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MyBlocks’ Captivating User Interface Revolutionizes Prospecting and Client Education Bite-size “blocks” engage and entertain users Envestnet MoneyGuide Chief Growth Officer Kevin Hughes and President Tony Leal talk about MyBlocks, the company’s latest addition to its financial wellness ecosystem, and how the revolutionary software is paving the way for an entirely new approach to financial discussions. MyBlocks puts clients in control to explore various financial topics, while the advisor provides advice and solutions to address their needs and concerns.
Why did Envestnet MoneyGuide see a need for MyBlocks? Kevin: We saw an opportunity to help a much broader demographic, particularly with critical financial questions that go beyond traditional financial planning and work toward comprehensive planning. We created a platform that can help address any kind of financial scenario for multiple stages of life.
What spurred the design and content of MyBlocks?
Kevin Hughes, Chief Growth Officer
Tony: We’ve been doing this for 20 years now, and we knew there had to be ways to make the process more engaging for everyone involved. How do you take three to four minutes and make things bite-size and manageable and still be able to use the data to roll up to a comprehensive plan? That’s MyBlocks. MyBlocks addresses common advisor challenges, including how to simplify complex financial topics, helping investors know where to start, reaching younger demographics like Gen X and Y, accommodating clients with limited time, and motivating clients to Tony Leal, President take action to achieve goals now.
How many blocks are planned?
Tony: We currently have 25 and plan to have 40 by the end of this year. We’re creating a block for couples that are looking to get married, to help them work through financial concerns and establish a dialogue between them on how they feel about and approach money to ensure they have a solid foundation for financial communication. There’s a study that shows the No. 1 issue couples fight about is also a topic many couples avoid discussing, which is money. MyBlocks
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InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » November 2019
can help with that, which creates an opportunity for the advisor in helping them assess risk tolerance and goals.
How can MyBlocks keep the planning experience from becoming overwhelming for clients who aren’t close to retirement?
Kevin: We got a lot of feedback that people may want to be able to engage in each one of the topics individually without having to do all of it. The “FastPath to Freedom” block can be customized to work on goals as short as one year and all the way through 10 years. FastPath goals appeal to multiple generations because the block includes paying off credit cards, achieving an experience goal like a trip, establishing an emergency fund, paying off college loans and achieving a purchase goal. You can also reverse engineer your calculations if you need to allocate funds elsewhere and see how it impacts your other goals. A client might now be married and having kids, so they might need money to pay for life insurance premiums, for instance. By using FastPath, when they take a little bit of money away from each goal, they can be surprised that it doesn’t really hurt in the long run to be able to free up some cash flow to get the insurance they need. It’s a great way to add context for someone who thinks they can’t afford an added expense like insurance or savings.
What kind of testing have you put into MyBlocks to ensure usability? Tony: We work with advisors and large enterprise firms to pilot the software and get their feedback. Plus, we’ve used a firm for end-user testing as well. They help us figure out what resonates and what might be confusing. And it’s more than just tester feedback. It’s a sophisticated process of video recording that tracks a user’s movements and facial expressions, so you really know where the sticking points are. We’ve learned that some concepts aren’t easily understood, even if they’ve been around for a long time, such as 401(k) contributions. We’ve adjusted the user-facing language to try to ensure that the concepts are clear for every user. Overall, we put a lot of effort into ensuring that what gets into the advisors’ hands is going to be really useful for them.
What sets MyBlocks apart from what’s out there today?
Kevin: I’ve seen many sites that offer calculators, but they don’t really lead anywhere. MyBlocks gives you something useful even if you only have two minutes, but it also gives