The Newport Group’s “My Forecast” retirement planning website, which incorporates VisualCalc’s Retirement Planning Calculator technology, was recognized by DALBAR, Inc. as one of two clear leaders in the financial services industry for providing tools that show retirement plan participants their current retirement planning readiness.
DALBAR evaluated 52 retirement plan participant websites in the context of how well they answered the key question of “How Am I Doing” for employees assessing the current state of their retirement plan. These websites were evaluated using DALBAR’s DC WebMonitor program criteria, which factors in criteria grouped into five broad categories: Functions, Usability, Content Currency, Consistency, and Behavior Centric. Out of the 52 websites evaluated, The Newport Group’s “My Forecast” website and Principal Financial were recognized as the two clear industry leaders.
The Newport Group’s “My Forecast” tool incorporates VisualCalc’s Retirement Planning Calculator technology. The core engine for this technology supports state-of-the-art computational algorithms and simulation techniques, such as Monte Carlo methods, that drive highly sophisticated yet elegantly simple “what if” analysis capabilities. On top of this engine, VisualCalc and The Newport Group jointly developed a graphical, interactive user interface that provides participants with a personalized, comprehensive snapshot of their current retirement readiness. Participants can easily manipulate a set of input mechanisms, such as buttons and sliders, to see how potential changes to their current retirement strategy would affect their future retirement health.
The Newport Group’s “My Forecast” website was lauded for its interactivity, ease of use, design aesthetics, and advanced analysis capabilities, all core attributes of the customizable VisualCalc Retirement Planning Calculator platform upon which it is built.
The “My Forecast” website has resulted in a dramatic impact on employees’ retirement account balances, contribution amounts and overall engagement with their plans. Plan participants who use “My Forecast” have seen their account balances grow 40% more than those whose plans don’t yet feature “My Forecast”. These participants have increased their contributions to their plans, access their accounts 25% more often, and perform nearly twice as many transactions on their website.
DALBAR, Inc. is the financial community’s leading independent expert for evaluating, auditing and rating business practices, customer performance, product quality and service.
More information on the VisualCalc Retirement Planning Calculator can be found at http://visualcalc.com/products/retirement-calculator.html.
