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AI-Powered Financial Companion
Timeline:
Oct 7 - Dec 20 ( 16 weeks)
Role:
UX Researcher & Designer
Tools:
Figma, Asana, Google Forms, Zoom
Context:
UX Design Master's Program
PROBLEM
Most US citizens are struggling with managing their debt and monthly living expenses, which is preventing them from reaching their financial goals.
Financial stress is common and impacts behavior& mental health
More than half of American say they worry about their ability to pay for living expenses and debt.
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60% of adults reported feeling anxious about their personal finances.
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34% of American say they are more likely to spend money when stressed or emotional.
Many Americans lack sufficient emergency savings.
A significant amount of adults struggle to cover unexpected expenses.
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36% can't cover a $400 unexpected emergency without selling something or borrowing it.
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13% can't cover it by any means.
Acceptance of AI Financial guidance is on the rise
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16% of American say they trust AI more than human for financial advice. .
Difficulty paying bills.
More than half of American say they worry about their ability to pay for living expenses and debt.
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49% of American are living paycheck to paycheck.
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43% report some difficulty paying bills.
How might we design a secure and trustworthy financial tool that provides personalized, clear, and proactive insights to help users manage their behavior, limit unnecessary spending, and establish financial stability, thereby making their money management experience less stressful and more empowering?
Strategy
Discovery Research
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Competitvie Analysis
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User Interviews
Exploration
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Affinity Maps
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Personas
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Journey Maps
Design
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User Flows
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Wireframes
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Prototyping
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Usability Testing
Competitive Analysis
I explored the top budgeting apps to understand their methods for helping people with their personal finances. While each offered proven budgeting methods insights was left up to the use to figure out.
YNAB
Strength
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Zero-based budgeting
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Strong education resources
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Effective for debt payoff
Weakness
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Steep learning curve
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High cost
PocketGuard
Strength
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Simple, intuitive design
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Helpful debt payoff tool
Offers a free version
Weakness
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Limited functionality with free version
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Lacks robust reporting & data analysis tools
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No rollover budget feature
Simplifi by Quicken
Strength
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Clean interface, great for simplicity and tracking
Weakness
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Specific feature and details are less documented
User Interviews
I want to know how participants currently manage their finances, what emotional and other challenges they face, and how they perceive AI-based financial tools.
I interviewed 6 people between the ages of 24 - 44 years. Interview were conducted over Zoom and in-person(recorded), each lasting between 40-45 minutes.
Goals:
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Identify user pain points and motivations.
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Understand trust barriers and triggers related to financial data sharing.
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Capture emotional language around financial confidence.
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Gather expectations for tone, features, and support from a finance app.
In their own words...
Participant 1
I get really stressed out, sometimes depressed and at times I lash out.
Participant 5
So, if my bank had an AI that helped me budget, then I will feel like, okay, this is not a scam.
Participant 3
I want to see the breakdown of how the suggestion was reached, such as where it's pulling information from
Participant 2
Cut me off and say, You ordered pens 3x last week. You don't need anymore.
Key Findings
Proactive Guidance
Users desire a tools that acts as a "personal assistant" to perform budgeting & separate funds for them. They want alerts that suggest positive actions, e.g., paying a bill early or to contribute more to savings.
Bank-Level Security
Users would trust the app if it were "a part of my bank" or setup within the existing banking app, because bank app tend to be "more secure"
Struggle with Impulse Spending
Users need an help to manage behavior spending, specifically requesting the app to "cut me off" from unnecessary purchases or remind them to limit shopping to specific needs.
AI Must Be Transparent
Users need confidence in the AI's suggestions & want to see how insights were calculated. They want a breakdown of where the information is being pulled from.
Major Source of Stress & Anxiety
Users described managing personal finance as a stressful, overwhelming, "survival mode" and anxiety -inducing.
Goal Achievement
Users require an app the helps build a savings fund, plan for unexpected expenses, and give confidence to achieve their goals.
Insights
The users want an AI-Powered Financial Guidance Feature integrated within a secure environment with these key features:
Proactive AI Budgeting Guidance
A tool that will analyze income and expenses to provide actionable, positive suggestions
Behavioral Nudges
The app will identify overspending or unnecessary purchases and provide intervention prompts (the "cut me off" function).
Simplified Language
Interface must be instructional and informative, setting up a plan based on account activity and avoiding complex financial jargon.
Calculation Transparent
Every generated insight must include an option for the user to view the breakdown and calculation logic. This builds confidence, addresses the user’s need to "check the math", and reduces skepticism about AI.
Flexible User Control
Users must have total control. This includes the ability to confirm or modify the app’s suggestions, shift the priority of the insight.
Personas
I used the insights to create 2 personas, So I could remember who I was designing for. These two personas are at different stage of their financial lifecycle but both have behaviors preventing them from reaching their goals.
Journey Maps
Next, I developed a current and future state journey maps to identify any additional pain point or obstacles that my personas would encounter while achieving their goals
User Flows
While working on the user flows, I discovered the best way to design for their behaviors was not to introduce obstacles to prevent them but to make it easier to achieve their goals and provide healthy options to improve good habits.
Wireframes
Maria's flow
Feature Highlights
The AI will analyze user income and saving and provide options for purchasing if money is not available to spend
Savings Loan:
which must be paid back to savings. Keeping users on track for goals and freeing up cash to purchase now.
Save For It Later
which automatically creates a goal with user approval to save up the fund and purchase later.
Prototypes
Final Prototypes
Next Steps
Usability Testing and more research
I will test if the flow is intuitive, if there is information users feel is missing, and if the language is easy to understand.
Continue prototyping
I will continue prototyping and testing:
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The onboarding experience
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"Can I afford" chat experience
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Spending and "Cut Me Off" notification
Reflections
What I have learned
I realized that I was inadvertently designing for behaviors that prevent users from achieving their financial goals. Emotions can lead users to make choices that are not in their best interest, creating a painful cycle that they struggle to break free from. Impulse spending, overeating, and other similar behaviors often stem from negative self-perceptions. Coming to this realization has significantly enhanced my design skills, I am a better designer for it.
Step away
I began experiencing a creative block. I had to be reminded to step away and stop thinking about the project. This advice was greatly appreciated and needed.
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