Blog - Retiremap

Retiremap 2.0 Released After 10 Month Collaboration with Duke University and Renowned Behavioral Economist

September 10, 2016/in Press release /by Eva

SAN FRANCISCO, September 8, 2016 — After an intensive 10 month product and research collaboration with Duke University’s Common Cents Lab, Retiremap is relaunching its financial wellness platform. The new vision for Retiremap 2.0 is based on a close collaboration with renowned behavioral economist, NY Times bestselling author, Wall Street Journal columnist and James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, Dan Ariely.

To learn more about Retiremap 2.0 and the new research-backed platform, attend the launch webinar on Thursday, September 22nd at 11am Pacific:

http://RetiremapHQ.com/New

“We usually think that the best cure for bad financial decisions is financial literacy. Just teach people, and all will be solved. Sadly this is not the case, and even worse, the evidence is that financial literacy’s effectiveness is close to zero.” said Professor Dan Ariely. “What we need is a system that takes the complexity of financial decision making, breaks it into actionable components, and coaches us on taking one step at a time. This is what Retiremap is designed to do.”

“Retiremap 2.0 is much more than a financial wellness program- it is a technology platform that works to improve financial well-being using key insights from the field of behavioral economics. We have created a personalized communications platform that coaches employees based on what research tells us works in real life,” said Matt Iverson, CEO at Retiremap. “Retiremap 2.0 uses employees’ data to deeply personalize their path to financial wellness, while automating and scaling many of the most impactful aspects of advisor-employee interactions, including confidence-building, trust and the perception of value. Additionally, in the situations where it makes sense, employees can easily connect live with their retirement plan advisor through any number of channels.”

Retiremap 2.0 will be made available to only a very limited group of retirement plan advisory firms. The selection process will be announced on the September 22nd webinar. In additional to exclusive access to Retiremap 2.0, selected firms will be able to demonstrate financial wellness thought leadership with exclusive access to some of Duke and Retiremap’s key research findings.

RETIREMAP 2.0’S NEW BENEFITS

The Retiremap 2.0 platform empowers employers and advisors to deliver:

Personalized, automated financial wellness coaching covering a range of needs, including getting out of debt and buying a home
An easy and efficient way for employees to connect live with their plan advisors
A research-backed model for behavior change
Dramatically increased scale and efficiency
Unique strategies to boost financial confidence and close the intention-action gap
Just-in-time messaging via email, SMS, online and in-app, as well as through channels such as Facebook and Twitter
Real-time, plan sponsor level analytics and reporting

“There are no financial wellness programs that come anywhere close to what we’ve built with Duke’s Common Cents Lab and Professor Ariely,” said Iverson. “The combination of Retiremap 2.0’s automated technology and sophisticated use of behavioral economics results in a program to close the employee intention-action gap. Advisory firms that are invested in improving employees’ financial lives and growing through access to a unique, research-backed financial wellness program should attend Retiremap 2.0’s launch webinar.”

About Retiremap

Retiremap (RetiremapHQ.com) is a research-backed financial wellness platform designed with Duke University and renowned Professor Dan Ariely to help employees achieve their financial goals. Unlike existing financial wellness solutions, Retiremap’s personalized, automated coaching platform leverages the presence of the plan advisor to get employees to save more.

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The #1 Reason Retiremap 2.0 Will Change Financial Wellness

September 9, 2016/in Financial wellness /by Eva

To create our new financial wellness platform, we partnered with Duke University’s Common Cents Lab and the renowned behavioral economist, NY Times bestselling author and WSJ columnist, Dan Ariely. It’s the skillful application of proven, research-based, behavioral economics principles that sets Retiremap 2.0 apart.

More education is not the answer. More Powerpoint presentations are not the answer. More one-off employee 1:1s are not the answer.

Personalized, affordable, long-term coaching is the answer (see our data sheet below for details).

So join us when we showcase Retiremap 2.0 alongside our partners from Duke on Thursday, 9/22 at 11am PDT. Space is limited to the first 250 people who register, so sign up today for the free launch webinar.

But the BIG problem with coaching is that it’s so labor intensive and expensive!

With Retiremap 2.0, we’ve designed a way to scale up financial wellness coaching using mobile technology, CRM automation, multi-channel messaging and the 3 Key Concepts Missing from Financial Wellness Programs. It’s very exciting and ground-breaking stuff.

3 Key Concepts Missing from Financial Wellness Programs

September 8, 2016/in Financial wellness /by Eva

You already know that there’s a ton of buzz around financial wellness.

But what you might not know is that there are three key concepts that are completely missing from financial wellness programs. By not including these key behavioral economics concepts, advisors, providers and employers are losing out on their opportunity to have a big impact.

Retiremap’s partnership with Duke University’s Common Cents Lab uncovered three missing key concepts

Don’t just take my word for it. These key concepts are the result of 10 months of product development between Retiremap and Duke University’s Common Cents Labs, headed by the renowned behavioral economist, NY Times bestselling author and WSJ columnist, Dan Ariely.

I want to talk briefly about three missing concepts and how they’ll shape the future of financial wellness. They’re not what you expect.

MISSING CONCEPT #1: Start with goal-setting

If we focus on explaining more of the fundamentals of personal finance, will employees change their under-saving behavior? No way. People care about themselves, their goals, their future. Start every engagement with a detailed discussion about which financial goals they want to accomplish, in order to motivate behavior change.

MISSING CONCEPT #2: Focus on pre-commitment

How can we ever get employees to change their behavior if we don’t ask for a specific commitment? We need to engage them around their goals and then get them to commit (multiple times, in different ways) to follow through. The use of positive social proof (i.e. 78% of people aged 34-45 selected this option) is also key.

MISSING CONCEPT #3: Accountability drives behavior change

We all know how easy it is to ignore an email from a personal finance app. But if that email, SMS or in-app message comes from someone that we’ve been matched with and we have committed to work with them on our goals, it’s a very different story. The trick is how to scale that accountability (more on that in another email).

Last week, we were discussing with our research partners at Duke how we could get the word out on these concepts so that your current and future financial wellness programs will achieve better results. We decided to put together a cheat sheet to show you what you need to know. Introducing, the first ever cheat sheet on the 3 Key Concepts Missing from Financial Wellness Programs:

The financial wellness cheat sheet contains all new material that:

Highlights each concept’s “Superpower”
Examples of the “Superpower In Action,” so that you can apply it to your programs

Retiremap Improves Financial Wellness [Case Study]

January 21, 2016/in Featured, Financial wellness /by Eva

When the Evening Post, a major media and information organization, was undergoing a plan transition, the plan sponsor recognized that employees were satisfied with the change in provider but they still needed a more holistic retirement readiness assessment. To ensure that employees were prepared to improve their overall financial wellness and reduce stress related to personal finances, the plan sponsor brought in Retiremap to help.

Our first workshop enabled nearly 70% of employees to increase their paycheck deferral rate. Moreover, 77% of employees wanted to meet with a financial advisor one-on-one to continue making progress against their financial goals.

Employees reported feeling more prepared to take the next step to improve their financial wellness and believed that Retiremap had provided helpful tools to reduce stress. Because of our efforts, the plan sponsor was also able to gain insights around employee concerns and high-level trends, which can help foster continuous improvement in financial wellness offerings.

To learn more about how Retiremap helped the Evening Post implement a comprehensive program and better understand employee needs, check out the full case study.

This case study is presented as part of the Financial Wellness Insights series. If you’d like a white-labeled version of the case study or any of our other studies, just let us know.

How to Talk to Employees about Financial Goals

December 22, 2015/in Financial wellness /by Eva

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by financial planning. According to a recent survey by T. Rowe Price, 18% of workers avoid dealing with their financial situation because it is out of control; among Millennials, the number bumps up to 25%. This alarming datapoint highlights the need for open and thoughtful discussions around employees’ personal finance challenges.

Retiremap believes that focusing on financial goals appeals to what employees really want to do with their money and motivates them to take meaningful action. Here are some tips for talking to employees about their top financial goals:

Saving for Retirement
- Remind employees about saving plans at work and outside of work
- Discuss the basics: A) How to Save, B) How Much to Save, C) When to Save, and D) How to Invest
- Remind them to start saving for retirement now and to contribute as much as they can
Eliminating Debt
- Understand what kind of debt they are most concerned with, where they are in their lives, and their other financial goals
- Help them understand the relative cost of debt and help them target accordingly
- Acknowledge that some employees may not be able to pay
Buying a Home
- Remind them of key considerations, such as how long they will live there, school districts, and additional costs
- Go over different property types and non-financial factors
Investing Better
- Go over common investing myths
- Stick to common best practices depending on their needs, instead of getting bogged down by the details of their financial situation
Creating an Emergency Fund
- Remind them that an emergency fund is different from setting aside money for a major purchase
- Encourage them to contribute money to an emergency fund regularly until they reach a sizable cushion

Employees in the most need of guidance are often the ones who push off thinking about their finances. Start the new year off right by helping them create a financial plan and achieve their goals.

Financial Goals

December 14, 2015/in Financial wellness /by Eva

Our latest Financial Wellness Insights found that saving for retirement is the top goal among employees. Other leading goals include eliminating debt, buying a home, and investing better. To find out more about financial goals and how they rank among different employee segments, download our full study: https://retiremaphq.com/financial-goals

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