Augment your pension - How Augmented Reality (AR) can improve future financial well-being: The role of future self-imagery and its impact on pension awareness and engagement

Project Information

AUGMENTPENSION

Grant agreement ID: 101024942

DOI

10.3030/101024942

Project closed

EC signature date 29 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 2 April 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 187 572,48

EU contribution

€ 187 572,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AUGMENTPENSION (Augment your pension - How Augmented Reality (AR) can improve future financial well-being: The role of future self-imagery and its impact on pension awareness and engagement)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project addresses the critical issue of low pension awareness and engagement among consumers, especially young people, which can lead to inadequate retirement savings and elderly poverty. With complex financial decisions like pension planning now required at younger ages, and financial mistakes early in life being costly, there is an urgent need to increase pension engagement to promote future financial well-being. This is important for society because over 25 million Americans aged 60+ are already economically insecure, and lack of pension planning threatens to exacerbate elderly poverty globally, even in countries with well developed pension systems (like for a example the Netherlands). Low pension engagement creates challenges including potential future pension gaps, lack of awareness of those gaps, and insufficient corrective action even when aware.

The overall objectives of this project are to:
Evaluate whether augmented reality (AR) technology can be used to increase consumers' pension awareness, pension engagement, and financial well-being.
Investigate if AR's effects are driven by shifting consumers' mental imagery from their current self to their future self.
Examine boundary conditions like age that may influence AR's effectiveness for different demographic groups.
Test AR's impact on actual pension-related behaviors in a real-world field experiment with a major pension provider.

By leveraging AR to help consumers better imagine their future selves, this research aims to develop an innovative, technology-enabled approach to boost pension engagement and ultimately improve financial well-being, addressing a critical societal challenge. The findings could provide policymakers and pension managers with new tools to promote retirement planning and financial security across diverse populations.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Work Package 1 (WP1): Laboratory experiments
- Conducted literature review on pension awareness, engagement, and financial well-being.
- Performed pre-tests to select AR face-aging filters.
- Executed three experiments: effects of AR on pension awareness (120 participants), mediating effect of imagining future self (120 participants), and online experiment testing age as boundary condition (100 participants).

2. Work Package 2 (WP2): Field experiment with Dutch pension provider
- Developed new onboarding process with age-rendered videos.
- Conducted preliminary survey (N=226), small-scale experiment (N=11), and AB Test.
- Results showed Future Self process outperformed traditional process, but revealed areas for improvement.

3. Work Package 3 (WP3): Formal training and progress monitoring
- Set up and reviewed career development plan.
- Participated in leadership program at Maastricht University.

4. Work Package 4 (WP4): Dissemination and communication
- Presented findings at conferences and research seminars.
- Prepared manuscripts and grant submissions.
- Organized workshops and participated in public engagement activities.

Main Results:
1. Empirical evidence on AR's effectiveness in increasing pension awareness and engagement.
2. Insights into AR's influence on pension-related behaviors through future self-imagery.
3. Understanding of age as a moderating factor in AR's impact.
4. Real-world data on AR-enhanced pension communications.
5. Practical guidelines for using AR to improve pension engagement.

Exploitation and Dissemination:
- Academic publications and conference presentations
- Workshops for pension managers and NETSPAR audience
- Public engagement activities and online dissemination
- Collaboration with pension provider for potential implementation of findings

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has made significant progress beyond the state of the art by pioneering the application of AR face-aging technology in the context of pension awareness and engagement. This novel approach has provided empirical evidence on AR's effectiveness in influencing pension-related behaviors, particularly through enhancing future self-imagery. The research uniquely integrates technology and behavioral science to address critical societal issues, exemplified by the real-world application through collaboration with APG, a major pension provider. This interdisciplinary approach has bridged the gap between academic research and industry practice in tackling financial planning challenges.

Expected results from the project include a comprehensive understanding of AR's impact on pension awareness and engagement across different age groups. The research is anticipated to refine theoretical frameworks explaining how future self-visualization affects financial planning behaviors. Additionally, it aims to produce practical guidelines for implementing AR-enhanced pension communications, which will be valuable for policymakers and pension fund managers. The project is also expected to yield high-quality academic publications in top-tier marketing and consumer behavior journals, contributing significantly to the scholarly discourse on technology-enhanced financial decision-making.

The potential impacts of this research are far-reaching. Socio-economically, it could lead to improved financial preparedness for retirement, potentially reducing elderly poverty rates and fostering more informed long-term financial decisions. Broader societal implications include influencing how financial institutions and governments communicate about long-term planning, potentially reducing the gender pension gap, and sparking discussions on using emerging technologies for societal challenges. The project may drive technological advancements in AR applications and inspire innovations in addressing abstract, future-oriented concepts across various fields. Policy implications could include informing pension communication strategies and influencing regulations on AR use in financial services. In the industry, it may lead to the adoption of new communication strategies in the financial sector and encourage further academia-industry collaborations. Overall, this project has the potential to transform approaches to long-term financial planning, leveraging cutting-edge technology to address critical socio-economic challenges, and influencing a wide range of stakeholders from individual consumers to policymakers and financial institutions.

AUGMENTPENSION