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METLIFE PERSONAL FINANCE
Smart Budgeting for Real Life
Budgeting is tough. The reality is most people struggle with juggling immediate needs while saving for the future—and the mental load can be exhausting.
As the lead designer, I helped create Personal Finance to work with real life, not some idealized spreadsheet version of it. Set up in under five minutes, the platform adapts to each user's unique situation rather than forcing them into rigid categories.
Using behavioral science, MetLife Personal Finance celebrates wins (even small ones), provides personalized guidance when needed, and keeps the interface stress-free. Our challenge was creating something that fits seamlessly into busy lives while still delivering powerful financial strategies.
Service
Product Design
What we did
Userflows & workflow definition
Interaction model
UX and UI design
Understanding user and business needs
A team of AI Agents at your service!
The centerpiece of our solution was a hierarchical AI system where specialized agents work together under "The Queen" coordinator. This architecture handles complex tasks behind a simple interface, making advanced data operations accessible to non-technical users.
The right side displays the chat interface with an activity panel showing AI processes in real-time. Users get both conversation and transparency, building trust through visibility into the AI's work.
Process
User Interviews
User interviews revealed a spectrum of budgeting behaviors, from meticulous tracking to preference for simplicity, which guided our user-friendly design approach..
Setting up a budget flow adjusted for user expectation
Conducting user interviews revealed a significant difference between recommended budgeting practices and the way people budget in real-life.
Process
Screen flow ideation
Our iterative design process explored multiple interface solutions for the AI chat experience. Through these variations, we tested different patterns—from drawers to panels to step navigators—to find the right balance of simplicity and functionality that would serve both technical and non-technical users.
Process
Detailed user flows
I created detailed user flows to determine how we could deliver what users need. The focus was finding the right balance between user control and streamlined experiences.
Quick & Easy budget setup
We made budget setup effortless by auto-populating categories based on our card sorting research. Users can either dive deep into customization or move quickly through setup.
Allocate & Categorize
The system allows users to customize spending limits and categories while pre-populating common patterns. This gives users flexibility without overwhelming them during setup.
Dashboard & Progress Tracking
Visual tracking makes spending easy to understand at a glance. Users can quickly see their progress and make adjustments as needed—no complicated spreadsheets required.
The Impact
This project transformed how we approach product development on the MetLife Personal Finance Team. We established a more rigorous process that includes proper customer discovery, research, ideation, and requirements mapping.
Key changes included introducing persona workshops, implementing comprehensive user research earlier in projects, and developing more thoughtful user flows. These practices became standard across our product teams.
The insights gained directly influenced the development of our Financial Assessment tool and other related products. While the original project didn't ship, the methodologies we established continue to shape our design process and product decisions.
Credits
UX Research
Lauren Todd
Product
Oana Serban, Sri Beniki, Jorge Beltran