Breadstack retirement plan app

Inspiration

After being presented the prompt sponsored by TIAA: "How might we better engage the next generation to plan more effectively for retirement?" we thought about how we could develop strategies for attracting and intriguing the youth while still maintaining a high standard for unique functionality and utility with the purpose of informing and engaging the user into retirement plans and financial stability. We started by sourcing inspiration from applications and educational services that the youth are attracted to such as applications like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram, and figuring out how the strategies incorporated in those applications can be translated and interpreted into an informative and educational app.

As we continued to brainstorm ideas, we discovered that we, ourselves, don't even know much about financial stability, retirement plans, and 401(k) because we never had an opportunity to learn it all. We realized that the youth are deprived of a source of appealing education regarding retirement plans and the amount of wasted potential and feelings of regret one might experience if they belatedly understood the process of retirement plans. We realized that by making a simplistic, concise, easy-to-use application that appeals to the youth can not only give the next generation an opportunity to manage the biggest responsibility of their life but also provide opportunities for the development of the world's economy.

What it does

A basic app that collects data from users such as age, expenses, prospects, and investments to help map out a retirement plan using terms and visuals that can be understandable and appealing to the youth, especially those who hope to develop the basic fundamentals of maintaining financial stability or are simply having a hard time comprehending it all. This app gives the new generation an easy and fun approach to essentially the biggest responsibility of their life.

How we built it

We began by explicitly listing and describing every feature and idea that our team produced throughout brainstorming sessions and developed a prototype web application using Javascript. For graphic visualizations, we produced interactive mock-ups of the application's layout and aesthetic to be presented for the pitch.

Challenges we ran into

We had a hard time refining and finalizing our project throughout the brainstorming process. Furthermore, it was tough coordinating team meetings and productivity based on busy schedules.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the complex and intriguing concepts and unique ideas that we produced throughout brainstorming sessions. We believe that this app is unique and applicable within today's society and its features present intriguing and appealing visuals and predictions based on user data.

What we learned

We improved our ability to formulate ideas and brainstorm concepts as a team. In terms of coding, we developed a better understanding of paginated forms and the concept of producing complex code for an equation that produces a value for unrelated variables based on unrelated data inputs from the user.

What's next for Breadstack retirement plan app

We hope to further develop Breadstack into a fully-functioning program that effectively displays its features in a manner that appeals to the youth. We also hope to improve and refine the app's simplicity and usability by making it more convenient to use and navigate. By incorporating more unique and intriguing features, we will be able to stand out from all other financial planning apps and present interesting concepts to our target audience.