Nested Interest

Aligning a bold product to meet the customer’s best interest.

In 2008, the Global Financial Crisis rocked the world. Between June 2007 and November 2008, it is estimated that Americans lost an average of more than a quarter of their collective net worth. Housing prices fell 20% from their peak in 2006 and total home equity plummeted by more than 30%. Total retirement assets had also dropped 22% by mid-2008.

For millions of Americans, this crisis exposed an incredible liability. As the baby boomer generation heads into retirement, they do not have adequate financial resources to support themselves as they age. Moreover, the daunting task of planning for retirement leaves many overwhelmed and confused.

Nested Interest logo

John Bevacqua, a successful actuary and a newly minted entrepreneur, came to Objective Subject with a mission to empower Americans with the knowledge, tools, and resources to plan for their future with ease and confidence. With financial literacy as a key goal, we set out to craft a brand identity and digital platform that would best reflect the goals of Nested Interest: friendly, easy to understand, empowering, independent, innovative, precise and honest.

After working together to understand Nested Interest’s brand values, our team suggested Bevacqua rethink the original name, Retirewell, as it lacked uniqueness and alignment with these values. Armed with a new name, Nested Interest, Objective Subject designed an identity that stood out in the dull sea of green and blue financial-related brands. With a cheerful yellow palette that plays on the idea of the “nest egg” and the illuminating rays of the sun, Nested Interest’s identity is truly a bright beacon for its customers.

Bevacqua also developed a highly sophisticated tool for retirement planning – one that wasn’t mired by financial profits and bias that other firms offer. The tool is specifically tailored to address the changing needs of the user in different scenarios by asking a lengthy series of questions. The resulting report generates an incredibly accurate and personal assessment of an individual’s financial plan.

There was only one problem.
To generate a final report, this tool ran over 300,000 scenarios that used a crippling 4 terabytes of processing data for each report. In order to cover the exorbitant costs of a server capable of handling this high-degree of functionality, Nested Interest would need to charge $200 for each report.

Nested Interest home page

With a critical and strategic understanding of customer needs and wants, we proposed that the tool itself be repositioned. By reducing the number of questions to just 7, we found it possible to provide individuals an accurate—albeit more generalized—perspective on their retirement outlook. With altruistic objectives of financial literacy, Nested Interest found a way to change its business model. Through partnerships with financial planning advisors and companies, rigorously vetted by Bevacqua, Nested Interest could offer its tool for free, charging partners a monthly fee to be featured on the site. To further its commitment, Nested Interest also created a donation opportunity for users to various non-profits specializing in this assistance.

Our team then realized the identity across touch points, including business collateral, email newsletter, and custom animations giving Nested Interest the practical tools to serve its target audience in a truly meaningful manner. With Bevacqua serving as a thought leader, dedicated to empowering his customers and users, the final site has launched to a very ripe audience. nestedinterest.com

Insights section

Product directory

We crafted illustrations that went a long way into explaining some complex notions.

how much risk will someone take with their portfolio? how will someone react in a market downturn? Portfolio view – each bubble represents a specific investment product aimed at meeting goals – the 3 zones represent their relative immediacy of withdrawal Report – annuity products bring value to a portfolio