data visualization for each calculator to allow continuing interaction and instant feedback.
Solution (1 of 4)
How much life insurance do I need?
While many people realize that they need coverage, very few customers know in advance how much life insurance they need to buy. This calculator suggests a coverage amount based on age, income, family composition, and debt. The interaction provides insight by displaying the categories that contribute to the need calculation and allowing users to change them.
Solution (2 of 4)
How much should I save for retirement?
Retirement savings are critical aspect of financial wellbeing, and many workers don't realize they're not saving enough. This calculator helps users understand how much their current savings will provide in retirement, their expected monthly income, and how long their retirement income will last.
Solution (3 of 4)
How much disability income insurance do I need?
Although one in four Americans will experience at least temporary disability at some point in their life, very few people have disability income coverage. This calculator helps users estimate the potential gap in earnings resulting from a disability. It calculates how long their savings would last, and how much coverage would be needed to replace the subsequently lost income.
Solution (4 of 4)
How much do I need to save for college?
For customers with college-bound children, this calculator shows the expected costs of education based on type of school and the age of their children. It visualizes the potential growth and spending of their invested college savings.
Credit Karma, a personal finance website, cited this calculator in their March 2018 guide to the topic.
Development
I helped establish the data dictionary to describe each data piece’s attribute, format and validation. This allowed a clear documentation for developers and QA.
As calculator copies are highly dynamic, I also helped create structure of copy matrix to track conditions and scenario copy.
Impact
In their 2018 report on life insurers, Forrester Research rated MassMutual as having the best overall combination of functionality and user experience. (The Forrester Life Insurance Wave™: US Sales Websites, April 18 2018.)
67% of new newsletter sign up
80% completion rate
9% of people proceed to apply online (life)
Credit Karma cited college calculator
Saved $900k/year