HN Explorer

Boulevard R - releasing from private beta

6 points by darius ↗ HN
We created a 5 step process to get people on track for retirement which includes: defining a meaningful retirement, identifying short-term goals, selecting options to achieve the retirement vision, receiving a custom plan & getting support (track progress, get tips, etc).

Next we plan to to extend the support step by building a community around it. I think a good idea is to start with tips, goals and then let it develop from there. Any suggestions on this?

From a technology stand point, we use a combination of JBoss Seam and Flex.

All feedback is welcomed.

http://www.boulevardr.com

6 comments

[ 322 ms ] story [ 356 ms ] thread
DanielBMarkham
Dang, that site was eerily accurate.

I filled out a few forms, then when I got to step 6 I got this message:

"If you do not change the amount you are saving, you will run out of money when you are 14."

Strange thing is, I DID run out of money a lot when I was 14. It was that stupid vending machine they put in my Junior High School. (grin)

Liked the site and the graphics. Found it strange that the TOS popped up when it did. Might want to check those overflow conditions.

darius
Thanks. Fixed the little age bug.
alaskamiller
i don't like your plan page. the typing thing annoys me. i read faster than it types and it wasn't even some kind of fancy effects.
darius
So would you take out the whole typing thingy or would you just make it type faster? We had a big drop out rate on that page and from our interviews we came to the conclusion that people thought that was the end. We decided to put that animation there because it 'forces' people to read the text. We all know that nobody ever reads plain text instructions.
tx
1. Technical/Usability feedback

Call me stupid, but why over-engineer something that (usually) is done as a simple one-page form?

Slow, multi-page wizard, although a good looking one, is an overkill for a financial calculator IMO. I am on a broadband connection, I hate seeing "loading..." splash screens. What is being loaded? A form with 3 combo boxes? In fact the entire thing can easily be done on one page with JavaScript showing me results live - as I type. This way tweaking stuff is easier, more interactive and engaging.

2. Design/UI

Nicely done. Although, again, at expense of your own development time and usability

3. Usefulness

Well... I just turned 30 and retirement is kind of a depressing thing to think of... :-) There is definitely a demand for this, but I am not familiar with your market to compare you to the competition.

darius
We tried to move away from the regular excel looking calculator. Retirement planning is usually something very time consuming and boring that people keep pushing off. We wanted to make it a bit more engaging in order to keep people focused. As a result the drop out rate once the users get started is pretty low.