Abstract
The financial industry is under a transformational shift to cater to the change in our demographics. Between 2015 and 2050, the ratio among the world’s population over 60 years old will nearly double (from 12% to 22%) according to WHO (World Health Organization) data in 2022. Without a doubt, financial planning involves a series of large, complicated challenges, especially considering different countries' political situations, diverse cultures, various birth rates, ethical issues, healthcare systems, emerging technologies, and economic conditions. The study explores how the usage of interactive, tangible artifacts and services, informed by Human-Centered Design and creative process, could empower people across all stages of life (e.g., pre-retirement, retirement, and post-retirement), as well as providers of financial advice, to introduce new topics and ideas in the planning process and improve the overall financial planning process to increase financial literacy. The study applied participatory observation and interviewed with the tangible artifact to test the concept of the Longevity Planning Block (LPB), a financial planning toolkit consisting of four phases associated with retirement: 1. managing ambiguity, 2. making big decisions, 3. managing complexity, and 4. living solo. These themes were used to map out financial planning services across intergenerational life-stage changes. We suggested four high-level design considerations: empathy, empowerment, experience, and education to improve LPB product design and service innovation with accessible content and provocative questions, interactive format, inspiring visuals, business and service strategies, and immersive user experiences.
Keywords
longevity; human-centered design; participatory design; financial planning
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.172
Citation
Lee, S., Coughlin, J.F., Balmuth, A., Lee, C., Cerino, L., Yang, M., Klopfer, E., de Weck, O.L.,and Ochsendorf, J.(2023) Designing Longevity Planning Blocks through experimental participatory observation and interviews, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.172
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
fullpapers
Included in
Designing Longevity Planning Blocks through experimental participatory observation and interviews
The financial industry is under a transformational shift to cater to the change in our demographics. Between 2015 and 2050, the ratio among the world’s population over 60 years old will nearly double (from 12% to 22%) according to WHO (World Health Organization) data in 2022. Without a doubt, financial planning involves a series of large, complicated challenges, especially considering different countries' political situations, diverse cultures, various birth rates, ethical issues, healthcare systems, emerging technologies, and economic conditions. The study explores how the usage of interactive, tangible artifacts and services, informed by Human-Centered Design and creative process, could empower people across all stages of life (e.g., pre-retirement, retirement, and post-retirement), as well as providers of financial advice, to introduce new topics and ideas in the planning process and improve the overall financial planning process to increase financial literacy. The study applied participatory observation and interviewed with the tangible artifact to test the concept of the Longevity Planning Block (LPB), a financial planning toolkit consisting of four phases associated with retirement: 1. managing ambiguity, 2. making big decisions, 3. managing complexity, and 4. living solo. These themes were used to map out financial planning services across intergenerational life-stage changes. We suggested four high-level design considerations: empathy, empowerment, experience, and education to improve LPB product design and service innovation with accessible content and provocative questions, interactive format, inspiring visuals, business and service strategies, and immersive user experiences.